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38-599: An inscription at the town, dating back to Roman times , attests to the existence of a shipwright in the town, building river-going boats to use on the Orontes. The town also has the remains of an ancient bridge. The Christianization of the city probably happened after 322. During the Crusades , the town was the property of the Principality of Antioch until it was captured by Saladin in 1188. The town fell back to

76-652: A Duumvir, when Marcus Servilius was a Roman consul in 3 AD. The discovery of coins issued by Quirinius as governor of Syria, bearing the date "the 36th year of Caesar [Augustus]" (5/6 AD counted from the Battle of Actium ) confirmed his position there. The census that he conducted in Syria has been confirmed by an inscription on the Stele of Quintus Aemilius Secundus purchased in Beirut in 1674 and brought to Venice, commemorating

114-482: A Roman officer who had served under him stating among other achievements: "By order of the same Quirinius I took a census of the city of Apamea". The Roman historian Tacitus wrote in his Annals Book III that when Quirinius died in 21 AD, Tiberius Caesar "requested that the Senate pay tribute ... with a public funeral", and described him as a "tireless soldier, who had by his faithful services become consul during

152-428: A diverse demographic distribution. The rural inland was mostly populated by Aramaic speakers descended from various West Semitic peoples who inhabited Syria. Arabs were settled throughout Hauran , Trachonitis and Emesa which they controlled. Arabs were also part of Palmyra 's composition, which included Aramaeans, Arabs and Amorites . The Phoenician coast maintained a Phoenician -speaking majority well into

190-490: A few years they were divorced: in 20 AD he accused her of claiming that he was her son's father, and later of trying to poison him during their marriage. Tacitus claims that she was popular with the public, who regarded Quirinius as carrying on a prosecution out of spite. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus in 6 AD, Judaea (the conglomeration of Samaria , Judea and Idumea ) came under direct Roman administration, with Coponius appointed as prefect . At

228-620: Is in an inscription from 14 AD discovered in Antioch Pisidia known as Res Gestae Divi Augusti ('The Deeds of the Divine Augustus'), which states: "A great crowd of people came together from all over Italy to my election, ... when Publius Sulpicius (Quirinius) and Gaius Valgius were consuls." Two other inscriptions also found in Pisidian Antioch ( Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 9502–9503) mentioned Quirinius as

266-527: The Roman province of Judea ; such province was placed under the direct authority of the Legate of Syria Publius Sulpicius Quirinius , who appointed Coponius as Prefect of Judea. Following the death of Herod Philip II (34 AD) and the removal of Herod Antipas (39 AD) Ituraea , Trachonitis , Galilee and Perea were also transferred under the jurisdiction of the province of Syria. From 37 to 41 AD, much of

304-645: The Arab . Philip became the 33rd emperor of Rome upon its millennial celebration. Roman Syria was invaded in 252/253 (the date is disputed) after a Roman field army was destroyed in the Battle of Barbalissos by the King of Persia Shapur I which left the Euphrates river unguarded and the region was pillaged by the Persians. In 259/260 a similar event happened when Shapur I again defeated a Roman field army and captured

342-554: The Crusaders under Bohemond VI of Antioch and Tripoli in 1260. The city was finally re-captured by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1267. Nothing remains of the town's Crusader citadel, as it was quarried for building stones. Darkush was visited by Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in the 1220s, during Ayyubid rule. He noted that it was a "fortress near Antâkiyyah , in the 'Awâsim Province ." On 13 August 1822

380-557: The Roman emperor, Valerian, alive at the Battle of Edessa . Again, Roman Syria suffered as cities were captured, sacked and pillaged. From 268 to 273, Syria was part of the breakaway Palmyrene Empire . Following the reforms of Diocletian , Syria Coele became part of the Diocese of the East . Sometime between 330 and 350 (likely c. 341), the province of Euphratensis was created out of

418-702: The Syrian army, based on Legio XII Fulminata , reinforced by auxiliary troops, to restore order in Judaea and quell the revolt. The legion, however, was ambushed and destroyed by Jewish rebels at the Battle of Beth Horon , a result that shocked the Roman leadership. The future emperor Vespasian was then put in charge of subduing the Jewish revolt. In the summer of 69, Vespasian, with the Syrian units supporting him, launched his bid to become Roman emperor. He defeated his rival Vitellius and ruled as emperor for ten years when he

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456-672: The census did trigger the revolt of Judas of Galilee and the formation of the party of the Zealots , according to Josephus and of which Luke speaks in the Acts of the Apostles . There is a reference to Quirinius in the Gospel of Luke chapter 2 , which mentions the birth of Jesus alongside a reference to the time of the Census of Quirinius , a reference which is widely held to contradict

