Caesarea was Herod s city, founded as a Romanized

Dear kinjiGC,
I'm happy to respond to your private message.

I don't know the source of this question, but to be honest, I don't really like it. It doesn't seem to be as "tight" as the official questions. Here it is:
Caesarea was Herod’s city, founded as a Romanized counterweight to Hebraic Jerusalem, and being such it was regarded with loathing by the devout.
(A) being such
(B) as such
(C) for this
(D) so
(E) so being

Why is (A) wrong? That's a difficult question. The idiom "as such" is very natural sounding in this context ----
[condition] "as such" [consequence of the condition]
Joyce was a great writer, and as such he had patrons throughout Europe.
Osmium is the densest element, and as such it is used for compact heavyweight keels.
The construction "being such" sound incredibly unnatural --- no native speaker would ever say that. I realize that is not a very good explanation, but that's the nature of idioms --- one thing is just what native speakers say, and another isn't. I will say: I have NEVER seen this particular idiom tested anywhere in the official material.

I will say, I can see a very strong argument for (D) in this question --- perhaps (B) is preferable, but I don't believe we can claim that (D) is unambiguously wrong. ON a well-written GMAT SC question, one answer is unambiguously right, and the other four choices are each unambiguously wrong.

I would give this question a grade of a: D. I don't think it's a very good question.

Does all this make sense?
Mike