place
Cretensibus
also: Cretans
Crete, the great island of the southern Aegean; from the 2nd century BC a haunt of pirates and a base of resistance to Rome. Subdued in the war of 69-66 BC by Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus and made a Roman province (often joined administratively to Cyrenaica). Cicero invokes Cretan witnesses in the Verrines (2.2.18); the Cretan immunity-grants of M. Antonius are condemned at Phil. 2.97.
Reading notes
- Second Philippic §97 the wealthiest cities of the Cretans
Cicero alleges Antony sold a decree freeing Crete from tribute and ending its provincial status after Marcus Brutus's governorship, though Brutus had no connection with the island in Caesar's lifetime.
- Tusculan Disputations §2.34 The laws of the Cretans
The legendary law-code of Crete, ascribed to King Minos who received it from Jupiter; admired in antiquity (with Sparta's) for its rigorous training of the young in endurance. Cicero pairs it with the Lycurgan discipline of Sparta.