Res Gestae

These two provinces, crowded with bands of brigands, were long ago, during the war with the pirates, sent under the yoke by the proconsul Servilius[*](P. Servilius Isauricus, in 74 B.C.) and made to pay tribute. And these regions indeed, lying, as it were, upon a promontory, are separated from the eastern continent by Mount Amanus.

But the frontier of the East, extending a long distance in a straight line, reaches from the banks of the Euphrates to the borders of the Nile, being bounded on the left by the Saracenic races and on the right exposed to the waves of the sea. Of this district Nicator Seleucus took possession and greatly increased it in power, when by right of succession he was holding the rule of Persia after the death of Alexander of Macedon; and he was a successful and efficient

For by taking advantage of the great number of men whom he ruled for a long time in peace, in place of their rustic dwellings he built cities of great strength and abundant wealth; and many of these, although they are now called by the Greek names which were imposed upon them by the will of their founder, nevertheless have not lost the old appellations in the Assyrian tongue which the original settlers gave them.

And first after Osdroene, which, as has been said, I have omitted from this account, Commagene, now called Euphratensis, gradually lifts itself into eminence;[*](Above the surrounding country.) it is famous for the great cities of Hierapolis, the ancient Ninus, and Samosata.

Next Syria spreads for a distance over a beautiful plain. This is famed for Antioch, a city know to all the world, and without a rival, so rich is it in imported and domestic commodities; likewise for Laodicia, Apamia, and also Seleucia, most flourishing cities from their very origin.

After this comes Phoenicia, lying at the foot of Mount Libanus,[*](Lebanon.) a region full of charm and beauty, adorned with many great cities; among these in attractiveness and the renown of their names Tyre, Sidon and Berytus are conspicuous, and equal to these are Emissa and Damascus, founded in days long past.

Now these provinces, encircled by the river Orontes, which, after flowing past the foot of that lofty mountain Cassius, empties into the Parthenian Sea,[*](Near the Gulf of Issos, in south-eastern Cilicia.) were taken from the realms of the

The last region of the Syrias is Palestine, extending over a great extent of territory and abounding in cultivated and well-kept lands; it also has some splendid cities, none of which yields to any of the others, but they rival one another, as it were, by plumb-line.[*](I.e. exactly.) These are Caesarea, which Herodes[*](Herod the Great.) built in honour of the emperor Octavianus,[*](Augustus. ) Eleutheropolis, and Neapolis, along with Ascalon and Gaza, built in a former age.

In these districts no navigable river is anywhere to be seen, but in numerous places natural warm springs gush forth, adapted to many medicinal uses. But these regions also met with a like fate, being formed into a province by Pompey, after he had defeated the Jews and taken Jerusalem,[*](In 63 B.C.) but left to the jurisdiction of a governor.

Adjacent to this region is Arabia, which on one side adjoins the country of the Nabataei, a land producing a rich variety of wares and studded with strong castles and fortresses, which the watchful care of the early inhabitants reared in suitable and readily defended defiles, to check the inroads of neighbouring tribes. This region also has, in addition to some towns, great cities, Bostra, Gerasa and Philadelphia, all strongly defended by mighty walls. It was given the name of a province, assigned a governor, and compelled to obey our laws by the emperor Trajan,[*](In A.D. 105.) who, by frequent victories crushed the arrogance of its inhabitants when he was waging glorious war with Media and the Parthians.