Roman Theatre at Apamea

Excavation

The site has been heavily damaged through quarying during the Ayyubid, Mamluke and Ottoman eras. The first archaeological exploration of the site happened around the early 1930s by an American mission. Between 1931 and 1939 the site was excavated by a Belgian archaeological team from the University of Brussels. The team attempted to clear several parts of the site from architectural falls. However, all unpublished field notes and artefacts from the expedition were lost when the university was bombed during World War II. Exploration of the site was only resumed in the late 1960s. It was abandoned in 1971 by the Belgian mission due to the expensive and difficult nature of the work needed to clear the large theatre.