A Quick Tour of Roman Syria by Conor Murtagh

Roman Syria is an extremely interesting and underlooked part of Roman history. Being conquered by Pompey and brought into the Roman Empire in 64BCE, it stood at the Eastern edge of the Empire, a stalwart wall against the Eastern Empires, like the Parthians and Sassanians. Already having Hellenic influences due to a majority of the cities being founded by the Seleucid Empire, one of the Macedonian successor empires following the death of Alexander the Great, the province largely settled into Roman rule. (at least… for a couple hundred years.) We start in Antioch, the capital of the province, roughly the size of Alexandria (Egypt). Founded by the first Seleucid emperor, Seleucus I Nicator, in 300BCE, the city was Hellenic in culture, serving as the capital of the Seleucid Empire, until the Romans conquered it in 64 BCE, where it became a civitas libera. Overlooking the city was Silpius, the mountain where Io, the daughter of the first king of Argos, died of grief (according to local beliefs.) On this mountain, potentially on the orders of Octavian, a temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. We turn a corner, where a large crowd are moving into a hippodrome. The Circus of Antioch was likely built during the Reign of Augustus, for chariot racing, and was modelled on the Circus Maximus of Rome. It was used for more than just for chariot racing, though, as in 115CE, Trajan had to shelter in it due to an earthquake which destroyed large parts of the city. During the early emergence of Christianity, Antioch became a chief centre, attracting some of the earliest missionaries due to its large Jewish population in the Kerateion quarter of the city. Amongst these missionaries was Peter himself. We leave the capital heading south, passing shrines and forts. We stop at Heliopolis, an originally Phoenician city named Baalbeck, it was renamed under Alexander the Great. Baal was a semitic god, one of rain and fertility. It was a religious centre before the Macedonian and Roman colonisation of Syria, and continued to be during the Roman occupation (likely beginning under Augustus in 15BCE). Before Christianity was popularised, the Romans built massive temples in this city, dedicated to Jupiter, Baccus and Venus.

We leave, going North East along the Via Hans when we stop in Palmyra. A city famed for its palm tree groves (from where the city takes its name), it was built upon a desert spring. After the Romans conquered the Seleucid Empire, in 64BCE, Palmyra remained free. It traded with both the Romans and the Parthians, but belonged to neither, itself just a minor sheikdom. Marc Anthony sent a force to conquer it in 41 BCE, however, and the Palmyrenes sought shelter in Parthian lands. By 14 CE, the city had paid tribute to Emperor Tiberius and was officially part of the Roman Empire. However, due to the distance from Rome, Roman authority was minimal, apart from tax collectors being present – no magistrates or prefects ever being recorded to reside in the city. The city, similar to Antioch, became a free city in 129CE under Hadrian. Due to its location, Palmyra was influenced by Roman, Greek and Eastern (e.g. Parthian and Sassanian) cultures. It has its own gods (like Bel and Baalshamin) and language (Palmyrene Aramaic), its architecture was a blend of Greco-Roman and Eastern styles – like the Grand Collonade (pictured), a road flanked by a row of Corinthian columns, each with a bracket to hold statuettes of local Palmyrene heroes. However, the city still had temples dedicated to the Hellenic gods, and some of the older temples were, of course, moved from one Pantheon to another, but still keeping its Eastern architectural influences.

We eventually end up at the top of a hill overlooking the Euphrates river. This is (what we now call) Dura-Europos, initially founded in 300 BCE. In Antiquity, it was only known as “Dura”, simply meaning ‘Fortress’ in Aramaic. Due to its location of the borders of Roman Syria and the Parthian empire, it changed hands a few times, with the Romans conquering it in 165AD. It is home to the earliest known house church, a synagogue, alongside Hellenic and Semitic temples. Architecturally, it was a mix of Greco-Eastern (particularly Babylonian) styles, with its art being influences by Iranian cultures during its time under the Parthians. Eventually, around 200CE, the entire northern part of the city was dominated by the Roman military camp. In 256CE, the Persians destroyed the city in during a siege.