Thus did the Emperor Justinian provide for the security of Syria; there is, too, in Phœnicia, by the side of Lebanon, a city named Palmyra, which was built in the desert in ancient times, and which was conveniently placed on the road by which our enemies the Saracens would enter our country. It was, indeed, originally built for this purpose; namely, in order to prevent the barbarians making unexpected inroads into the Roman territory. This place, which through lapse of time had become almost entirely deserted, was strongly fortified by the Emperor Justinian, who supplied it abundantly with water, and filled it with a garrison of soldiers, so as to check the inroads of the Saracens. BOOK III. I. The Emperor Justinian fortified the eastern country in the manner which I have described in a former part of this work. Now as I started from the Persian frontier in my description of his work upon the fortresses, I think it will be convenient to proceed from thence to that of Armenia, which skirts the Persian territory from the city of Amida as far as that of Theodosiopolis. Before describing the buildings in that quarter, I think it would be advisable to give some account of how our Emperor brought the Armenians out of a condition of danger and terror into their present state of settled security; for he did not preserve these his subjects by buildings alone, but also by his foresight in other matters, as I shall presently explain. To do this I must refer for a short time to ancient history.