The area of
North Africa
which has been known as
Libya
since 1911 was under
Roman
domination between 146 BC and 672 AD (even if in the meantime it was taken by the Vandals in 430 AD, and then recaptured by the Byzantines). The Latin name
Libya
at the time referred to the continent of
Africa
in general.
[1]
What is now coastal Libya was known as
Tripolitania
and
Pentapolis
, divided between the
Africa province
in the west, and
Crete and Cyrenaica
in the east. In 296 AD, the Emperor
Diocletian
separated the administration of
Crete
from Cyrenaica and in the latter formed the new provinces of "Upper Libya" and "Lower Libya", using the term
Libya
as a political state for the first time in history.
History
[
edit
]
After the final conquest and
destruction of Carthage
in 146 BC, northwestern Africa went under Roman rule and, shortly thereafter, the coastal area of what is now western Libya was established as a province under the name of
Tripolitania
with
Leptis Magna
capital and the major trading port in the region.
In 96 BC, Rome peacefully obtained
Cyrenaica
(left as bequeathing by the king
Ptolemy Apion
) with the so-called sovereign
pentapolis
, formed by the cities of
Cyrene
(near the modern village of Shahat), its port of
Apollonia
,
Arsinoe
(Tocra),
Berenice
(near modern Benghazi) and
Barce
(
Marj
), that will be transformed into a
Roman province
a couple of decades later in 74 BC. The Roman advance southward, however, was stopped by the
Garamantes
.
Cyrenaica had become part of the Roman
Egypt
already from the time of
Ptolemy I Soter
, despite frequent revolts and usurpations.
[2]
In 74 BC, the new province was established, governed by a legate of praetorian rank (
Legatus pro praetor
) and accompanied by a
quaestor
(
quaestor pro praetor
), but in 20 BC Cyrenaica was united to the island of Crete in the new province of
Creta et Cyrenaica
, because of the common Greek heritage.
The territory of Cyrenaica was characterized by the contrast between the coastal towns of the Pentapolis, inhabited by Greeks, and the territories inhabited by Libyans. The first had preserved their own institutions and were joined in an association, while their independence was recognized by the
Ptolemaic
Constitution of 248 BC. In some of these cities there was a huge minority of the population made of
Hebrews
, who were organized with their own rules. The few Roman citizens in the province were organized into the
Conventus civium Romanorum.
The territory of Tripolitania was characterized by the presence of a strong
punic
influence in the three main cities (Tripolitania means "land of three cities") of
Oea
(actual Tripoli),
Sabratha
and
Leptis Magna
, but by the end of
Augustus
time the coastal area was nearly fully
Romanised
.
Few were the raids of nomadic tribes of the desert against the cities of the province for at least the first two centuries. We know that at the time of Emperor
Domitian
, the Nasamones (a Libyan tribe living south of
Leptis Magna
) rebelled, bringing destruction and defeating the
Legatus legionis
of
Augusta III
Cneo Suelli Flacco, who had gone to meet them. But when he later returned with reinforcements, he crushed them all, so that Domitian could say before the
Roman Senate
the famous: "I prevented Nasamoni to exist".
[3]
Instead more serious was the
Jewish revolt
striking mainly the Pentapolis in the time of
Trajan
(in 115?116 AD). In Cyrenaica, the rebels were led by one Lukuas or Andreas, who called himself "King" (according to
Eusebius of Caesarea
). His group destroyed many temples, including those to
Hecate
,
Jupiter
,
Apollo
,
Artemis
, and
Isis
, as well as the civil structures that were symbols of Rome, including the
Caesareum
, the
basilica
, and the
thermae
(Imperial public baths). The Greek and Roman populations were massacred: the 4th-century Christian historian
Paulus Orosius
records that the violence so depopulated the province of Cyrenaica that new colonies had to be established by Hadrian:
The Jews ... waged war on the inhabitants throughout Libya in the most savage fashion, and to such an extent was the country wasted that, its cultivators having been slain, its land would have remained utterly depopulated, had not the Emperor Hadrian gathered settlers from other places and sent them thither, for the inhabitants had been wiped out.
[4]
After
Hadrian
, Christianity started to be the most important religion in Roman Libya until the arrival of the Arabs.
During the reign of Emperor
Septimius Severus
(born in Leptis Magna) there was sitting on the "Chair of Peter"
Pope Victor I
(181?191), also from Libyan Leptis Magna and probably its bishop.
[5]
Until Victor's time, Rome celebrated the
Mass
in
Greek
: Pope Victor I changed the language to
Latin
, which was used in his native Roman Libya. According to
Jerome
, he was the first Christian author to write about theology in Latin.
[6]
Furthermore,
Arius
, creator around 310 AD of the heresy
Arianism
, came from
Ptolemais
. Some centuries later in Cyrenaica,
Monophysite
adherents of the
Coptic Church
welcomed the Muslim Arabs as liberators from Byzantine oppression.
