CYRENAICA

Cyrenaica was a Roman province on the northern coast of Africa between Egypt and Numidia. That area is now the eastern part of the Mediterranean coast of Libya. The province consisted classically of five cities, the Pentapolis, of which the chief was the eponymous Cyrene. Having long been part of Egypt, it was separated from the main kingdom by Ptolemy VIII and given to his son Ptolemy Apion, who, dying without heirs in 96 BC, bequeathed it to the Roman Republic.

Although some confusion exists as to the exact territory Rome inherited, by 78 BC it was organised as a province with Crete, until the reforms of Diocletian in 300 changed all of the provincial administrations.

External links and references

• Cyrene and the Cyrenaica
• Cyrenaica in Antiquity (Society for Libyan Studies Occasional Papers). Graeme Barker, John Lloyd, Joyce Reynolds ISBN 086054303X