Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

592 21b. syria, palestine and mesopotamia
only included the southern H · aurān, the hilly area around Gerasa (Jerash)
and Philadelphia (Amman), and the mountains of Moab.
Inland from Syria I lay Euphratensis along the west bank of the great
river which gave it its name. Its capital was the ancient cult centre of
Hierapolis (Manbij). Across the river lay Osrhoene, centred on Edessa
(Urfa), and to the north of that on the southern fringes of Armenia lay
Mesopotamia with its metropolis of Amida (Diyarbakir).
The eastern frontiers of the empire were undefined in many years. The
northernmost section of frontier, as it had been determined by Jovian’s
treaty of 363 with the Persians, ran from the upper Tigris in a generally
south-easterly direction along the flanks of Mount Izala (the Tur Abdin) in
such a way that the mountains were in Byzantine hands while the plains
belonged to the Persians. Here the boundary was well known, and at two
points Byzantine fortifications directly confronted Persian ones. The first
of these was where the fort of Rhabdion overlooks Persian Sisauranon,
just five kilometres away, and the second some seventy kilometres to the
west, where Dara was placed to observe movement westward from Nisibis
(Nusaybin). 10
Further south, where lack of water meant that large armies could not be
maintained, there was no frontier as such, but we can trace the most easterly
outposts of Byzantine control. On the Euphrates, at its junction with
the Khabur, Circesium was the most advanced Byzantine outpost, while
the Sasanians held Dura Europas, which Shapur had taken in 256. Further
defence was provided by fortifications at Birtha (Halebiye) and Callinicum.
Across the Syrian desert the frontier was unmarked, but the Byzantines
controlled the outposts on Strata Diocletiana, which ran south from
Callinicum through Sergiopolis to Palmyra, and then south-west to
Damascus, though it is unlikely that all these outposts were garrisoned in
the sixth century, when responsibility for security passed into the hands of
the Ghassānids after about 530. South of Damascus, the eastern frontiers
of Byzantine control marched with the limits of the settled lands as far
south as Aila (�Aqaba) on the Red Sea. The frontier forts which had been
constructed on such sites as Lejjūn were mostly abandoned by the sixth
century, and the Byzantine empire was defended by diplomacy and subsidy
rather than force of arms in this area. 11
The overall command of the armies in the east was entrusted to the magister
militum per Orientem, who was based in Antioch, where he had his praetorium.
There were duces to command the local forces, although it is not clear
10 For the frontier in this area see Whitby (1986) and Whitby Maurice 197–213; also Palmer (1990)
4–6.
11 For the Ghassānids see Sartre (1982) 177–88 and Shahı -d (1995). The disbanding of the limitanei is
claimed by Procopius (Anecdota xxiv.12–14) and some would see the archaeological evidence as
confirming this; see Parker (1986); for evidence of the decay of the fortress at Lejjūn in the mid sixth
century, Parker et al. (1987). Sartre (1982) 195–6 notes the almost total absence of fortifications in the
Negev in the early seventh century.
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