Roman road

This paved Roman road is approximately one kilometre in length and intersects the road from Aleppo to Dana on the Limestone Massif.

Type: Landscape
Tags: Limestone Massif, Roman, Roman road, Syria

Hawwarin

Hawwarin was known as Evaria in late antiquity and is recorded as being the seat of two bishoprics. It appears to date from the Roman era as there is extensive evidence of Roman spolia in the Byzantine remains in the town. The local population talk of there having been seven basilicas in the settlement and evidence of three of these is still extant, although only one has been excavated thus far - by a Syrian team led by Wedad Khoury of the DGAM. The Roman dressed limestone blocks were carried to the site from some distance away as there are no quarries in the vicinity of the town and the modern dwellings are mud brick or cement. At the centre of the settlement is the mysterious "burj" or tower, which local people believe to have been part of an Umayyad hunting lodge, but which is built with Roman spoil and may well date from the Byzantine period as its nearest equivalent structure is the C6th stone tower at Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi. However, unlike the Qasr and neighbouring Khans/Caravanserai this tower has entrances to both the north and south rather than the single entrance that is the norm for such structures.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Architecture, Basilica, Byzantine, Castle, Church, Evaria, Hawwarin, Limestone, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, Roman, Syria, Tower, Umayyad

Kharbaqa dam

The Kharbaqa dam has traditionally been attributed to the Romans, but more recent research has argued that it was constructed in the Umayyad period as part of the irrigation networks linked to Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi. The dam is around 345 metres wide and 20 metres high, but how long it remained useful is debated as the southern side of the dam is completely silted up and it is believed that this process happened relatively early in the life of the dam limiting its value to the local irrigation system.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Dam, Irrigation system, Kharbaqa, Roman, Syria, Umayyad

Gonio/Apsarus

Gonio is a large rectangular fort originally built by the Romans who knew it as Apsarus. The fort has been used on and off ever since. Its strategic position has meant it's reoccupation and reuse has been frequent. Traces of modern use can be seen in the concrete gun ports built into the older defences.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Defensive Network, Fortifications, Georgia, Georgian, Late Antique, Roman

Defensive walls, Towers and town, Halabiyeh/Zenobia

Type: Architecture
Tags: Anastasius, C5th-C6th, Church, Defensive Network, Justinian, Military Architecture, Procopius, Roman, Syria

Palmyra Temple of Bel

The Temple of Bel as it appears today dates from the C1st-C2nd AD, but stands on a much older cult site near the date palm grove and Eqfa spring that enabled the foundation of a city in the middle of the Syrian desert. Later on the cella of the temple was adapted for use as a Christian church and faint traces of frescoes are still visible on the interior walls. It was also fortified in the middle ages and there was a village within the walls of the compound until the population was removed by the French authorities during their rule of Syria in the 1920s.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Bel, C1st-C2nd, Church, Fresco, Islam, Medieval, Palmyra, Roman, Sculpture, Syria, Tadmor, Temple

Resafa Cisterns

Located in the Syrian desert approximately 25 kilometres south of the River Euphrates, Resafa depended on capturing seasonal rainwater and irrigation systems for its water. This water was then stored in large cisterns until needed.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Byzantine, Cistern, Euphrates, Resafa, Roman, Sergiupolis, Syria, Water

South Basilica, Side

Situated towards the southernmost point of the peninsular that Side occupies this Basilica was built in the 5th century AD usurping and partly building over the sites of the older Temples Apollo and Athena. The large basilica was destroyed in the 7th century and a smaller church was built within.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Basilica, Byzantine, Church, Late Antique, Roman, Turkey

Temple of Aphrodite/Christian Basilica, Aphrodisias

Begun in the 1st century the construction of the Temple of Aphrodite was paid for by Aphrodisias’ most famous and wealthy citizen, Zoilos. In the 2nd century AD the temple had a colonnaded courtyard enclosure built around it. Around 500 AD the temple was converted into a Basilica church and was extensively rebuilt and remodelled into a building much larger than the original temple.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Basilica, Church, Greek, Late Antique, Roman, Temple, Turkey

Serapeum/The Red Basilica, Pergamum

The Serapeum was a vast temple and associated complex built at the foot of the acropolis of Pergamum during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The temple was dedicated to the worship of the Greaco-Egyptian god Serapis and to the Egyptian goddess Isis. The temple complex was huge and had to cross the nearby Selinus river supported by two very large vaulted tunnels which channel the waters to this day. The majority of the courtyard lies under the modern town buildings to the west of the temple. Originally covered with marble facings only the red brick superstructure of the temple remains. During the late Roman/early Byzantine period a church dedicated to St John was built inside the main temple. The church is in poor preservation when compared to the surrounding temple. However due to the instability of the remaining structure of the temple it is not possible to enter it and view the church remains. The temple is flanked by two contempraneous rotunda, one of which is a functioning mosque while the other is open to the general public.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Church, Pergamum, Roman, Temple, Turkey