4th century in Lebanon Key event(s): Chronology: This article lists historical events that occurred between 301–400 in modern-day Lebanon or regarding its people.
Administration While sometime before 328, when it is mentioned in the Laterculus Veronensis, Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) created the new province of Augusta Libanensis () out of the eastern half of the old province of Phoenice, encompassing the territory east of Mount Lebanon.
Governors In the fourth century, as a whole, almost 30 governors of Phoenicia are known with 23 governors of Phoenicia being in office between 353 and 394.A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale, J. Morris, Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. I:
AD 260–395, Cambridge 1971 (hereinafter: PLRE I), pp. 1105–1110 (fasti). For the reviews, often negative, and corrections to the first volume of PLRE, cf. A.H.M. Jones, “Fifteen years of Late Roman Prosopography in the West” (1981–95), [in:] Medieval Prosopography 17/1, 1996, pp. 263–274. Amongst them was Sossianus Hierocles, who was a praeses at some time between 293 and 303.; Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire 1.432 s.v. "Sossianvs Hierocles 4", citing L'Année épigraphique 1932, 79 = Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 7.152. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE) states that, as praeses, he governed Phoenice Libanensis,Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire 1.432 s.v. "Sossianvs Hierocles 4". the province on the eastern side of Mount Lebanon. The district included Palmyra, where the inscription attesting to Hierocles' career is located.Simmons, 848.
Consularis Governors of Phoenicia Consularis Governor Date Aelius StatuusBetween 293 and 305 Sossianus HieroclesBetween 293 and 303 Julius JulianusBefore 305 Maximus? Between 309/313 Achilliusc. 323 Fl. Dionysius328 – 329 Archelaus335 Nonnusc. 337 Marcellinus342 Apollinaris353/4 DemetriusBefore 358 NicentiusMartindale, J. R. & A. H. M. Jones, "Nicentius 1", The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I AD 260-395 (Cambridge: University Press, 1971), p. 628358 – 359 Euchrostius(?) 359/60 JulianusBefore 360 Andronicus360 – 361 Aelius Claudius DulcitiusBefore 361 Anatolius361 Polyclesc. 361/2 Julianus362 Gaianus362 – 363 Marius363 – 364 Ulpianus364 Domninus364 – 365 Leontius372 Petrus380 Proculus382 – 383 EustathiusBefore 388 Antherius388 Epiphanius388 Domitius390 Severianus391 Leontius392
Military In the late fourth century an edict to draft the sons of veterans was issued from Berytus.Linda Jones Hall (2004), p. 49
Events 300s
The Edict on Maximum Prices is issued by the emperor Diocletian in 301 AD, with the prices and simulated sailing times from Nicomedia to Beirut reported to be 12 denarii for 9.9 days of duration with the ratio (price/duration) being 0.83.Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, Explaining the maritime freight charges in Diocletian’s Price Edict, Version 1.0, April 2013, Walter Scheidel, Stanford University. Beginning of the Diocletianic Persecutions, 303 AD.Philip F. Esler, ed. (2000). The Early Christian World, Vol.2. Routledge. pp. 827–829. . Five young Christians are martyred at Tyre in 303. Ulphianus, a Tyrian youth, is martyred, 303 AD. 500 Christians in Tyre get tortured and martyred in 304 AD. Aphian, a student of the Law school of Berytus, is martyred on April 2 .Saints of April 2: Amphianus The Governor Urbanus, shortly after Easter 307, orders the virgin Theodosia of Tyre to be thrown to the sea for conversing with Christians attending trial and refusing sacrifice.Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 7.1f, cited in Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 152.
Pamphilus of Caesarea, a biblical scholar from a rich and honorable family of Beirut, is martyred in February 16, 309.Christa Müller-Kessler, The Unknown Martyrdom of Patriklos of Caesarea in Christian Palestinian Aramaic from St Catherine’s Monastery (Sinai, Arabic NF 66), Analecta Bollandiana 137, 2019, pp. 63-71
310s Tyrannion of Tyre is martyred during the Diocletianic Persecutions, 311 AD.Basil Watkins, The Book of Saints, 8th ed. (Bloomsbury, 2016 ), p. 734.
Maximinus issues a rescript encouraging every city to expel its Christians. This rescript is published in Tyre on May or June, 312 AD.Eusebius, De Martyribus Palestinae 4.8; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 152; Keresztes, 384; Mitchell, p. 117. The Edict of Milan, is issued in February of 313 AD. In 315 AD, the cathedral of Paulinus in Tyre is inaugurated by the Bishop Eusebius, who recorded his speech and thus a detailed account of the site in his writings.Medlej, Youmna Jazzar; Medlej, Joumana (2010). Tyre and its history. Beirut: Anis Commercial Printing Press s.a.l. pp. 1–30. .
In 316, the Tyrian-born Frumentius and his brother, Edesius accompanied their uncle Metropius on a trip to the Kingdom of Axum by ship, the crew was massacred in a port on the Red Sea and the boys taken as slaves to the King of Axum. Frumentius and Edesius, who were both christian, gained favor with the king and his family, signaling the birth of Christianity in Ethiopia.RUFINUS, Historia Ecclesiastica, lib. I, cap. ix, in P.L., XXI, 478-80; Acta SS. Oct., XII, 257-70; DUCHESNE, Les missiones chrétienne au Sud de l'empire romain in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire (Rome, 1896), XVI, 79-122; THEBAUD, The Church and the Gentile World (New York, 1878), I, 231-40; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, 27 Oct.; BARING-GOULD, Lives of the Saints (London, 1872), 27 Oct.
