Rome and the East
that a settlement of legionaries after Actium was followed only later by the
formal creation of a newcolonia, which incorporated a substantial number
of inhabitants of the surrounding region.^17 If that sequence is valid, which
is not wholly certain, the same may perhaps have applied to Berytus. But if
some slight uncertainty prevails as to the date, the essential fact that this was
a genuine veterancoloniais secure. It is consonant with that fact that both
its foundation by the favour of Augustus continued to be recalled, and that
Berytus was regarded as possessing what was later at least described as theius
Italicum.SoUlpianwritesinthefirstbookofhisde censibus:Sed et Berytensis
colonia in eadem provincia(Syria Phoenice, as it had become in Ulpian’s time),
Augusti beneficiis gratiosa, et (ut divus Hadrianus in quadam oratione ait) Augustana
colonia, quae ius Italicum habet(Dig. , , , ). Ulpian’s quite flowery Latin
is not free from obscurity; but in the context he clearly means (at least) that
the newcoloniapaid notributum.
Effectively nothing is known of the urban character of late Hellenistic
Berytus, and we do not know whether or not a fundamental restructuring
of the urban plan will have taken place in the case of acoloniaestablished
on the site of an existing city. The ancient rituals for the foundation of a
coloniaare indeed represented, along with thesignaof the legions V Macedo-
nica and VIII Augusta, on coins issued by Berytus from the reign of Augus-
tus onwards.^18 But coins representing a founder ploughing with an ox and
a cow, while they may be records of an actual historical event, the mark-
ing out of a new boundary for Berytus in .., cannot be assumed to be
so. Their significance may be purely symbolic. But, while we also do not
have any evidence for an urban restructuring of Berytus to compare with
Josephus’ account of Herod’s re-foundation of Stratōnos Pyrgos as the new
city of Caesarea,^19 we do know that Herod’s munificence in providing pub-
lic buildings for cities in the Syrian region embraced Berytus also: ‘‘Thus he
provided gymnasia for Tripolis, Damascus and Ptolemais, a wall for Byblos,
. See J.-M. Roddaz, ‘‘Marcus Agrippa,’’BEFAR (): –, depending, how-
ever, on a combination of Strabo , , (), referring to a settlement of legionaries subse-
quent to Actium, and Pausanias , , , describing the establishment of a newcoloniawith
a civilian population from the surrounding region. No certain chronological sequence can
be deduced. For arguments for an early date for the settlement of at least some veterans in
each place, see J. G. P. Best, ‘‘Colonia Iulia Equestris and Legio Decima Equestris,’’Talanta
(): .
. G. F. Hill,BMC Phoenicia(), lv. f., e.g., no. and pl.VIII.. See R. Mouterde,
MUSJ (): , on –.
. Josephus,BJ, –;Ant. , –. On Caesarea, see below.