Apollodorus of Damascus, Roman architect and engineer, fl. late 1st to early 2d cent. A.D., b. Syria. Apollodorus was responsible for nearly all buildings designed under the emperor Trajan, for whom he was official architect. Known for his use of symmetry and axial organization, Apollodorus produced his greatest achievement in the Forum of Trajan (see forum) and Trajan's Column (see Roman art). His treatise Engines of War survives.