Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

CHAPTER 21b
SYRIA, PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA
hugh kennedy
The eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean and its hinterland comprised
some of the richest areas of the eastern Roman empire in late antiquity.
Geographically, the area is most easily understood as a series of different
climatic zones running north–south. Along the Mediterranean seaboard
there is a well-watered strip which provides rich agricultural lands. In the
north, this belt is comparatively narrow where the mountains of Syria and
Phoenica Maritima come down almost to the sea. Only in a few places, like
the vicinity of Antioch and inland from Tripolis, are there extensive fertile
plains. In Palestine the fertile area becomes more extensive, though increasingly
arid in the south. The mountains themselves vary greatly in character.
In Syria II the mountains along the coast are poor and sparsely inhabited,
and further south the high summits of Phoenicia Maritima form an
effective barrier between coastal cities like Berytus and inland Damascus.
In Palestine, on the other hand, the hills are gentler and more densely
settled with villages and towns, including Jerusalem.
Inland, the rift valley runs all the way north–south from Syria I to
Palestine III. In the north, where the Orontes flows through it, the rift
valley is bordered on the east by the limestone massifs – rounded, rocky
hills which supported intensive settlement in late antiquity. Further south,
both the Biqa valley around Heliopolis (Baalbek) and the Jordan valley
were well populated and included such important cities as Tiberias and
Scythopolis (Baysān, Bet She’an). Even in the arid lands of the Wādī
�Araba south of the Dead Sea, the Byzantine period saw important settlements.
East of the rift valley, there is a belt of watered fertile land which
includes such populated areas as the Auranitis (H · awrān) around Bostra and
the hills of Moab. The eastern frontier of this land is represented by the
200 mm isohyet (the limits of the area with an annual rainfall of 200 mm)
which marks the furthest boundary of settled agriculture. This line bulges
eastward to include the H · aurān in the south, and in the north extends as
far as the Euphrates. Here the grain-growing plains of Euphratensis,
Osrhoene and Mesopotamia, between the anti-Taurus to the north and the
Syrian desert to the south, supported numerous towns and villages. This
588
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008