ABSTRACT
The Roman presence in Syria also had a lasting influence on the Arabs further south. The spectacular rise of Petra begins after the arrival of the Romans. Since Arabs were closely involved in the history of the kingdom governed from the town, this phenomenon should be treated in some detail. Our main narrative source for the events is Josephus, writing 150 years later. His account has to be the starting point for our understanding of the ethnic and political situation in the region. His evidence is complemented by some notes in other writers: Diodorus, Strabo, Plutarch and Appian. We shall first give a summary of the events during the years 65–62 Bc as they are told in the literary sources. Apart from Diodorus and Strabo, they were written more than a century and a half later.
