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There are difficulties as to the identity of Terentius. Two scholars[959] have thought him to be the consul of 23 B.C., put to death the same year by Augustus on a charge of conspiring against his life.[960] This identification is possible only if we agree to date the year of the ephebe list in which Itthalammon figures, according to the era of the establishment of the province of Cyrene (alleged to have begun in 74 B.C.), in which case Itthalammon would then have been eighteen in 46 B.C. and have travelled to Italy well before Terentius’ death in 23 B.C. There is, indeed, no information of a later Terentius Varro who lived in the first half of the 1st century A.D., hence no final decision is possible on the problem of his identity. All that we can say is, that no use of the provincial era on Cyrenean inscriptions has been proved. It is moreover difficult to see the two emissaries, Simon son of Simon and Itthalammon son of Apellas, as emissaries of the city of Ptolemais, and as no simple decision is possible on this question either, we are obliged to reexamine the connection of the Jews of Cyrenaica with the agri Apionis, the Ptolemaic royal lands of the hellenistic period.

In 25 B.C. the Jews of Berenice expressed their gratitude to M. Tittius for his assistance; this official had been sent to deal with “public affairs” (ἐπὶ δημοσίων πραγμάτων) in Cyrenaica. We may state at once that he was not the governor of the province, who was of praetorian rank and this would have been mentioned on the complementary inscription had it been directed to him. The document’s language, which states that M. Tittius had “arrived” (παραγενηθείς) in the country on public affairs, precludes the rank of governor. He had come to the province on some special administrative duty, probably involving finance, hence Paribeni was perhaps right in tentatively connecting his business with the property of the Roman state, i.e. the agri publici,[961] But the expression δημόσια πράγματα can be more broadly interpreted, to mean simply “on affairs of government administration”. Only if we are prepared to assume the existence of a strong Egyptian influence on Cyrenean administrative terminology, are we bound to accept Paribeni’s interpretation.[962] The discussion that follows may help us to a solution of the problem.

6. ‛Ein Targhuna

On the Cyrenean plateau, 27 kilometres west of the city of Cyrene and six kilometres west of the ancient village of Messa, is to be found a Graeco-Roman site called ‛Ein or Gasr Targhuna or Targhuniyeh.[963] The site is also known to the local Libyan inhabitants as Hirbet al-Yahud. The representation of a menorah, cut deeply in the ancient rockcut road a short distance south of the site, is proof that the name reflects historical reality,[964] and ancient rockcut tombs here have been described as Jewish.[965] The character of the settlement can be demonstrated by the discovery near the menorah of a Roman boundary-stone (ciftftus),[966] recording the restoration of public land (ager publicus) to the Roman state by the legate Acilius Strabo, who was active in the years A.D. 55-56 under the Emperor Nero. It cannot be determined if the settlement originally stood within the limits of the ager publicus or near them, but a consideration of its position may give reason to favour the belief that the former was the case.

The geographical situation of ‛Ein Targhuna is instructive from every point of view. It lies on the line of the main Roman road linking Cyrene with Ptolemais,[967] and at the western end of a natural pass through the wooded area west of Cyrene. It also occupies the extreme western point of a spur of the Jebel which looks out over the middle terrace (the Lusaita) to the sea on the 500 metre contour above sea-level. ‛Ein Targhuna, moreover, is situated a short distance north-east of the entrance to Wadi al-Kuf, a wild and rocky region traversed by a narrow gorge which constituted a grave danger because it served as a concealed approach through which the desert tribes could penetrate to the heart of the plateau from the south-west. The area as a whole was nevertheless a natural barrier between the eastern and western parts of the Jebel. The security problem in the region is graphically emphasized by the presence of Gasr ibn Igdem, six kilometres south-west of ‛Ein Targhuna, one of the largest hellenistic forts in the country;[968] its task was to watch the pass, the many caves in which could furnish ready shelter to robbers and outlaws.

The topographical position of ‛Ein Targhuna stands out even more clearly when defined in relation to the areas of settlement, as determined by the distribution of springs and wells. The site lies in the extreme north-west angle of the area of springs, defined by the lines Targhuna-Cyrene-Apollonia-Derna-al-Fayyidieh-Slonta.[969] To west, there are no wells or springs till al-Gharib is reached, but to east the land is fertile. This is in brief, first and foremost a frontier position placed on a salient, — an ideal point for a unit of military settlers.

As to the name ‛Ein Targhuna, ancient Greek rural placenames have survived here and there on the Cyrenean Plateau down to the present day.[970] The name Targhuna recalls the Aramaic form of the Greek name (Τράχων) applied to the el-Lejja region of Hauran;[971] the Tar gum Jonathan has the form Targuna[972] (טרגוּנא). That this was not merely a corruption of the text, is to be seen from Greek-Hebrew parallels in which the patah and resh change places.[973] Later Arabic parallels also occur of the addition of the suffix iyeh to names previously without it.[974] The meaning of the name Tar-ghuniyeh is therefore likely to be “the people of Targhuna”, and it is probable that the name Targhuna originated from the Greek τράχων, “the rocky place”, from which the Greek name for al-Lejja was derived — Trachonitis.[975] Near this latter area Herod settled a unit of Jewish mounted archers probably in 7-6 B.C., under the command of one Zamaris,[976] who had come to Syria from Babylonia in 10 B.C.[977] The aim of this settlement in so difficult an area was, of course, to hold in check its cave-dwellers, who were plundering the neighbouring villages.[978] The area had been first annexed by M. Terentius Varro, governor of Syria, in the year 23 B.C. He was a brother of Aulus Terentius Varro and a relative of the Terentius Varro whose name appears on the Lanu-vium inscription discussed above. It may be added that at the end of the 4th century A.D., according to Synesius,[979] a unit of mounted archers (ἰπποτόξοται) recruited or stationed at Balagrae (Zawia Beida), 13 kilometres east of Targhuna, was stationed in the Jebel. Although they were called Balagritae, their permanent station is unknown, but their existence teaches that there was a tradition of mounted archery in the district, and it would seem that the Roman command of the 4th century, wishing to beat the Libyan tribes with their own tactics, raised a unit of mounted archers among the local natives to protect the district.[980]