Roman Palestine was a period in the history of Palestine characterised by Roman rule in the Palestine region. Historians typically trace the period from the Hasmonean civil war in 63 BCE up until the end of the Byzantine rule with the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century. [1] [2] [3] The period can be subdivided into early and late phases, transitioning at either the First Jewish–Roman War c. 70 CE or the Bar Kokhba Revolt c. 135 CE. [2] [3]
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During this period, Palestine went through a series of administrative changes, beginning as a series of Roman client states under the Judean Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties before being gradually annexed into the Roman Empire as the fully incorporated Roman province of Judaea, as well as the Nabatean Kingdom in the peripherial areas. After 135 CE, Roman Palestine was re-organised into the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, [1] an administrative unit that persisted until 390 CE, when the province was expanded and subdivided into Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda and Palaestina Salutaris -the last including parts of the Arabia Patraea province the name given to the annexed Nabatean Kingdom- under the overarching administration of the Diocese of the East. [1] The "three Palestines" continued to be administered together until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the seventh century. [1]