Of the Roman province, under the name of
Arabia and the third Palestine, the principal cities were
Bostra and Petra, which dated their aera from the year 105,
when they were subdued by Palma, a lieutenant of Trajan,
(Dion. Cassius, l. lxviii.) Petra was the capital of the
Nabathaeans; whose name is derived from the eldest of the
sons of Ismael, (Gen. xxv. 12, etc., with the Commentaries of
Jerom, Le Clerc, and Calmet.) Justinian relinquished a palm
country of ten days' journey to the south of Aelah, (Procop.
de Bell. Persic. l. i. c. 19,) and the Romans maintained a
centurion and a custom-house, (Arrian in Periplo Maris
Erythraei, p. 11, in Hudson, tom. i.,) at a place (Pagus
Albus, Hawara) in the territory of Medina, (D'Anville,
Memoire sur l'Egypte, p. 243.) These real possessions, and
some naval inroads of Trajan, (Peripl. p. 14, 15,) are
magnified by history and medals into the Roman conquest of
Arabia.