Syria Palaestina ( ), or Roman Palestine, was a Roman province in the Palestine region between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. The provincial capital was Caesarea Maritima.
Background
Judaea was a Roman province which incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, and extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Judea. It was named after Herod Archelaus's Tetrarchy of Judaea, but the Roman province encompassed a much larger territory. The name "Judaea" was derived from the Kingdom of Judah of the 6th century BC.
Following the deposition of Herod Archelaus in 6 AD, Judea came under direct Roman rule, during which time the Roman governor was given authority to punish by execution. The general population also began to be taxed by Rome. However, Jewish leaders retained broad discretion over affairs within Judaism. The Herodian kingdom was split into tetrarchies in 6 AD, and they were gradually absorbed into Roman provinces, with Roman Syria annexing Iturea and Trachonitis. The capital of the Judaea province was shifted from Jerusalem to Caesarea Maritima, which, according to historian H. H. Ben-Sasson, had been the "administrative capital" of the region beginning in 6 AD.
History
During the 1st and 2nd centuries, Judaea became the epicenter of a series of unsuccessful large-scale Jewish rebellions against Rome, known as the Jewish-Roman Wars. The Roman suppression of these revolts led to wide-scale destruction, a very high toll of life and enslavement. The First Jewish-Roman War (66-73) resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. Two generations later, the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136) erupted. Judea's countryside was devastated, and many were killed, displaced or sold into slavery. Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony under the name of Aelia Capitolina, and the province of Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina.
The province retained its capital, Caesarea Maritima, and therefore remained distinct from the province of Syria located further north with its capital in Antioch. Jerusalem, which held special religious significance for the Jews, was rebuilt as a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina. Jews were forbidden to settle there or in the immediate vicinity. While Syria was divided into several smaller provinces by Septimius Severus and later again by Diocletian, Syria Palaestina survived into late antiquity. Presumably it was small enough not to become dangerous as a potential starting point for usurpations. Instead, Diocletian even integrated parts of the province of Arabia into the province, namely the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula. He moved the Legio X Fretensis from Jerusalem to Aila (today's Eilat/Aqaba) to secure the country against Arab incursions. The part of the Roman imperial border that now ran through Palestine was subsequently placed under its own supreme commander, the Dux Palaestinae, who is known from the Notitia Dignitatum. The border wall, the Limes Palaestinae, which had existed for some time, was pushed further south.
In the 3rd century, Syria Palaestina experienced the crisis that spread throughout the empire, but the 4th century brought an economic upswing due the Christianization of the Roman Empire and the associated upswing in Christian pilgrimage to the "Holy Land". In the course of late antiquity, with imperial support, Christianity succeeded in asserting itself against Judaism in almost the entire region. The province was split into smaller provinces during the 4th and 5th centuries. In 358, areas that had formerly belonged to Arabia were transformed into a separate province of Palaestina Salutaris, with Petra as its capital. The remaining territory was named Palaestina Prima. Around the year 400, it had been further split into a smaller Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda. Palaestina Prima included the heartland with the capital Caesarea, while Palaestina Secunda extended to Galilee, the Golan and parts of the Transjordan, and its capital was Scythopolis (today Bet She'an). Salutaris was named Tertia or Salutaris.