Note 141 — Chapter X · SYRIA AND THE LAND OF THE NABATAEANS.

One of the oldest (i.e. after Severus and before Diocletian) epitaphs of this sort is the Latin-Greek one found not far from Lyons (Wilmanns, 2498; comp. Lebas-Waddington, n. 2329) of a Θαῖμος ὁ καὶ Ἰουλιανὸς Σαάδου (in Latin Thaemus Iulianus Sati fil.), a native of Atheila (de vico Athelani), not far from Canatha in Syria (still called ’Atîl, not far from Kanawât in the Haurân), and decurio in Canatha, settled in Lyons (πάτραν λείπων ἧκε τῷδ' ἐπὶ χώρῳ), and a wholesale trader there for Aquitanian wares ([ἐς πρ]ᾶσιν ἔχων ἐνπόρ[ιο]ν ἀγορασμῶν [με]στὸν ἐκ Ἀκουιτανίης ὧδ' ἐπὶ Λουγουδούνοιο—negotiatori Luguduni et prov. Aquitanica). Accordingly these Syrian merchants must not only have dealt in Syrian goods, but have, with their capital and their knowledge of business, practised wholesale trading generally.