Palestine Salutaris

Provinces of the Middle East approx. 400 years

Palestine Salutaris ( Latin Palaestina Salutaris ) - one of the provinces of the Byzantine Empire , part of the Byzantine Palestine . Since about the V century, the province is known as Palestine Third ( Latin Palaestina tertia ) ^[1] .

In 106, the Roman Empire annexed the Nabatean kingdom , instead of which the province of Arabia Petraea ( Latin Arabia Petraea ) was organized. The borders of this province are described in more detail in the “ Geography ” of Ptolemy , according to which Arabia of Petraia was limited from the west by Egypt , from the north of Judea , and from the south by the “Arabian Gulf”. This "bay" stretches from the Gulf of Suez along the Sinai Peninsula to the Gulf of Aqaba ^[2] . Thus, the province included , southern Syria , the Negev, and the Sinai Peninsula ^[3] . The question of where was the capital of the province of Arabia is controversial. Among the assumptions expressed by historians - Bostra , Peter or Geras ^[4] .

After the suppression of the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 by the emperor Hadrian (117-138), the Syrian Palestinian province was formed, which included territories north of the Negev desert and west of the Jordan River. In the future, the administrative-territorial structure of Palestine was constantly updated. During the administrative reforms of Diocletian , generally aimed at disaggregating the provinces, the territories of Syria were transferred to the Petraian Arabia province. In compensation, the lands south of the Arnon River, the Negev desert and the Nabatean cities of Eilat were taken from her and transferred to Palestine ^{[comm. 1]} and Peter . The date of this event is not known; the earliest evidence is the 307 year-old testimony of the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea , who reported that the copper mines between Petra and the Dead Sea belong to Palestine ^[6] . Around the same time, the city of Dor was handed over to Palestine ^[7] . In the 4th century, Palestine was not the scene of major political events, and its administrative structure at that time was hardly known. The one who ruled this region between 353 and 382 years is known only from the letters of the famous speaker Libania . As a result of chronological and prosopographic studies of his letters, it was concluded that in 357/358 Palestine was divided into two provinces - Palestine Prima with its capital in Caesarea and Palestine Salyutaris ^{[8] [7]} . The issue of the capital of Palestine, Salutaris, is controversial - while sources unanimously call the provincial capital Petra, many modern scholars place the capital of the Third Palestine in Elusa ^[9] .

In 409, the division of Palestine into three provinces was first mentioned ^[10] . Palestine III was formed from the former Palestine Salutaris. Galilee, the Golan, part of Decapolis and the Jezreel Valley belonged to the newly formed province of with its capital in Skifopolis . The rest of Palestine ( Judea , Samaria, and the coast) was left in Primo Palestine, with its capital still in Caesarea Palestine ^[11] . The provinces were governed by a consular officer until, in 536, Emperor Justinian I (527-565) singled out the Governor of Palestine Prima ^{[comm. 2]} , assigning him the rank of proconsul ( ) and did not subordinate the other two Palestines to him ^[13] . The governors had executive, legislative, and financial powers in their provinces, as had previously been the procurators ^[7] . The goal of these transformations has not been analyzed by historians. Based on the assumption that the expected result was the strengthening of the southern border, then it was not fully achieved. Neither in the civilian, nor in the military sphere of the central government failed to achieve control over the situation in the province. An important factor continued to be the ability of local officials to form alliances with bordering Arabian tribes ^[14] .