320s
During the reign of Emperor Constantine, his mother, Helena of Constantinople, requests in 324 the destruction of all pagan temples and idols dedicated to Astarte. The Astarte shrine in Maghdouché was probably destroyed at that time and converted to a place of devotion to Mary. Paulinus of Tyre is the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for about six months in 324 and 325.Sozomen, H. E. I. 17, Theodoret, H. E. I. 7, and the Acts of the Council of Nicæa, ed. Labbei et Cossartii, I. p. 51 The First Council of Nicaea – in which ten bishops from Phoenicia attended (one of them being Zeno I, bishop of Tyre) – is convened in 325 AD.Hitti, Philip K. (1951) History of Syria including Lebanon and Palestine. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 363 fn.Cowper, B. H. (1861). Syriac Miscellanies. London:Williams and Norgate. pp. 9–10. Preterist Archive website Retrieved 2 April 2018.
330s
The First Synod of Tyre or the Council of Tyre (335 AD), a gathering of bishops, in which the first historically documented bishop of Tripoli, Hellanicus,Le Quien, Oriens christianus took part, for the primary purpose of evaluating charges brought against Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria, is called together by Emperor Constantine,Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 2 Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier Incorporated, 1997. . with the former governor of Phoenice, Flavius Dionysius, taking charge of the council.Linda Jones Hall (2004), p. 95 Emperor Constantine is baptized by the once-bishop of Beirut, Eusebius of Nicomedia, right before his death on 22 May 337.
340s Marcellinus, is attested as praeses of Phoenice in 342 AD.PLRE I 545; 546.
350s The Letter 492 of Rhetorician Libanius to Vindonius Anatolius of Beirut is written in 356, in the letter, Libanius writes that Anatolius, a native of Phoenicia, had spent some time “among us”, (i.e. in Antioch).Libanius, Ep. 492, 2: σὺ γὰρ δὴ Φοίνιξ ὢν καὶ διατρίβων τὰ μὲν ἐκεῖ, τὰ δὲ παρ’ ἡμῖν.
360s In 360, Dominus the Elder, a law school professor, declines the invitation of Libanius to leave the Law School at Beirut and to teach with him at the rhetoric school of Antioch.Collinet 1925, p. 121
Around 362 AD, Julian the Apostate burns a basilica that existed in Beirut.Kassir (2002); Kassir, S. Histoire de Beyrouth, Ed. Fayard, Paris p.51, 2003. The 107-year-old Dorotheus of Tyre, bishop of Tyre, is martyred in 362 AD. In 365 AD, Tyre and Sidon alongside several other coastal cities are damaged by a tsunami caused by the Crete earthquake.
370s
The Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek, already greatly damaged by earthquakes, is demolished under Theodosius in 379 and replaced by another basilica (now lost), using stones scavenged from the pagan complex.
380s The Edict of Thessalonica is issued on 27 February AD 380, making Christianity the sole official religion of the Roman empire. Diodorus is bishop of Tyre, 381 AD.
Proculus, governor of Phoenicia, is Comes Orientis between 383 and 384. During this time, his name was carved on the Commemorative stela of Nahr el-Kalb.Commemorative stela of Nahr el-Kalb at Livius.org
Culture Education In the 4th century, the Greek rhetorician Libanius reported that the school attracted young students from affluent families and deplored the school's instructional use of Latin, which was gradually abandoned in favor of Greek in the course of the century.Collinet 1925, p. 39Clark 2011, p. 36Sadowski 2010 pp. 211–216Rochette 1997 pp. 168, 174
Historically, Roman stationes or auditoria, where teaching was done, stood next to public libraries housed in temples. This arrangement was copied in the Roman colony at Beirut. The first mention of the school's premises dates to 350.Collinet 1925, p. 62
Chariot racing A lead tablet, cursing the blue faction, was found in Beirut in 1929 and has now been dated to the fourth century CE.Paturel, Simone (2019), p 129.
Religion The Life of Constantine mentions a temple at Aphaca in Phoenicia, on a remote summit of Mount Libanus, being used by effeminate homosexual pagan priests, and says that this temple was destroyed by the command of Roman emperor Constantine I.
Economy During the fourth-century abundant crops of grain, wine, oil, and other products were attributed to the cities of Berytus, Byblos, Tyre, and Sarepta.Expositio totius mundi et gentium Further evidence of agricultural production near Berytus is found in the fourth-century journal of the bureaucrat Theophanes, who traveled between Antioch and Egypt from 317 to 324 AD. In Berytus, Theophanes noted buying two types of bread ("pure white" for officials amongst his party and "coarse" for the servants), as well as grapes, figs, pumpkins or squashes, peaches, apricots, and cleaning supplies such as natron, bath oil, and soap. Similar purchases of bread, fresh produce, wine, and even snow to cool the wine (in Byblos) were made during each stop along the journey. They also came to Sidon on the following day and bought eggs.
Architecture Shrine of Our Lady of Nourieh. Our Lady of Awaiting, Maghdouché. A basilica in Tyre built upon the ruins of a church by the city's bishop, Paulinus.
People Professors at the Berytus Law School Dates of serviceCollinet 1925, p. 192 Names (uncertain names in italic)Summer 356 to March / April 364Domninus (Domnio)October 363ScylaciusSummer 365AnonymousSummer 388Sebastianus?
Births and deaths
300s
The Tyrian-born Porphyry (philosopher) dies in .
320s
Christian Maronite saint Awtel dies in 327 AD.
390s Frumentius dies .
References
Sources Linda Jones Hall, Roman Berytus: Beirut in late antiquity (2004)
Simmons, Michael Bland. "Graeco-Roman Philosophical Opposition". In The Early Christian World, edited by Philip Francis Esler, 2.840–868. New York: Routledge, 2000.