ARC Teaching Fellow Kate da Costa Archaeology University of Sydney
[email protected] Roman Provincial Borders Across Jordan1 Abstract number a century beforehand (Jones 1964: 42-43 By 400 AD Jordan was divided amongst four Roman and 280-283). An understanding of the position, provinces: Palaestina Prima in the southern Jordan nature and function of the borders between each Valley, Palaestina Secunda over most of north- province is fundamental to any study of the ad- west Jordan, Palaestina Tertia south of the Wådπ ministration of the Empire. Such an understanding al-Møjib and Arabia over the rest. However, as in is hampered by the fact that, nearly one hundred the rest of the Roman Empire, we are uncertain as years after Mommsen published The Provinces of to where some, or all, of the actual border lines ran. the Roman Empire (1909), we still do not know ex- That the border was known in antiquity is clear actly where the internal borders ran. It appears that from the evidence of toponyms, cadestration, tax part of the problem is the attitude that we more or records and pilgrims’ accounts. That the border had less know which territories belong to which prov- some meaning is also clear — on principal borders ince, and that this rough knowledge is sufficient for a customs duty was imposed which distorted the historical studies (Millar 1993: 31 and 535-544). trade in locally produced ceramics. This distortion The result of such an approach can be illustrated by is particularly clear in the southern Levant, and the maps from a study of Roman provincial admin- provides a tool to develop an archaeological istration in the Danubian provinces (Dise 1999), methodology to detect provincial borders in a way although it should be stressed that this is merely a not available to historians.