First published in 1997, this collection of essays from David F. Graf, an esteemed ancient historian and archaeologist specializing of the Greco-Roman world in the Levant and Arabia, represent over two decades of his own research on Roman Arabia which occurred during twenty-five years of a virtual explosion in our knowledge of this remote corner of the Roman empire. Graf's preoccupation has primarily focused on the population of the region, rather than its forts and communication system. He explores such diverse matters as the urbanization of the area, regional demography, the defensive system, fluctuating provincial borders and the relations with frontier peoples until the Islamic Conquests.