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Ancient City of Apamea, Syria
Over 2,000 years ago, residents of Apamea, Syria would have walked down the cardo maximus, a bustling avenue lined by grand colonnades, perhaps to the market where they would buy goods from Asia Minor. Apamea was once home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Syria. Apamea was founded by the Seleucids around 300 BCE and was abandoned for good in the 13th century. Apamea was a rich trading city known most famously for their Great Colonnade, which still stands today. [1]
Description
The Jews of Apamea and Syria
The Jewish presence in Syria can be traced back to the Roman times, even before a Muslim presence. The oldest Jewish colony of the Mediterranean is believed to be Cyprus, which is an island due west of Syria. The Seleucid kings, the same who founded Apamea of the Roman era, supposedly encouraged Jewish settlement throughout Asia Minor. [2] According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Apamea had the largest Jewish population outside of Judea (modern-day Egypt and Israel) and that the Jewish residents were protected during the First Jewish-Roman War of 66-73 CE. [3]
The first major conflict between Syrian Jews and non-Jews in modern history was in 1944, when Syria gained independence from France. Syria’s independence set off a wave of anti-Jewish violence; while was not the first instance of anti-Semitism, marked a steep increase. The violence continued and worsened in 1947, when the U.N. established the Partition Plan in Palestine. The ensuing violence destroyed nearly all Syria’s Jewish communities. [4]
Anti-Semitism continues in Syria today, and it is assumed that there are only a handful of Jews left in the country. In 2015, a major rescue mission was coordinated by a Syrian businessman living in America, who was helping a man trying to get his grandmother and her daughters out of Aleppo. These women, believed to be the last Jews in the city, had to be smuggled out in the middle of the night, without any knowledge of the plan whatsoever. Their “handlers” brought them to Turkey, where they were then given visas to Israel on the basis of “aliyah”: immigration to Israel. However, one of the daughters converted to Islam when she married her husband, so she and her family were unable to attain visas. Faced with no other choice, she, her husband, and their three children returned to Aleppo, where they could be the last five Jews living in Syria today. [5]
Apamea Today
Apamea joins the ever-growing list of ancient cultural sites destroyed during sectarian violence and civil war in Syria and throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Satellite photos reveal that the ground Apamea once stood on has been looted repeatedly by Syrian regime forces and by ISIS. The majority of the looting occurred from 2011 to 2012, but still continues to this today. [6]
Apamea, Syria
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Further reading: "Ancient City of Apamea" on Wikimapia.
"The stunning tale of the escape of Aleppo's last Jews," The Times of Israel.
Notes:
[1] “Apamea, Syria.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apamea,_Syria. Accessed July 12, 2016.
[2] Malamat, Abraham and Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson. A History of the Jewish People. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976. https://books.google.com/books?id=2kSovzudhFUC&pg=PA278&dq=jewish+presence+in+apamea,+syria&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ-tGig-zNAhVI8WMKHdQVCNYQ6AEILTAD#v=onepage&q=jewish%20presence%20in%20apamea%2C%20syria&f=false . Accessed July 12, 2016.
[3] Pasachoff, Naomi E. and Robert J. Littman. A Concise History of the Jewish People. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 1995. https://books.google.com/books?id=z4eaj09hscAC&pg=PA68&dq=jewish+presence+in+apamea,+syria&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ-tGig-zNAhVI8WMKHdQVCNYQ6AEIPjAG#v=onepage&q=jewish%20presence%20in%20apamea%2C%20syria&f=false . Accessed July 12, 2016.
[4] “Syrian Jews.” Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/syrianjews.html. Accessed July 13, 2016.
[5] Shah, Khushbu. “Rescuing the last Jews of Aleppo.” CNN. November 28, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/27/middleeast/last-jews-aleppo-syria/index.html. Accessed July 12, 2016.
[6] Taylor, Alan. “The Looting of Syria’s Archaeological Treasures.” The Atlantic. February 4, 2016. http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/02/the-looting-of-syrias-archaeological-treasures/459996/. Accessed July 13, 2016.
Works Cited:
“Apamea, Syria.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apamea,_Syria. Accessed July 12, 2016.
Malamat, Abraham and Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson. A History of the Jewish People. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976. https://books.google.com/books?id=2kSovzudhFUC&pg=PA278&dq=jewish+presence+in+apamea,+syria&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ-tGig-zNAhVI8WMKHdQVCNYQ6AEILTAD#v=onepage&q=jewish%20presence%20in%20apamea%2C%20syria&f=false. Accessed July 12, 2016.
Pasachoff, Naomi E. and Robert J. Littman. A Concise History of the Jewish People. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 1995. https://books.google.com/books?id=z4eaj09hscAC&pg=PA68&dq=jewish+presence+in+apamea,+syria&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ-tGig-zNAhVI8WMKHdQVCNYQ6AEIPjAG#v=onepage&q=jewish%20presence%20in%20apamea%2C%20syria&f=false. Accessed July 12, 2016.
Shah, Khushbu. “Rescuing the last Jews of Aleppo.” CNN. November 28, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/27/middleeast/last-jews-aleppo-syria/index.html. Accessed July 12, 2016.
“Syrian Jews.” Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/syrianjews.html. Accessed July 13, 2016.
Taylor, Alan. “The Looting of Syria’s Archaeological Treasures.” The Atlantic. February 4, 2016. http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/02/the-looting-of-syrias-archaeological-treasures/459996/. Accessed July 13, 2016.