494-544: The colony of Antioch of Pisidia . By 1 AD, Quirinius was appointed tutor to Augustus' grandson Gaius Caesar , until the latter died from wounds suffered on campaign. When Augustus' support shifted to his stepson Tiberius , Quirinius changed his allegiance to the latter. Having been married to Claudia Appia, about whom little is known, he divorced her and around 3 AD married Aemilia Lepida , daughter of Quintus Aemilius Lepidus and sister of Manius Aemilius Lepidus , who had originally been betrothed to Lucius Caesar . Within

532-749: The country, at that time under the Hamdanids , although still under the official suzerainty of the Abbasid caliphs and also claimed by the Fatimid caliphs. After emperor John Kurkuas failed to conquer Syria up to Jerusalem, a Muslim reconquest of Syria followed in the late 970s undertaken by the Fatimid Caliphate that resulted in the ousting of the Byzantines from most parts of Syria. However, Antioch and other northern parts of Syria remained in

570-530: The empire and other parts were under the protection of the emperors through their Hamdanid, Mirdasid , and Marwanid proxies, until the Seljuk arrival, who after three decades of incursions, conquered Antioch in 1084. Antioch was captured again during the 12th century by the revived armies of the Comnenii . However, by that time the city was regarded as part of Asia Minor and not of Syria. Provinicia Syria had

608-621: The end of 2nd century, and their main urban centers included Tyre , Sidon and Berytus . On the other hand, Greeks comprised a majority in Hellenistic urban centers such Antioch , Apamea , Cyrrhus and the Decapolis , which had been settled by Greeks under Seleucid patronage. Estimates for the population of the entire Levant in the 1st century vary from 3.5–4 million to 6 million, levels only matched even by 19th century levels. Urban centers peaked and so did population density in

646-463: The events mentioned Luke 2:1-5 are to be linked with the proceeding verse rather than 2:6ff. Such a solution would be compatible with the chronology found in Josephus. Quirinius served as governor of Syria with authority over Judaea until 12 AD, when he returned to Rome as a close associate of Tiberius . Nine years later he died and was given a public funeral. The earliest known mention of his name

684-434: The four legions from the governor of Syria and handed it over to the governor of Palestine . Septimius Severus divided the province of Syria proper into Syria Coele and Syria Phoenice , with Antioch and Tyre as their respective provincial capitals. As related by Theodor Mommsen , It was Severus who at length withdrew the first place in the Roman military hierarchy from the Syrian governor. After having subdued

722-584: The later 2nd century, the Roman Senate included several notable Syrians, including Claudius Pompeianus and Avidius Cassius . Syria was of crucial strategic importance during the Crisis of the Third Century . In 244 AD, Rome was ruled by a native Syrian from Philippopolis (modern day Shahba ) in the province of Arabia Petraea. The emperor was Marcus Iulius Philippus, more commonly known as Philip

760-695: The mountains to the south. The town of Darkush lies in a wadi in the Orontes River basin, at the foothills of the an-Nusayriyah Mountains . Roman Syria Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great , who had become the protector of the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria . Following

798-464: The neighbourhood of Lanuvium , a Latin town near Rome, Quirinius followed the normal pathway of service for an ambitious young man of his social class. According to the Roman historian Florus , Quirinius defeated the Marmaridae, a tribe of desert raiders from Cyrenaica, possibly while governor of Crete and Cyrene around 14 BC, but nonetheless declined the honorific name "Marmaricus". In 12 BC he

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836-629: The partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into a tetrarchy in 4 BC, it was gradually absorbed into Roman provinces, with Roman Syria annexing Iturea and Trachonitis . By the late 2nd century AD, the province was divided into Coele Syria and Syria Phoenice . Syria was annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC, when Pompey the Great had the Seleucid king Antiochus XIII Asiaticus executed and deposed his successor Philip II Philoromaeus . Pompey appointed Marcus Aemilius Scaurus to

874-564: The post of governor of Syria. Following the fall of the Roman Republic and its transformation into the Roman Empire , Syria became a Roman imperial province, governed by a Legate . During the early empire, the Roman army in Syria accounted for three legions with auxiliaries who defended the border with Parthia . In 6 AD, Emperor Augustus deposed the ethnarch Herod Archelaus and united Judea , Samaria and Idumea into

912-413: The province—which had wished at that time to make Niger emperor, as it had formerly done with its governor Vespasian —amidst resistance from the capital Antioch in particular, he ordained its partition into a northern and a southern half, and gave to the governor of the former, which was called Coele-Syria , two legions, to the governor of the latter, the province of Syro-Phoenicia , one [legion]. From

950-587: The rural settlements. Antioch and Palmyra reached a peak of 200,000–250,000 inhabitants, while Apamea counted 117,000 'free citizens' circa AD 6. Combined with their dependancies and villages, Apamea and Cyrrhus may have counted as high as 500,000 each. The Syrian Coastal Mountain Range , marginal hill country, were less densely settled and had a population of around 40–50,000. The inhabitants of Syria adopted Greek customs while maintaining elements of Near Eastern culture. The continuity of pre-Hellenistic cultures

