Edilizia residenziale nel paesaggio urbanistico di Tolemaide in Cirenaica

Abstract

The article presents the private houses of Ptolemais’ inhabitants in the context of the history and urban development of a city with a thousand-year-long history. Four periods can be distinguished in the history of Ptolemais: the first since the creation of the city’s final spatial development plan in the 2nd century BC until the Jewish Revolt in 115–117 AD; the second in the 2nd–3rd centuries AD under the sign of development and growing aspirations of Ptolemais; the third in the 4th century AD until the first half of the 5th century AD, when the city served as the capital of the province of Libya Superior; and the fourth, from the end of the 5th century AD until the mid-7th century AD, in which Ptolemais, after a short period of crisis related to the nomad invasions, flourished again until the appearance of the Arabs, marking the end of the ancient city, although not the end of settlement in its area. Within this historical framework, changes in the city’s buildings and the transformation of private houses can be identified, and various cultural influences associated with the arrival of new residents at different times with their baggage of experience or with the more or less significant presence of representatives of the civil and military administration of the Roman Empire can be seen.