Cyrenaica, Pompey and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus

This article investigates water supply systems in Cyrenaica during both the Greek and Roman periods. Beginning with some general information on water supply systems in Cyrenaica's other cities, it goes on to describe aqueducts and water cisterns recorded during the Cyrene Archaeological Surveys (CAS) around Cyrene in 2015 and 2017. The article explains how water was stored and delivered to the city of Cyrene in antiquity and offers a wider discussion on water distribution in Cyrene in the Greek era and how water supply systems developed through time, moving into the Roman period.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water supply systems in Cyrenaica during the Greek and Roman periods: Cyrene in context

Abdrbba¹

2019

“…In 75 or 74 BC, Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus was appointed quaestor of Cyrenaica and was the first Roman magistrate in the region (Sallust, Histories, 2.41-42). Later on, in 67 BC, his brother Cnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus came to Cyrenaica as legate of Pompey and the acts he accomplished are known from the epigraphical record (Reynolds 1962). The presence of the Cornelii Lentuli at Cyrene during the second and first centuries BC explain the close ties between this Roman family and the cities of Cyrenaica.…”

Section: A Funerary Inscription For Two Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

New inscriptions from rural Cyrenaica

Alshareef

Chevrollier²,

Dobias-Lalou

2021

This paper publishes four inscriptions recently discovered by chance in the Cyrenaican countryside. Nos 1, 2 and 3 are in Greek. No. 1, from a tomb near Mgarnes, is a funerary stele inscribed in verse for a woman whose family was of some importance in the city of Cyrene. No. 2, from the same tomb, is an anthropomorphic stele for another woman, which is discussed on the basis of the dead person's name and the vicinity of the stone to the preceding stele. No. 3, from the middle plateau below Cyrene, is a marble panel with the epitaph of two women named Cornelia, increasing our knowledge of the Cornelii family in Cyrenaica. No. 4, from near Khawlan in the south-east, is a boundary stele in Latin mentioning the boundaries of the province; combining this with the evidence from another such stone from el-Khweimat, close to Gerdes el-Gerrari towards the south-east, also mentioning the provincial boundaries, we are now able to outline the Roman limes in the central part of Djebel Akhdar.

“…Other times it is entirely possible that the new owners of old tombs had no familiar connection to the ancient Cyreneans. For example, there is epigraphic evidence that Hellenised Italian families had during the first century AD already buried their dead in the old Cyrenean necropolis (Al Muzzeini et al 2003; Reynolds 1962). Whatever the specific reason of each group, huge changes happened in the cemeteries during Roman times when many of the old Greek tombs were heavily modified (L. Cherstich 2011).…”

Section: Approaching Reuse In Cyrene: Past Scholarship and Problems Omentioning

confidence: 99%

A ‘living’ necropolis: change and reuse in the cemeteries of Cyrene

Cherstich¹,

Menozzi

Antonelli

et al. 2018

The four cemeteries of Cyrene were a living archaeological landscape whose life continued far beyond antiquity. The habit of using monumental tombs was a long-lasting one in Cyrene, starting in the Archaic period and continuing until Roman times. The concept of ‘reuse’ is in itself a problematic one since, from a semantic point of view, it implies the presence of a clear-cut division between an original ‘phase of use’ and of a later ‘phase of reuse’. This approach could have sense when a clear hiatus is present, for example when speaking of modern reuse of ancient Greek tombs. However, the main problem is the use of the term ‘reuse’ when describing two ancient phases, such as a Hellenistic phase and a Roman phase of the same tomb, implying a clear hiatus between them even if one often lacks the elements for identifying the existence of such a hiatus. In particular, the Southern and Northern Necropolises have been analysed here to investigate this subject, basing the hypotheses on data coming from field research and previous studies. However, the topic of reuse for the tombs of Cyrene would need far more space than this paper, so this work should be considered an introduction to a matter that needs a far deeper and a far wider analysis. Given these limits, an ‘anthological’ approach is here proposed, with a sequence of various subjects connected to the ‘reuse’ topic and some new data coming from recent research (such as the surveys in the Northern and Southern Necropolises and the excavation of Tomb S1 by the Chieti University team, and of a tomb in the Northern Necropolis by a team of colleagues from the local Department of Antiquities).