Apamea: 09/03/06

Last week I visited the Roman ruines at Apamea, pronounced Afamea. The following pictures are just some of the pictures I took that really sunny day. Apamea is about 1 hour and a half south of Aleppo and next to some amazing foothills, resembling Colorado. Really, a friend from Boulder, CO who went along as well, also had moments when she felt like she was back home. Except that we were walking through some of the most interesting Roman ruins in Syria. Apamea has a set of columns, down its main street, that is longer than all the other sites in Syria. Many of the stones were meticulously decorated, giving me a sense that stone art is worth the trouble.
The gigantic, sun soaked columns stood out in front of a really inviting set of mountians. It seems like a great place to take a hike this Fall. I'll be checking that out later.
Apamea was one of the main centers in the region that trained elephants for war fare. You can still find their giant mollars lying around in the rubble at your feet. I heard that at one point they had 500 elephants there. Imagine 500 elephants hanging out in Boulder, CO.

If you want to see more pictures from that day, send me an email if you know it, or leave me a comment asking me too, and I'll post them on here.