page_title: History of Benghazi
section_title: Roman settlement
hierarchical_section_title: History of Benghazi / Roman settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Image created by stitching different sections of the Tabula Peutingeriana from the website of the National Austrian Library. The map shows a section of the Pentapolis and Berenice (one of the five cities).
context_page_description: Libya's second largest city, Benghazi, has a history which extends from when the city was first inhabited in the 6th century BCE to the present day. Throughout its history, the city has been continuously conquered by different ancient and colonial forces.
context_section_description: Cyrenaica became a Roman province when it was bequeathed to Rome by Ptolemy Apion on his death in 96 BC. At first, the Romans gave Berenice and the other cities of the Pentapolis their freedom. By 78 BC however, Cyrenaica was formally organised as one administrative province together with Crete. It became a senatorial province in 20 BC, like its far more prominent western neighbour Africa proconsularis. The Tetrarchy reforms of Diocletian in 296 changed the administrative structure and Cyrenaica was split into two provinces: Libya Inferior and Libya Superior (which comprised Berenice and the other cities of the Pentapolis, with Cyrene as capital). Berenice prospered for most of its 600 years as a Roman city; it even superseded Cyrene and Barca as the chief center of Cyrenaica after the 3rd century AD. Many structures were built in Roman Berenice, and mosaics were to be found on the floors of several important buildings. A public bath and churches were built in the city later on in its history.
  The inhabitants of the city practiced different religions throughout the centuries. During Pagan times, the worship of Apollo was very important in Berenice. Whilst still a pagan city, a Jewish community existed in Berenice around the time the city was first founded after moving from the Euesperides site. It probably contained many poor members, but three Jewish inscriptions found in Benghazi show that a comfortable and even wealthy stratum existed in the Jewish community. There was also a synagogue in Berenice. Despite relative peace, religious strife was not unheard of; a Jewish insurgency in 118 AD had destroyed much of Cyrenaica. Christianity later came to Berenice from Egypt, and many of the early Christians there were non-trinitarian Sabellians and Carpocrations. After the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, Cyrenaica had been recognized as an ecclesiastical province of the See of Alexandria.
  By 431, the whole of Libya was conquered by the Vandals. These Germanic people from Europe quickly set about invading the country under their leader Geiseric with as many as 80,000 settlers in tow. They sacked Cyrenaica in the 5th century, and Berenice became part of their empire. The Romans recognised the Vandal ascendancy, as long as civil administration remained in Roman hands. Berenice suffered enormous damage during the Vandal invasion.
  There was a brief period of repair when the Byzantines took control of Berenice in the 6th century and the city came under the rule of Justinian I. According to Procopius, Justinian rebuilt the walls of Bernice and also built a public bath. After later reorganisation by Byzantine Emperor Maurice (582-602), Cyrenaica belonged to the province of Egypt. In general, Byzantine control over the region was weak,  except in Berenice and other urban areas which were relatively under control. Berber rebellions were frequent in the insecure hinterland, and later reduced the area to anarchy. The potential prosperity of Berenice was thus squandered. Byzantine Rule was deeply unpopular, not least because taxes were increased dramatically in order to pay for military upkeep, while Berenice and other cities were left to decay.
caption: Euesperides was refounded as Berenice and became part of the Roman Pentapolis. This section of the Roman Tabula Peutingeriana itinerarium (road map) shows Berenice and the other cities of the Pentapolis which were bequeathed to Rome.
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