[7]
Septimius Severus
[
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]
The best period of Roman Libya was under emperor
Septimius Severus
, born in
Leptis Magna
. He favored his hometown above all other provincial cities, and the buildings and wealth he lavished on it made Leptis Magna the third-most important city in Africa, rivaling Carthage and
Alexandria
. In 205, he and the imperial family visited the city and received great honors. Among the changes that Severus introduced to this city were to create a magnificent new forum and to rebuild the docks.
He enriched all Libya, but mainly Tripolitania, defending it with an enlarged
Limes Tripolitanus
against the
Garamantes
: this powerful tribe was a client state of the Roman Empire, but as nomads they always endangered the fertile area of coastal Tripolitania.
[8]
Indeed, the
limes
was expanded under emperors
Hadrian
and Septimius Severus, in particular under the legatus
Quintus Anicius Faustus
in 197-201 AD.
Anicius Faustus was appointed
legatus
of the
Legio III
Augusta
and built several defensive forts of the Limes Tripolitanus in Tripolitania, among which Garbia
[9]
and Golaia (actual Bu Ngem)
[10]
in order to protect the province from the raids of nomadic tribes. He fulfilled his task quickly and successfully.
As a consequence the Roman city of
Ghirza
, situated away from the coast and south of Leptis Magna, developed quickly in a rich agricultural area.
[11]
Ghirza became a "boom town" after 200 AD, when Septimius Severus had better organized the Limes Tripolitanus.
In late 202, Severus launched a campaign in the province of Africa. Anicius Faustus had been fighting against the Garamantes along the Limes Tripolitanus for five years, capturing several settlements from the enemy such as
Cydamus
, Gholaia, Garbia, and their capital
Garama
- over 600 km south of
Leptis Magna
.
[12]
By 203 the entire southern frontier of Roman Africa had been dramatically expanded and re-fortified. Desert nomads could no longer safely raid the region's interior and escape back into the
Sahara
. For another century the legacy of Septimius Severus gave peace and prosperity to Roman Libya.
Economy
[
edit
]
As a
Roman province
, Libya was prosperous, and reached a golden age in the 2nd century AD, when the city of
Leptis Magna
rivalled Carthage and Alexandria in prominence.
For more than 400 years, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were wealthy Roman provinces and part of a cosmopolitan state whose citizens shared a common language, legal system, and Roman identity.
Roman ruins, like those of
Leptis Magna
and
Sabratha
in present-day Libya, attest to the vitality of the region, where populous cities and even smaller towns enjoyed the amenities of urban life ? forum, markets, public entertainments, and baths ? found in every corner of the Roman Empire.
[13]
Merchants and artisans from many parts of the Roman world established themselves in coastal Libya. Former soldiers were settled in the "Centenaria" area of Tripolitania, and the arid land was developed.
[14]
Dams and cisterns were built in the Wadi Ghirza (then not dry like today) to regulate the flash floods. These structures are still visible
[15]
As a consequence the area south of Leptis Magna became an important exporter of olive oil and cereals to Rome and the province was greatly "
romanized
", according to
Theodore Mommsen
.
The level of this romanization can be deducted even from the survival of the
African Romance
: the 12th-century Arab geographer
Muhammad al-Idrisi
wrote that the people of the area of
Gafsa
(the Roman "Capsa", near northwestern Tripolitania) used a language that he called
al-latini al-afriqi
("the Latin of Africa").
[16]
Tripolitania was a major exporter of agricultural products, as well as a centre for the gold and slaves conveyed to the coast by the Garamentes, while Cyrenaica remained an important source of wines, drugs, and horses.
[17]
Last centuries
[
edit
]
After Septimius Severus Roman Libya slowly declined for the next century of so, before being destroyed by the
tsunami of 365 AD
. A recovery faltered, and well before the Arab invasion in the mid-7th century, Greco-Roman civilization had been collapsing in the area except
Oea
.
As part of his reorganization of the empire in 296 AD, the Emperor Diocletian separated the administration of
Crete
from Cyrenaica and in the latter formed the new provinces of "Upper Libya" and "Lower Libya", using the term
Libya
for the first time in history as an administrative designation. Indeed, the
Tetrarchy
reforms of
Diocletian
changed the administrative structure:
- Cyrenaica was split into two provinces: "Libya Superior" or "Libia Pentapolis", that comprised the above-mentioned Pentapolis with Cyrene as capital, and "Libya Inferior" or "Libia sicca", the
Marmarica
with the only significant city
Paraetonium
, each under a governor of the modest rank of
praeses
. Both belonged to the
Diocese of Egypt
, within the
Praetorian prefecture
of
Oriens
.
- Tripolitania, the largest split-off from Africa proconsularis, became part of the
Diocese of Africa
, subordinate to the
praefectura praetorio Italiae, Illyrici et Africae
. After the devastating tsunami of 365, the capital of Cyrenaica was moved to
Ptolemais
. With the definitive partition of the Roman empire in 395 AD, Tripolitania was attached to the
Western Roman empire
, while Cyrenaica to the eastern empire, later called
Byzantine
. It was briefly part of the
Vandal Kingdom
to the west, until its
reconquest by Belisarius
in 533 AD.
In April 534 AD, the former Roman provincial system along with the full apparatus of Roman administration was restored, under a
praetorian prefect
.
