Phoenice (Roman province)

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Provincia Syria Phoenice

Province of the Byzantine Empire, Diocese of the East

c.194–7th century

Capital

Tyre

Historical era

Late Antiquity

Created by Septimus Severus

c.194

Muslim conquest of Syria

7th century

Today part of

Lebanon

Syria

Israel

Phoenice, originally Syria Phoenice, was a province of the Roman Empire encompassing the historical region of Phoenicia. After ca. 400 it was divided into Phoenice proper or P. Paralia, and Phoenice Libanensis, a division that persisted until the region was conquered by the Muslim Arabs.

Administrative history

Map of the Diocese of the East with its provinces, as recorded in the Notitia Dignitatum, ca. 400

Phoenicia came under the rule of the Roman Republic in 64 BC, when Pompey created the province of Syria. With the exception of a brief period in 36–30 BC, when Mark Antony gave the region to Ptolemaic Egypt, Phoenicia remained part of the province of Syria.^[1] Emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138) is said to have considered a division of the Syrian province in 123/124 AD, but it was not until shortly after ca. 194 AD, that Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) actually undertook this, dividing the province into Syria Coele in the north and Syria Phoenice in the south.^[1] Tyre became the capital of the new province, but Elagabalus (r. 218–222) raised his native Emesa to co-capital, and the two cities rivalled each other as the head of the province until its division in the 4th century.^[1]

Diocletian (r. 284–305) separated the district of Batanaea and gave it to Arabia, while sometime before 328, when it is mentioned in the Laterculus Veronensis, Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) created the new province of Augusta Libanensis out of the eastern half of the old province, encompassing the territory east of Mount Lebanon. Constantine's province was short-lived, but formed the basis of the re-division of Phoenice ca. 400 into the Phoenice I or P. Paralia (Greek: Φοινίκη Παραλία, "coastal Phoenice"), and Phoenice II or P. Libanensis (Φοινίκη Λιβανησία), with Tyre and Emesa as their respective capitals.^[2] In the Notitia Dignitatum, written shortly after the division, Phoenice I is governed by a consularis, while Libanensis is governed by a praeses, with both provinces under the Diocese of the East.^[3] This division remained intact until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s.^[4] Under the Caliphate, most of the two Phoenices came under the province of Damascus, with parts in the south and north going to the provinces of Jordan and Emesa respectively.^[5]

Ecclesiastical administration

The ecclesiastical administration paralleled the political, but with some differences. The bishop of Tyre emerged as the pre-eminent prelate by the mid-3rd century, and when the province was divided ca. 400, Damascus, rather than Emesa, became the metropolis of Phoenice II. Both provinces belonged to the Patriarchate of Antioch, with Damascus initially outranking Tyre, whose position was also briefly challenged by the see of Berytus ca. 450; after 480/1, however, the metropolitan of Tyre established himself as the first (protothronos) of all the metropolitans subject to Antioch.^[4]

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Eißfeldt 1941, p. 368.
↑ Eißfeldt 1941, pp. 368–369.
↑ Notitia Dignitatum, in partibus Orientis, I
↑ 4.0 4.1 Eißfeldt 1941, p. 369.
↑ Blankinship 1994, pp. 47–48, 240.

Sources

Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām ibn ʻAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-1827-8.
Eißfeldt, Otto (1941). "Phoiniker (Phoinike)". Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Band XX, Halbband 39, Philon-Pignus. pp. 350–379.

Late Roman provinces (4th–7th centuries AD)

History

As found in the Notitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed and dioceses established by Diocletian, c. 293. Permanent praetorian prefectures established after the death of Constantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by the theme system in c. 640–660, although in Asia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.

Western Empire (395–476)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Gaul

Diocese of Gaul	Alpes Poeninae et Graiae Belgica I Belgica II Germania I Germania II Lugdunensis I Lugdunensis II Lugdunensis III Lugdunensis IV Maxima Sequanorum

Diocese of Vienne¹	Alpes Maritimae Aquitanica I Aquitanica II Narbonensis I Narbonensis II Novempopulania Viennensis

Diocese of Spain	Baetica Balearica Carthaginensis Gallaecia Lusitania Mauretania Tingitana Tarraconensis

Diocese of Britain	Britannia I Britannia II Flavia Caesariensis Maxima Caesariensis Valentia (369)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Italy

Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy	Apulia et Calabria Campania Corsica Lucania et Bruttii Picenum Suburbicarium Samnium Sardinia Sicilia Tuscia et Umbria Valeria

Diocese of Annonarian Italy	Alpes Cottiae Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium Liguria et Aemilia Raetia I Raetia II Venetia et Istria

Diocese of Africa²	Africa proconsularis (Zeugitana) Byzacena Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Sitifensis Numidia Cirtensis Numidia Militiana Tripolitania

Diocese of Pannonia³	Dalmatia Noricum mediterraneum Noricum ripense Pannonia I Pannonia II Savia Valeria ripensis

Eastern Empire (395–c.640)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Illyricum

Diocese of Dacia	Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Ripensis Dardania Moesia I Praevalitana

Diocese of Macedonia	Achaea Creta Epirus nova Epirus vetus Macedonia I Macedonia II Salutaris Thessalia

Praetorian Prefecture
of the East

Diocese of Thrace⁵	Europa Haemimontus Moesia II⁴ Rhodope Scythia⁴ Thracia

Diocese of Asia⁵	Asia Caria⁴ Hellespontus Insulae⁴ Lycaonia (370) Lycia Lydia Pamphylia Pisidia Phrygia Pacatiana Phrygia Salutaria

Diocese of Pontus⁵	Armenia I⁵ Armenia II⁵ Armenia Maior⁵ Armenian Satrapies⁵ Armenia III (536) Armenia IV (536) Bithynia Cappadocia I⁵ Cappadocia II⁵ Galatia I⁵ Galatia II Salutaris⁵ Helenopontus⁵ Honorias⁵ Paphlagonia⁵ Pontus Polemoniacus⁵

Diocese of the East⁵	Arabia Cilicia I Cilicia II Cyprus⁴ Euphratensis Isauria Mesopotamia Osroene Palaestina I Palaestina II Palaestina III Salutaris Phoenice I Phoenice II Libanensis Syria I Syria II Salutaris Theodorias (528)

Diocese of Egypt⁵	Aegyptus I Aegyptus II Arcadia Augustamnica I Augustamnica II Libya Superior Libya Inferior Thebais Superior Thebais Inferior

Other territories

Taurica Quaestura exercitus (536) Spania (552)

¹ Later the Septem Provinciae.
² Re-established after reconquest by the Eastern Empire in 534 as the separate Prefecture of Africa
³ Later the Diocese of Illyricum.
⁴ Joined the Quaestura exercitus in 536.
⁵ Affected (i.e. boundaries modified, abolished or renamed) by Justinian I's administrative reorganization in 534–536.

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