| Summary: | <p>I have attempted to answer three questions in this thesis. Firstly, what was the identity of the garrisons of Syria, Judaea and Arabia from the reign of Augustus to the end of the fourth century? Secondly, what were the dispositions of these troops and the implications of these dispositions? In the first two chapters I discuss the evidence for the units in garrison in Syria and trace their changing role as Syria was pacified and Roman power expanded eastwards, gradually but relentlessly until the mid-third century, recovering under Diocletian but relapsing into a defensive posture by c. AD 400. ‘In chapters four, five and seven I examine the best-attested armies of the client-kings who ruled Judaea and its environs and those of the Roman provinces of Judaea, later Syria-Palaestine, and Arabia and trace their changing role from armies of pacification to forces of frontier defence.</p>
<p>I have thirdly, in chapters three, six and eight, examined recruitment to the auxilia of the provincial armies during the same period. Most commanders in Syria under the Julio-Claudian emperors came from Italy or Augustan colonies. By the later first century they are coming from the more civilised provinces of the empire and by the third century from Syria itself. Our slight evidence for Judaea and Arabia suggests similar trends, with evidence for local commanders in Arabia in the fourth century. A not inconsiderable proportion of the soldiers these officers commanded were during the early first century drawn from the west and, despite increasing local recruitment, recruits from outside Syria continued to be sent during the second century. Severus recruited on a vast scale from the east but local forces continued in the fourth century to be supplemented by units from the west.</p>
<p>In my concluding chapter nine I outline the development of the frontier in the light of my work and present my findings on recruitment against the background of evidence for legionary recruitment in the east and for auxiliary recruitment in the rest of the empire.</p>
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