Palaestina Salutaris

Palaestina Salutaris or Palaestina Tertia (sometimes also Palaestina Tertia Salutaris) was a Late Roman and Byzantine province, which covered the area of the Negev, Sinai (except the north-western coast) and south-west of Transjordan, south of the Dead Sea. The province, a part of the Diocese of the East, was created from territories formerly belonging to the provinces of Syria Palaestina (the name given after 135 to the former province of Judaea) and Arabia Petraea (the former Nabataean Kingdom): first, in c. 300 CE, the Negev, Sinai and Southern Transjordan were transferred from Arabia Petraea to Syria Palaestina during the reforms of Diocletian; and then, around 357-358, Syria Palaestina was split in two, into southern Palestine, later to become known as Palaestina Salutaris, and the remaining northern territory being named Palaestina Prima. The province of Palaestina Salutaris existed until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century.

Background

In 106, the territories east of Damascus and south to the Red Sea were annexed from the Nabataean Kingdom and reformed into the province of Arabia with capitals Petra and Bostra (south and north). The province was enlarged by Septimius Severus in 195, and is believed to have split into two provinces: Arabia Minor or Arabia Petraea and Arabia Maior, both subject to imperial legates ranking as consularis, each with a legion.

By the 3rd century, the Nabataeans had stopped writing in Aramaic and begun writing in Greek instead, and by the 4th century they had partially converted to Christianity, a process completed in the 5th century.

Petra declined rapidly under late Roman rule, in large part from the revision of sea-based trade routes. The 363 Galilee earthquake destroyed many buildings and crippled the vital water management system.

The area became organized under the late Roman Empire as part of the Diocese of the East (314), in which it was included together with the provinces of Isauria, Cilicia, Cyprus (until 536), Euphratensis, Mesopotamia, Osroene, Phoenice and Arabia Petraea.