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Rh time fully Semitized and were mingling and hence becoming more and more homogeneous. Phoenicians and Aramaeans, Arabs and Jews, Macedonians and Greeks — all could be found in any city of Syria, where ancient antagonisms con- sequently faded away. From this mingling the Romans kept somewhat aloof, unmindful of the culture of the provincials whom they ruled. They planted few colonies, of which the most important were a settlement of veterans at Beirut and another at Baalbek, both destined to become vital centres of Roman culture. But inevitably the chief Roman interest in Syria was to use it as a base against Parthia and to exploit its resources. The Syrians manifested but little interest in the Roman military campaigns except when their own safety was threatened.

The performance of Roman administration in such a province as Syria, which had a civilization as high as the Roman though differing in character, was not as successful or brilliant as in such half-civilized provinces as Spain or Gaul. In Syria the Greek settlements, Phoenician cities and Judaean towns, with their developed social, intellectual and economic life and their schools of art, philosophy and literature, found but little to borrow from Rome. To them Latin literature remained of no interest. But the Arabs, whether speaking Arabic or — like the Ituraeans, Idu- maeans and Nabataeans — Aramaic, responded differently. Among them, east of Anti-Lebanon and of settled Trans- jordan, Roman colonies were set up, each starting with a nucleus of Italian settlers around which others were grouped, and developing into special communities.

After reducing insurgent Petra in a.d. 105 Trajan annexed the regions east and south of the Dead Sea and incorporated them into the empire as the province of Arabia. With Syria as the focus of Roman power in the Near East, Roman administration established a chain of posts along the fringe of the desert to protect the more settled and civilized areas. The forts were often garrisoned with Rh