Creta and Cyrene

Location of the province

Roman provinces under Trajan (117 AD)

Creta et Cyrene (also Creta et Cyrenae ) was a province of the Roman Empire . It was born in 67 BC. From the already since 74 BC. The existing province of Cyrene ( Cyrenaica ) and the newly acquired Crete ( Crete ) were founded after Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus 69–67 BC. Had driven the pirates from Crete.

In 36 BC The province fell into the hands of Cleopatra Selene as a gift from Marcus Antonius , although it was given to the Cretans in 43 BC. Having promised freedom in the 4th century BC, they should oppose Marcus Junius Brutus , governor of Crete that year.

No later than 27 BC The province was re-established under Augustus and included the island of Crete and the landscape of Cyrenaica around the old Greek colony of Cyrene on the North African mainland.

The province was administered by a proconsul appointed by the Senate from among the former praetors . Its headquarters were in Gortyn on Crete.

During the provincial reform of Emperor Diocletian , Creta et Cyrene was divided into the three independent provinces Creta , Libya superior and Libya inferior .

literature

Holger Saturday : Creta et Cyrenae. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 3, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01473-8 , Sp. 211.

Remarks

↑ Tilmann Bechert : The provinces of the Roman Empire. Introduction and overview. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2399-9 , pp. 103-104.

35.062141 24.946957Coordinates: 35 ° N , 25 ° E

[1] Tilmann Bechert : The provinces of the Roman Empire. Introduction and overview. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2399-9 , pp. 103-104.