ABSTRACT
Under Rome, the gradual process of Hellenisation continued though the Semitic base population preserved many of its traditional characteristics across the centuries with no attempt by Rome to impose a single dominant cultural agenda. The huge expansion of the shrine to Jupiter-Hadad, surrounded by a double enclosure to handle pilgrimage traffic, was begun as early as the Augustan period. Work was also undertaken to add a Roman administrative quarter, complete with theatre, at the western end of the cross-city axis, Straight Street. Damascus was also an early target for the spreading of Christ’s message to a Gentile audience. By the end of the second century AD, Damascus was closely integrated into the Roman domain through family connections to the Severan emperors, through the role of Damascene expertise in the professions, through the growing importance of Damascus in consolidating Rome’s influence in southern Syria and through trade.
