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The area of North Africa which has been known as Libya since 1911 was under Roman domination between 146 BC and 670 AD. The Latin name ''Libya'' at the time referred to the continent of Africa in general.〔(Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary )〕 What is now coastal Libya was known as Tripolitania and Pentapolis, divided between the ''Africa'' province in the west and ''Creta et 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. This article is part of a series about the History of Libya and it is related to the Roman domination of the territory now called Republic of Libya. ==History== (詳細は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 inheritance 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.〔Ptolemy VIII, as a measure of preventive defense, made his will in favor of Rome if he died without legitimate heirs〕 In 74 BC was established the new province, 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".〔Cassius Dio Cocceio,''Roman History'', LXVII, 4, 6.〕 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: 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.〔(History of the Catholic Church in Libya )〕 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.〔Kung, Hans. ''The Catholic Church: A Short History.'' New York; The Modern Library, 2003, p.44〕 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.〔(Monophysites and arab conquest of Libya )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roman Libya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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