ABSTRACT
Roman consciousness of ethnicity is shown in the small pieces of epigraphic evidence and it is interesting to note consciousness of ethnicity also on the part of subject peoples where evidence survives. This chapter illustrates this awareness with examples from the eastern frontier region. The examples discussed below come from Nabataea, Palmyra and Edessa/Osrhoene. Both the Nabataean kingdom and the Edessan kingdom were on the Roman fringe, with strong and clear relations with Rome which led eventually from a kind of nominal independence to integration into the Roman provincial system, Nabataea came to form the bulk of the Province of Arabia from A.D, 106. In the Roman period, the term Arab is primarily used in the inscriptions and Roman sources to refer to a way of life (semi-nomads depending on flocks of sheep and camel-breeding) and to the inhabitants of the geographical territory to the east of Edessa.
