This chapter discusses the four main aspects of the history of Roman provinces: the process of provincialization; the organization of the indigenous societies; the spread of the civic model and the urbanization of the region; and the success of the artisan class. In the south, on the boundary between the provinces of Syria and Arabia, the Hauran was no less rich, though less completely explored. On a general level, the cities of Syria and Arabia, like those of Asia Minor, were eager for the adornment which characterized the Antonine era. Syria and Arabia held an advantageous position in commerce between the empire and the countries to the East, which classical authors occasionally call simply Indica, although this covers central Asia, China and the Arabian peninsula as much as the Indian subcontinent. Syria, which had ended up by incorporating all the client states west of the Euphrates, was counted among the richest provinces of the eastern Mediterranean.