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The Ancient City of Antioch: A City of Roman Wonder
Antioch in Syria, founded by the Seleucids around 300 BCE, became a major Roman provincial capital known for its colonnaded streets, earthquakes and early Christian role.
Greece, Rome and Europe
Antioch, Gerasa, Palmyra and Timgad, cities at the edges of Roman rule.
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Antioch in Syria, founded by the Seleucids around 300 BCE, became a major Roman provincial capital known for its colonnaded streets, earthquakes and early Christian role.
Gerasa, modern Jerash in Jordan, was a Decapolis city with an oval plaza, a long colonnaded main street and temples of Artemis and Zeus, preserved in unusual detail.
Palmyra's tower tombs and carved limestone tomb busts show how the city's families displayed dress, jewellery, rank and ancestry in the first to third centuries CE.
Palmyra's Great Colonnade, Temple of Bel and Monumental Arch show how Roman architectural forms were blended with local Syrian design in an oasis city.
Timgad in Algeria shows Roman town planning at work: a regular street grid, a forum, theatre, triumphal arch and library laid out for a new colony.
Timgad was founded around 100 CE as a colony for army veterans in Numidia. This article explains its place in Roman North Africa and how the city declined.
Palmyra was never forgotten. This article tells the story of Queen Zenobia and the breakaway Palmyrene state of the 260s and 270s CE, ended by Aurelian, and of modern damage.
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