The hill at the centre of Hama — technically a tell, an artificial mound formed by millennia of accumulated building and rebuilding — has been occupied since at least the Neolithic period, making it one of the longest continuously inhabited sites in Syria. It served as the citadel of the ancient city of Hamath, which appears in the Bible and Assyrian annals as a significant Aramaean city-state; the Assyrian king Sargon II conquered it in 720 BC and deported most of its population. In the Hellenistic period it became Epiphaneia, and later the Byzantines and Arabs both maintained fortifications on the summit.
Nothing of the fortress survives above ground. Its stones were systematically removed over centuries, used in mosques, bridges, and private buildings across the city — a common fate for Syrian citadels when a town outgrew its defensive need for them. The bare hilltop still commands a panoramic view over the Orontes valley and the minarets of the old city. The tell's stratigraphy was partially recorded by Danish archaeologists in the early 20th century, who found the layered remains of Aramaean, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic occupation stacked in sequence beneath the surface.