Images Dar Qita Jeride Wadi Matoun

The bubonic plague that spread through the Roman Empire from Egypt, hit the Antioch region in 542 A.D. and 50% of the population was reported by ancient historians to have died. One of the most important ports of trade in the Roman Mediterranean thus gradually lost its importance by the mid-6th century, driving its hinterland into a significant economic downturn. Therefore long before the Arabic conquest of the region in 630, the urban centers of Northern Syria had undergone a major social and economic decline.