988-513: The same time, Quirinius was appointed Legate of Syria, with instructions to assess Judea Province for taxation purposes. One of his first duties was to carry out a census as part of this order. The Jews already hated their pagan conquerors, and censuses were forbidden under Jewish law. The assessment was greatly resented by the Jews, and open revolt was prevented only by the efforts of the high priest Joazar . Despite efforts to prevent revolt,

1026-587: The small coastal province Theodorias out of territory from both provinces. The region remained one of the most important provinces of the Byzantine Empire . It was occupied by the Sasanians between 609 and 628, then reconquered by the emperor Heraclius , but lost again to the advancing Muslims after the Battle of Yarmouk and the fall of Antioch . The city of Antioch was reconquered by Nikephorus Phocas in 963, along with other parts of

1064-564: The southern region was separated from Syria and transformed into a client kingdom under Herod Agrippa I . After Agrippa's death, his kingdom was gradually re-absorbed into the Roman Empire, until it was officially transformed into a Roman province following the death of Herod Agrippa II . Syrian province forces were directly engaged in the First Jewish–Roman War of 66–70 AD. In 66 AD, Cestius Gallus , legate of Syria, brought

1102-466: The territory of Syria Coele along the western bank of the Euphrates and the former Kingdom of Commagene , with Hierapolis as its capital. After c. 415, Syria Coele was further subdivided into Syria I (or Syria Prima ), with its capital remaining at Antioch , and Syria II ( Syria Secunda ) or Syria Salutaris , with its capital at Apamea on the Orontes . In 528, Justinian I carved out

1140-583: The time of Jesus' birth described in the Gospel of Matthew during the reign of Herod the Great , who died in the year 4 BC. According to this view, the time of the census of Quirinius is inconsistent with Luke chapter 1, in which Herod is described as still being alive a little more than a year before Jesus's birth. Most critical scholars judge Luke to be inconsistent with the historical evidence. Recently, however, David J. Armitage proposed an alternative reading of Luke 2:1-7, asserting that Luke has been misread by both critical and conservative scholarship and that

1178-564: The town and its surrounding areas were devastated by a massive earthquake. The earthquake is said to have killed 20,000 people all together. In the early 1960s it was described a large village of 2,500 residents and "one of the most picturesque" places in the area by geographer and author Robert Boulanger. During the ongoing Syrian civil war which started in March 2011, Darkush was captured by anti-government forces in November 2012. Until then,

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1216-418: The town was roughly divided politically with the residents in the northern part supporting the opposition while the south largely supported the government. Damaged buildings formerly belonging to the security forces marked the dividing line between the two sections. By late January 2013, the town was firmly in rebel hands and is used as a launching point for military operations against government-held positions in

1254-457: Was a Roman aristocrat . After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria , to which the province of Judaea had been added for the purpose of a census . Born into an undistinguished family, son of Publius Sulpicius Quirinius and paternal grandson of Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, from Gens Sulpicia , in

1292-492: Was governor of the province of Judea between 120 and 130, possibly prior to the Bar Kokhba revolt . As related by Theodor Mommsen , The governor of Syria retained the civil administration of the whole large province undiminished, and held for long alone in all Asia a command of the first rank. [...] It was only in the course of the second century that a diminution of his prerogatives occurred, when Hadrian took one of

1330-525: Was inconsistent across different regions, and where it existed, it varied, including Aramean , Phoenician , and neo-Hittite influences. However, many areas documented exclusively Greek elements. In contrast to Jews , who shared collective historical memories, Syrians lacked a unified cultural or social identity. The unifying aspects in Roman Syria were Greek civic structures and narratives promoted by Roman imperial rule, suggesting that Syrian culture

1368-691: Was largely defined through Greek and Roman influences. The term 'Syrian' therefore primarily functioned as a geographical designation. Ancient episcopal sees of the late Roman province of Syria Prima (I) listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees : Ancient episcopal sees of the late Roman province of Syria Secunda (II) listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees : 36°12′N 36°09′E  /  36.200°N 36.150°E  / 36.200; 36.150 Publius Sulpicius Quirinius Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius ,

1406-481: Was named consul , a sign that he enjoyed the favour of Augustus . Sometime between 12 and 1 BC, he led a campaign against the Homanades (Homonadenses), a tribe based in the mountainous region of Galatia and Cilicia , around 5–3 BC, probably as legate of Galatia. He won the campaign by reducing their strongholds and starving out the defenders. For this victory, he was awarded a triumph and elected duumvir by

1444-513: Was succeeded by his son Titus . Based on an inscription recovered from Dor in 1948, Gargilius Antiquus was known to have been the governor of a province in the eastern part of the Empire, possibly Syria, between his consulate and governing Asia. In November 2016, an inscription in Greek was recovered off the coast of Dor by Haifa University underwater archaeologists, which attests that Antiquus

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