Crete and Cyrenaica ( la, Provincia Creta et Cyrenaica,

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

) was a

senatorial province A senatorial province ( la, provincia populi Romani, province of the Roman people) was a Roman province during the Principate where the Roman Senate had the right to appoint the governor (proconsul). These provinces were away from the outer bo ...

of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

and later the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, established in 67 BC. It comprised the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

and the region of Cyrenaica in present-day

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

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 Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

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

"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 ( el, Γόρτυν, , 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 ...

in Crete. Because this arrangement was geographically inconvenient

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

divided the province in 298 AD.

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 suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' of January to June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienu ...

(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) Palikanus (between 30 BC and AD 14) *

Marcus Nonius Balbus The gens Nonia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Its members first appear in history toward the end of the Republic. The first of the Nonii to obtain the consulship was Lucius Nonius Asprenas in 36 BC. From then until the end of the fou ...

(between 30 BC and AD 14) * Scato (between 30 BC and AD 14) * Gaius Rubellius Blandus (between 30 BC and AD 14) * 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 Dentilianus Quintus Caecilius Marcellus Dentilianus was a Roman senator, who held several imperial appointments during the reign of Antoninus Pius. He was suffect consul in an undetermined ''nundinium'' around AD 150. He is known entirely from inscriptions. ...

Unless otherwise stated, the names of the proconsular governors from 140 to 165 are taken from

Géza Alföldy Géza Alföldy (June 7, 1935 – November 6, 2011) was a Hungarian historian of ancient history. Life Géza Alföldy was born in Budapest. He studied at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Budapest from 1953 to 1958, where he in ...

, ''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 Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius (praenomen), Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin language, Latin forenames (''praenomen, praenomina'') found in the ...

(173/174) * Quintus Caecilius Rufinus (between 160 and 180) *

Quintus Servilius Pudens Quintus Servilius Pudens was a Roman senator active during the second century AD. He was ordinary consul for the year 166 with Lucius Fufidius Pollio as his colleague, and he was proconsular governor of Africa around 180. Pudens is known only thr ...

(164/165) * Lucius Clodius Tineius Pupienus Bassus (250)

References

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

Apion's will and Roman rule of Cyrenaica

Roman conquest of Crete

Province

List of Roman governors

Further reading

References