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Province, 117 CE

Creta et Cyrenaica

Senatorial province (proconsul)Capital: Gortyn

An odd pairing — Crete and the five Greek cities of Cyrenaica, on opposite sides of open sea, governed as one senatorial province since 27 BCE simply because neither was large enough to justify its own proconsul. Cyrenaica bore the worst of the Kitos War's opening massacres in 115–117; Cassius Dio's account of hundreds of thousands killed there, while likely inflated, still reflects real, near-total devastation.

2 places on the map

Sources

  • Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.32
  • Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 4.2

Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →