IMPERIUM ROMANUM

Provinces · The later eastern provinces

LE-47 Palaestina Secunda

The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri…
The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri, Thessaly, Macedonia, Achaia, and the Thracian districts illustrate the replacement of large commands by smaller jurisdictions. The river network helps relate frontier districts to the Adriatic, Aegean, and imperial straits.

The province connected Galilee, valleys, cities, rural communities, and routes crossing the Jordan region. Scythopolis’s administrative and commercial position gave it prominence within a densely settled landscape. Agriculture, crafts, trade, religious institutions, and local markets supported communities of different traditions.

Jewish life remained particularly important in parts of the region, while Christian bishoprics and monasteries expanded elsewhere. Provincial boundaries did not coincide exactly with religious or linguistic zones. Seventh-century war and conquest changed imperial authority, but settlement and economic life followed their own uneven chronologies. Secunda deserves separate treatment from both Jerusalem-centred religious narratives and the southern desert province.