ROAD AND TRANSPORT NETWORKS IN HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN SYRIA

Main travel corridors were defined by the topography of Syria on the north–south axes with several east–west connections between them. Some of these east–west corridors are extensions of main commercial routes connecting Syria with Mesopotamia (through Palmyra) and Arabia (through Bostra and Petra). Waterways played only a secondary role in the transport network; even the Euphrates was navigable without obstacles only when it entered the Syrian Desert. The Roman impact is visible mainly in the improved road- and bridge-building that survives to this day. New roads were constructed for military purposes in certain areas where no roads existed before (e.g., Strata Diocletiana). The continuity/persistence of itineraries was as much a function of change of settlement patterns over centuries as of intervention of imperial authorities that promoted or diverted certain itineraries. With political circumstances changed, some itineraries were abandoned in the transition to the Islamic Middle Ages.