[82] [Footnote 82: See the Periplus of Arrian.

He examined the coasts of the Euxine, when he was governor of Cappadocia.] Under the successors of Alexander, Syria was the seat of the Seleucidae, who reigned over Upper Asia, till the successful revolt of the Parthians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean.
When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire: nor did that province, in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds than the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards the south, the confines of Egypt, and the Red Sea.

Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of Syria.

The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to Wales, either in fertility or extent.

[821] Yet Phoenicia and Palestine will forever live in the memory of mankind; since America, as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other.