Laodicea (Ancient Greek: Λαοδίκεια) was a port city and important colonia of the Roman Empire in ancient Syria, near the modern city of Latakia. It was also called Laodicea in Syria, Laodicea-by-the-Sea (Ancient Greek: Λαοδίκεια ἡ Πάραλος) or Laodicea ad Mare.

Laodicea was founded in the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, the king and founder of the Seleucid Empire, in honor of his mother, Laodice. Laodicea later became part of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, it served as the capital of Roman Syria. From 528 to 636 AD, it was the capital of the Byzantine province of Theodorias, until its siege and conquest by the Rashidun Caliphate.

The Phoenician city of Ramitha was located in the coastal area where the modern port of Latakia is, known to the Greeks as Leukê Aktê or "white coast".

Laodicea got its name when was first founded in the fourth century BC under the rule of the Seleucid Empire: it was named by Seleucus I Nicator in honor of his mother, Laodice (Greek: Λαοδίκεια ἡ Πάραλος).

In 174 BC, an inscription was placed in the city, which has only survived through a Roman-era copy. It records how a family appealed to local authorities for protection when someone wished to place a statue inside their private sanctuary dedicated to the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis.

The Roman Pompey the Great conquered the city from the Armenian king Tigranes the Great along with all of Syria in 64 BCE and later Julius Caesar declared the city "free polis". Some Roman merchants moved to live in the city under Augustus, but the city was always culturally "Greek" influenced.

The Romans made a "Pharum" at the port, that was renowned as one of the best of Ancient Levant; then created a Roman road from southern Anatolia toward Berytus and Damascus, that greatly improved the commerce through the port of Laodicea.

There are few remains of what was a rich and well-built town (Strab. 16.2.9): colonnades, a monumental arch, sarcophagi, all within the modern town. The sanctuaries, public baths, amphitheater, hippodrome, mentioned by ancient authors or by Greek inscriptions, and the rampart gates depicted on coins, have all disappeared...The town occupies a rocky promontory...Including the port, its area was ca. 220 ha...A wide avenue, bordered with porticos in Roman times, ran N-S across the town, from the tip of the peninsula to the gate where the road to Antioch started; perpendicular to this, three colonnaded streets ran from E to W. The one to the N was centered on the entry to the citadel on the high hill to the NE. The central one came from the E gate, where the Apamea road reached the city. The street today is occupied by the great souk, where there is still an alignment of 13 monolithic granite columns. A tetrapylon marked the crossing of this thoroughfare with the N-S avenue. The S street began at the port and ended to the E at the long steep hill to the SE, where a monumental four-way arch, erroneously called a tetrapylon, closed off the view. This arch consists of four semicircular arches, one on each side, supporting a stone cupola. Columns engaged in pilasters serve as buttresses at the corners of the four masonry moles. Not far away, inside a mosque, is the corner of a Corinthian peristyle, with capitals and entablature. Virtually nothing remains of the theater, which was built against the SE hill and whose cavea had a diameter of ca. 100 m. Princeton: Laodicea ad mare