Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1101

 SYRIA, powerful in the time of Saul and David was Zobah, as appears from the number of men which that people brout;lit into the field against David (/6. viii. 4), and from the rich booty of which they were spoiled by the I.sraeUtes {lb. v. 7). Even after sus- taining a signal defeat, they were able in a little time to take the field again with a eonsideralde force (/6. X. 6). David nevertheless subdued ail Syria, which, however, recovered its independence after tlie death of Solomon, u.c. 975. From this period Damascus, the history of which has been already given [Da- mascus, Vol. I. p. 748], became tlie most con.sider- able of the Syrian kingdoms. Syria was conquered by Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, about the year 74" B. c, and was annexed to that kingdom. Hence it successively formed part of the Babylonian and Persian empires ; but its history presents nothing remarkable down to the time of its conquest by Alexander the Great. After the death of that con- queror in B.C. 323, Syria and Jlesopotamia fell to the share of his general Selcucus Nicator. The so- vereignty of Seleucus, however, was disputed by Antigonus, and was not established till after the battle of Ipsus, in 301 B.C., when he founded An- tioch on the Orontes, as the new capital of his king- dom. [Antiocueia, Vol. I. p. 142.] From this period the descendants of Seleucus, known by the appellation of Seleucidae, occupied the throne of Syria down to the year 65 B.C., when Antiochus XIII. Asiaficus was dethroned by Pompey, and Syria became a Roman province. (Plut. Pomp. 39 ; Ap- pian, Si/r. 46 ; Eutrop. vi. 14.) Into the history of Syria under the Seleucidae it is unnecessary to enter, since a table of that dynasty is given in the Dictionary of Biography [Vol. III. p. 769], and the public events will be found described in the lives of the respective monarchs. The tract of which Pompey took possession under the name of Syria comprised the whole country from the gulf of Is.sus and the Euphrates to Egypt and the deserts of Arabia. (Appian, Syr. 50, iMitk. 106.) The province, however, did not at first comprehend the whole of this tract, but consisted merely of a strip of land along the sea-coast, which, from the gulf of Issus to Damascus, was of slender breadth, but which to the S. of that city spread itself out as far as the town of Canatha. The rest was parcelled out in such a manner that part con- sisted of the territories of a great number of free cities, and part was assigned to various petty princes, whose absolute dependence upon Rome led to their donnnions being gradually incorporated into the pro- vince. (Ajipian, Syr. 50.) The extent of the pro- vince was thus continually increased during the first century of the P^mpire ; and in the time of Ha- drian it had become so large, that a partition of it was deemed advisable. Connnagene, the most northern of the ten districts into which, according to I'tolemy (v. 15), the upper or northern Syria was divided, had become an independent kingdom before the time of Pompey's conquest, and therefore did not form part of the province established by him. [Co.M- siagenk, Vol. I. p. 651.] The extent of this pro- vince may be determined by the free cities into which it was divided by Pompey ; the names of which are known jiartly from their being mentioned by Josephus (^Ant. xiv. 4. § 4), and partly from the era which they used, namely that of b.c. 63, the year in which they received their freedom. In this way we are enabled to enumerate the following cities in the original province of Syria : Antiocheia, Sc- SYRIA. 1077 leuceia in Pieria, Epiphaneia, between Aretliusa and Emesa, Apameia ; nearly all the towns of the Dica- pjolis, as Abila (near Gadara), Antiocheia ad llip- pum or Hippos, Canatha, Dium, Gadara, Pelbi, .md Philadelpheia ; in Phoenicia, Tripolis, Sidon, Tyrus, Dora ; in the north of Palestine, Scythopolis and Samaria ; on the coast, Turris Stratonis (Caesareia), Joppe, lamneia, Azotus, Gaza ; and in the south, IIarissa. The gift of freedom to so many cities is not to be attributed to the generosity of the Romans, but must be regarded as a necessary measure of policy. All these towns had their own jurisdiction, and administered their own revenues; but they were tributary to the Romans, and their taxes were levied according to the Roman system established on the organisation of the province. ('" Syria turn primum facta est stipendiaria," Veil. Pat. ii. 37.) The first governors of Syria, and especially Gabinius, who was proconsul in the year 57 B.C., took much pains in restorirjg the cities which had been destroyed. (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 5, § 3.) The divisions esta- blished in Judaea by Gabinius have been noticed in another article. [Palaestina, Vol. II. p. 532.] Caesar, during his expedition against Pharnaces, B.C. 47, confirmed these cities in their rights, and likewise extended them to others, as Gabala, LaO' diceia ad Mare, and Ptolemais. (Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 314, sq.; Norisius, Ep. Syrom. pp. 175 — 213, 450.) Of the regulations adopted in Syria during the reign of Augustus we have little information. The same political reasons which dictated the es- tablishment of these free cities, where it was possible to do so, rendered the continuance of dynastic governments necessary in the eastern and southern districts of the province, where either the noinadic character of the population, or its obstinate adherence to ancient institutions was adverse to the introduc- tion of new and regular forms of government. These dynasties, however, like the free cities, were used as the responsible organs of the Roman ad- ministration, and were tributaries of Rome. Thus, in the histories of Conmiagene and Judaea, we find instances in which their sovereigns were cited to ap- pear at Rome, were tried, condemned, and punished. The Roman idea of a province is essentially a finan- cial one. A province was considered as a " praedium populi Romani" (Cic. Fer?'. ii. 3); and hence the dynasties of Syria may be considered as belonging to the province just as much as the free towns, since, like them, they were merely instruments for the collection of revenue. (Cf. Iluschkc, Ueber demur Zeit der Geburt Jesu Christi yeludtenen Ci-nsiis, pp. 100 — 112.) Thus we find these petty sovereigns in other parts of the world regarding themselves merely as the agents, or procuratores, of the Roman people (Sail. J«»/. 14; Mallei, Mus. Ver. p. 234); nor were they allowed to subsist longer tlian was necessary to prepare their subjects for incoiporation with the province of which they were merely ad- juncts. The Syrian dynasties were as follows: 1. Chalcis ad Relum. 2. The dynasty of Aretbusa and Emesa. 3. Abila. 4. Damascus. 5. .ludaca. 6. I'almyia. These states have been treated of under tlieir re- spective names, and we shall here only add a few particulars that may serve further to illustrate the Instoiy of some of them during the time that they were under the Roman sway. All that is essential to 1)0 known rcsjjci-ting the first three dynasties has already been recorded. With regard to Dama.^cns, it may be added that M. Aemilius Siaurus, the first 3z 3