Roman Syria was an early Roman province, existing from 64 BC to 135 AD. The region was conquered from the Armenian king Tigranes the Great by the Roman general Pompey in 64 BC, and the Romans dispatched three legions (plus auxiliary units) to protect Syria from the Parthians in the east. Following the partition of Herodian Judea into tetrarchies in 6 AD, they were gradually annexed into the Roman Empire by 34 AD. In 135, the province merged into Syria Palaestina.