Crete and Cyrenaica (, ) was a senatorial province of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

and later the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, established in 67 BC, which included the island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and the region of

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

in modern-day

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. These areas were settled by Greek colonists from the eighth to sixth centuries BC. After

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

's death, his short-lived empire was partitioned between his generals during the

Wars of the Diadochi The Wars of the Diadochi (, Romanization of Greek, romanized: ', ''War of the Crown Princes'') or Wars of Alexander's Successors were a series of conflicts fought between the generals of Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, over who would ...

. Cyrenaica ended up under Egyptian rule, except for Crete, which remained independent.

Apion's will and Roman rule of Cyrenaica

Ptolemy Apion, the last king of the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Kingdom of Cyrenaica left his kingdom to the Roman Republic when he died childless in 96 BC. Rome readily accepted this inheritance from Ptolemy Apion but preferred to leave the administration to local rulers, rather than enforcing direct control. However, by the 70s BC, civil uprisings by Jewish settlers began to destabilise the province and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

was forced to take action. In 74 BC, they sent a low level official, the quaestor Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, to officially annex Cyrenaica as a Roman province and restore order. That the Senate sent such a low-ranking official indicates the political difficulty the Republic had in governing its growing empire, as well as indicating the ease with which Cyrenaica was willing to submit to Roman governance and the stability it brought.

Roman conquest of Crete

Marcus Antonius Creticus attacked

in 71 BC and was repelled. Then in 69 BC, Rome commissioned Quintus Caecilius Metellus and, following a ferocious three-year campaign, Crete was conquered for Rome in 66 BC, Metellus earning the

agnomen An ''agnomen'' (; : ''agnomina''), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the ''cognomen'' had been initially. However, the ''cognomina'' eventually became family names, and so ''agnomina'' were needed to distinguish between sim ...

"Creticus" as an honour for his conquest and subjugation of Crete.

Province

In 67 BC, Crete and Cyrenaica were combined into a single province with its capital at

Gortyn Gortyn, Gortys or Gortyna (, , or , ) is a municipality, and an archaeological site, on the Mediterranean island of Crete away from the island's capital, Heraklion. The seat of the municipality is the village Agioi Deka. Gortyn was the Roman c ...

in Crete. In 117 AD, a Jewish revolt erupted in Cyrenaica, resulting in the death of two hundred and twenty thousand people. In 298 AD,

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

, because of geographic inconvenience, separated the province of Crete from

, which in turn was divided between Libya Superior or Libya Pentapolis, with Cyrene as its capital, and Libya Inferior or Libya Sicca, with Paraetonium as its capital.

List of Roman governors

* C. Clodius Vestalis (between 30 BC and AD 14) * M. Titius (between 30 BC and AD 14) *

Pomponius Secundus Publius Pomponius Secundus was a distinguished statesman and poet in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. He was Roman consul, suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' of January to June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul Gaius Sallustius Cr ...

(between AD 37 and 54) * Fabius (before 13 BC) * P. Sextius Scaeva (7/6 BC) * Q. Lucanius Proculus (after 13 BC) * L. Plotius Vicinas (between 2 BC and AD 7) * (Lollius) Palicanus (between 30 BC and AD 14) * Marcus Nonius Balbus (between 30 BC and AD 14) * (Vettius) Scato (between 23 BC and AD 12) * Gaius Rubellius Blandus (between 30 BC and AD 14) * (Titus) Caesius Cordus (c. AD 12) * P. Octavius (between AD 14 and 29) * Occius Flamma (between AD 14 and 37) * Cornelius Lupus (between AD 14 and 37) * P. Viriasius Naso * Celer * Augurinus (between AD 37 and 41) * Q. Cassius Gratus (before 53) * Caesernius Veiento (46/47?) * Publius Pomponius Secundus (between 37 and 54) * Cestius Proculus (before 56) * Pedius Blaesus (before 59) * Bruttidius Sabinus (first half 1st century) * Lucius Turpilius Dexter (64/65) * Titus Atilius Rufus (67) * Aulus Minicius Rufus (71/72) * Catullus (72/73) * Gaius Arinius Modestus (73-75) * Silo * Aulus Julius Quadratus (84/85) * Gaius Pomponius Gallus Didius Rufus (88/89) * Gaius Memmius ..(98/99) * Lucius Elufrius Severus (99/100) * Lucius Aemilius Honoratus (between 97 and 118) * Titus Vibius Varus (between 97 and 118) * Salvius Carus (134/135) * Quintus Caecilius Marcellus DentilianusUnless otherwise stated, the names of the proconsular governors from 140 to 165 are taken from Géza Alföldy, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen'' (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977), pp. 263f (c. 140) * Quintus Julius Potitus (between 138 and 161) * Gaius Claudius Titianus Demostratus (161/162) * Pomponius Naevianus (between 165 and 169) * Veturius Paccianus (before 168) * Lucius Saevinius Proculus (173/174) * Quintus Caecilius Rufinus (between 160 and 180) * Quintus Servilius Pudens (164/165) * Lucius Clodius Tineius Pupienus Bassus (250)

References

{{Coord, 35.0621, N, 24.9470, E, source:wikidata, display=title Roman Crete Roman Cyrenaica Provinces of the Roman Empire Roman provinces in Africa Roman provinces in Europe States and territories established in the 1st century BC States and territories disestablished in the 3rd century 20s BC establishments in the Roman Empire 290s disestablishments in the Roman Empire

Apion's will and Roman rule of Cyrenaica

Roman conquest of Crete

Province

List of Roman governors

Further reading

References