[18]
During the following years, under the smart general Solomon, who combined the offices of both
magister militum
and praetorian prefect of Africa, Roman rule in Libya was strengthened (
Theodorias
was refounded
[19]
), but the fighting continued against the Berber tribes on the hinterland.
[20]
Solomon achieved significant successes against them, but his work was interrupted by a widespread military mutiny in 536. The mutiny was eventually subdued by Germanus, a cousin of
Justinian
, and Solomon returned in 539. He fell, however, in the Battle of Cillium in 544 against the united berber tribes, and Roman Libya was again in jeopardy. It would not be until 548 AD that the resistance of the
Berber
tribes would be finally broken by the talented general
John Troglita
. The last
Latin
epic poem
of
Antiquity
, the
de Bellis Libycis
of
Flavius Cresconius Corippus
, was written about this struggle.
Successively the province entered an era of relative stability and prosperity, and was organized as a separate
exarchate
in 584 AD. Eventually, under
Heraclius
, Libia and Africa would come to the rescue of the Empire itself, deposing the tyrant
Phocas
and beating back the
Sassanids
and the
Avars
.
But that was the last Roman achievement: in 642 AD Moslem Arabs started to conquer Libya. The Arabs succeeded in temporarily driving the Byzantines out of Tripoli in 645 AD, but they did not follow that conquest with the establishment of a permanent Arab presence in the city. No further raids were conducted until 661, when the new
Umayyad dynasty
under Mu'awiya ushered in a new era of Muslim expansion. An official campaign to conquer North Africa began in 663, and the Arabs soon controlled most major cities in Libya. Tripoli fell again in 666 AD, and this time the Muslims ensured their control of their new lands by not immediately retreating to Egypt after the conquest.
In 670 AD all Libya was in the hands of the Arabs: Roman rule since BC 2nd century finally ended. Only in
Benito Mussolini
's time, more than one thousand years later, Libya was recreated as a political entity in 1934 (with a name borrowed from the
Diocletian
reforms).
Main cities
[
edit
]
Life in Roman Libya was concentrated around a few coastal cities, mostly founded by
Greeks
and
Phoenicians
:
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
- ^
Ptolemy VIII
, as a measure of preventive defense, made his will in favor of Rome if he died without legitimate heirs
- ^
Cassius Dio Cocceio,
Roman History
, LXVII, 4, 6.
- ^
Orosius, Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, 7.12.6.
- ^
"History of the Catholic Church in Libya"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-12-31
. Retrieved
2011-01-05
.
- ^
Kung, Hans.
The Catholic Church: A Short History.
New York; The Modern Library, 2003, p.44
- ^
Monophysites and arab conquest of Libya
- ^
Map of Limes tripolitanus
- ^
Gheriat el-Garbia
- ^
J.S. Wacher,
The Roman world
, Volume 1, Taylor & Francis, 2002,
ISBN
0-415-26315-8
, pp. 252-3
- ^
Roman city of Ghirza
- ^
Birley (2000), p. 153
- ^
Graham, Alexander (1902)
Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa, based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country
Longmans, Green, and Co., London,
Google Books
,
OCLC
2735641
- ^
Map of the agricultural "Centenaria" area
- ^
Ghirza
- ^
Capsa (in Italian)
- ^
Mommsen, Theodore.
The Provinces of the Roman Empire
Chapter: Africa
- ^
Codex Iustinianus
, Book I, XXVII
- ^
Theodoria (Qasr Libya)
- ^
J.Bury: The reconquest of Africa
- ^
Images of Leptis Magna
- ^
Video of Leptis Magna
- ^
Oea images
- ^
Sabratha images
- ^
Video of Sabratha
- ^
Video of Cyrene
- ^
Apollonia images
- ^
Arsinoe images
- ^
Berenice/Euesperides
- ^
Tomb of Menecrate in Barce (in Italian)
- ^
Photos of Ptolemais
- ^
Video of Ptolemais & Apollonia
- ^
Antipyrgon
- ^
Ghirza (in french)
- ^
Ruins of Ghirza
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Lidiano Bacchielli,
La Tripolitania
, in "Storia Einaudi dei Greci e dei Romani", Geografia del mondo tardo-antico, vol.20, Milano, Einaudi, 2008.
- Barker, Graeme.
Cyrenaica in Antiquity
(Society for Libyan Studies Occasional Papers). Joyce Reynolds
ISBN
0-86054-303-X
- J.R.Gonzalez,
Historia de las legiones Romanas
, Madrid 2003.
- Graham, Alexander.
Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa, based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country
. Publisher Longmans & Green (1902). University of California, 2007
- M.Grant,
The Antonines: the Roman empire in transition
, Londra e N.Y. 1994.
ISBN
978-0-415-13814-7
- A.H.M.Jones,
The later Roman empire 284-602
, Baltymore 1986.
- Lennox Manton,
Roman North Africa
, 1988
- S.Rinaldi Tufi,
Archeologia delle province romane
, Roma 2007.
- G.Webster,
The roman imperial army of the first and second century A.D.
, Oklahoma 1998.
External links
[
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]