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Syrian Countryside

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The Syrian Countryside is probably one of the most intriguing places to study in the ancient world. The ‘Dead Cities’ being those in the Northern area, occupying areas such as the Limestone Massif and the Hauran, towards the east and towards historically Nabatean territory, offer a unique insight into life in the ancient world simply because of how remarkably untouched the remains of these sites are. This essay intends to demonstrate what these areas of the countryside can inform us about life in the area was like, by examining its major agricultural outputs, its religious buildings and whether the area could be considered a ‘Hellenised’ society. By examining the archaeological remains and inscriptional evidence from this part of the ancient world this essay hopes to demonstrate what the evidence, and in some cases the lack of it, tells us about the Roman Syrian countryside not only at …show more content…

In fact, the production of olives for oil brings up many problems, specifically regarding who set these areas of the countryside up for olive cultivation. For a crop, which could take up to twelve years to begin to produce fruit, it seemly incredibly unlikely that these were grown by someone who happened to own a small plot of land in the area. It is much more likely the case therefore, that these were set up by wealthy land-owners, investing in these businesses, although it has been discussed by some scholars that incentives and concessions such as tax breaks could have prompted independents to grow it. It would have been inconceivable to think that such a vast growth of olives being grown to produce the only source of oil in the Roman world and one that had many uses, would have been grown in such a number if they were being grown by independent

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