bequeathed from Roman days, not excluding those at Rome itself. The whole temple complex, still visible at a great distance, rests on an artificial terrace formed by a huge understructure of vaults. Aside from the huge size of the stone blocks in the walls and the colossal magnitude of the pillars, it is the wealth of detail in ornamentation and the figure work in the friezes that constitute the most im- pressive feature of the surviving structures.
Cities of a variety of types were scattered throughout southern Syria. There were the old Philistine cities along the coast — Gaza, Ascalon, Jaffa and Acre — , all of which by this time had become Hellenized. There were Herodian foundations such as Tiberias and Caesarea, a few Roman colonies like Nablus (Neapolis), the league of 'ten cities' (Decapolis) in the interior, and of course Jerusalem; but n<pne of them had the importance at this time that the northern and central cities did.
Still farther south, Petra was flourishing under the early emperors. The most beautiful façade and the impressive theatre belong to this period, as do other picturesque struc- tures of the incredible * rose- red city, half as old as time'. Politically, the Nabataeans promptly accepted the role of ally to Rome. Their kingdom attained its height under the long and prosperous rule of Harithath IV (9 B.C.-A.D. 40), who continued the process of Romanization. His realm included southern Palestine and Transjordan, south-eastern Syria and northern Arabia, where Nabataean caravans utilized well-policed wadi routes to by-pass Decapolis and bring Arabian goods to the markets of Syria. After this king a gradual decline set in, and not much is known of the last rulers of Nabataea. Damascus passed into Roman hands, probably under Nero, and other outlying holdings went the same way. Just what happened in that fateful year 105-106 which resulted in the overthrow of this border Syro-Arab state and its annexation by imperial Rome is not determined. Rome had already absorbed all the petty
