SYRIA
102
SYRIA
ly. Thirteen years after the date mentioned by Luke (A.D. 38), the heir of Caligula bestowed " the tetrarchy of Lysauias," by which Abilene is no doubt intended, on the elder Agrippa (Josejihus, Ant. xviii, (5, 10), and four years later Claudius confirmed tlie same prince in the possession of the "Abila of Lysanias'' {ibid, xix, 5, 1). Finally, in A.D. 53, Claudius, among other grants, con- ferred on the younger Agrippa "Abila, which had been the tetrarchy of Lysanias" {ibid, xx, 7, 1). Abila was taken by Placidus, one of the generals of Vespasian, in B.C. G9 (Josephiis, War, iv, 7, 0), and thenceforth was annexed to Syria, (e.) Palmyra appears to have occu- pied a ditferent position from the rest of the Syrian principalities. It was in no sense dependent upon Rome (Pliny, IJ. X. V, 25), but, relying on its position, claimed and exercised the right of self-government from the breaking-up of the Sj-rian kingdom to the reign of Trajan. Antony made an attempt against it in B.C. 41, but failed. It was not till Trajan's successes against the Parthians, between A.D. 114 and A.D. 116, that Palmyra was added to the empire. (_/!) Damascus is the last of the principalities which it is necessary to notice here. It appears to have been left by Pompey in the hands of an Arabian prince, Aretas, who, however, was to pay a tribute for it, and to allow the Romans to occupy it at their pleasure with a garrison (.Josephus, .4«^xiv, 4, 5; 5, 1 ; 11, 7). This state of things continued most likely to the settlement of the empire by Augustus, when Damascus was attached to the province of Sj-ria. Dur- ing the rest of Augustus's reign, and during the entire reign of Tiberius, this arrangement was in force; but it seems probable that Caligula, on his accession, separated Damascus from Syria and gave it to another Aretas, who was king of Petra, and a relation (son?) of the former. See Aretas. Hence the fact noted by Paul (2 Cor. xi, 32), that at the time of his conversion Damascus was hekl by an " ethnarch of king Aretas." The semi-inde- pendence of Damascus is thought to have continued through the reigns of Caligula and Claudius (from A.D. 37 to A.D. 54), but to have come to an end under Nero, when the district was probably reattached to Syria.
The list of the governors of Syria, from its conquest by the Romans to the destruction of Jerusalem, has been made out with a near approach to accuracy, and is as shown in the adjoining table.
The general historj^ of Syria during this period may- be summed up in a few words. Down to the battle of Pharsalia, Syria was fairly tranquil, the only troubles being with the Arabs, who occasionally attacked the eastern frontier. The Roman governors labored hard to raise the condition of the province, taking great pains to restore the cities, which had gone to decay un- der the later Seleucidae. Gabinius, proconsul in the years B.C. 56 and 55, made himself particularly con- spicuous in works of this kind. After Pharsalia (B.C. 46) the troubles of Syria were renewed. Julius Caesar gave the province to his relative Sextus in B.C. 47 ; but Pompey's party was still so strong in the East that in the next year one of his adherents, Caecilius Bassus, put Sextus to death, and established himself in the govern- ment so firmly that he was able to resist for three years three proconsuls appointed by the Senate to dispossess him, and only tinally yielded upon terms which he himself offered to his antagonists. Many of the petty princes of Syria sided with him, and some of the no- madic Arabs took his pay and fought under his banner (Strabo, xvi, 2, 10), Bassus had but just made his submission, when, upon the assassination of Cresar, Syria was disputed between Cassius and Dolabella, the friend of Antony, a dispute terminated by the suicide of Dola- bella, B.C. 43, at Laodicea, where he was besieged by Cassius. The next year Ca.ssius left his province and went to Philippi, where, after the first unsuccessful en- gagement, he, too, committed suicide. Syria then fell to Antony, who appointed as his legate L. Decidius Saxa, in B.C. 41. The troubles of the empire now tempted
the Parthians to seek a further extension of their do- minions at the expense of Rome, and Pacorus, the crown- prince, son of Arsaces XIV, as.sisted by the Roman ref- ugee Labieiuis, overran Syria and Asia Minor, defeat- ing Antony's generals, and threatening Rome with the loss of all her Asiatic possessions (B.C. 40-39). Ven- tidius, however, in B.C. 38, defeated the Parthians, slew Pacorus. and recovered for Rome her former boundary, A quiet time followed. From B.C. 38 to B.C. 31 Syria was governed jjeaceably by the legates of Antony, and, after his defeat at Actium and death at Alexandria in that year, by those of Augustus. In B.C. 27 took place that formal division of the provinces between Au- gustus and the Senate from which the imperial admin- istrative system dates; and Syria, being from its ex- posed situation among the pi-ovi)icice principis, continued to be ruled by legates, who were of consular rank {con- sulureg), and bore severally the full title of "Legatus Augusti pro prtEtore." During the whole of this period the province enlarged or contracted its limits according as it pleased the reigning emperor to bestow tracts of land on the native princes, or to resume them and place them under his legate. Judaja, when attached in this way to Sj'ria, occupied a peculiar position. Partly, per- . haps, on account of its remoteness from the Syrian cap- ital, Antioch, partly, no doubt, because of the peculiar character of its people, it was thought best to make it, in a certain sense, a separate government. A special procurator was therefore appointed to rule it, who was subordinate to the governor of Syria, but within his own province had the power of a legatus. See Juu^a. Syria continued without serious disturbance from the expulsion of the Parthians (B.C. 38) to the breaking- out of the Jewish war (A.D. 66). In B.C. 19 it was vi.sited by Augustus, and in A.D. 18-19 by Germani- cus, who died at Antioch in the last-named year. In A.D. 44-47 it was the scene of a severe famine. See Agabus.