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The campaigns of the Roman general Pompey in 64 BCE subdued the last remains of the Seleucid Empire, leading Phoenicia to be incorporated into the Roman province of Syria. This heralded the end of Phoenician autonomy and the start of a period of Romanisation in the region. With their increasing adoption of western ways the Phoenicians lost much of their ethnic distinctiveness (including their language) and thus, by the end of the first century CE, there were very few remnants of the unique and vibrant culture that had existed before the arrival of the Greeks and Romans.