Note 11 — Chapter II

We find both these cities mentioned by Pliny; and one of them (Oea) by Pomponius Mela, while nothing is said by Strabo either of the cities or the district. Pliny died A.D. 79; Mela is supposed to have flourished about the middle of the first century, and Strabo in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. We may infer, from the silence of Strabo on the subject, that neither Sabrata nor Oea existed in his time; and as Pliny, though he mentions both cities, appears to have been unacquainted with the name of the district in question, we may also perhaps infer that it was bestowed upon it after his time. What is stated by Cellarius on the subject of Tripolis, appears to confirm this opinion: for he tells us that he knew of no one before the time of Solinus, who made any mention in Africa of the name[a]; and that he only applied the term to the district, and not to any particular city.

Solinus is known to have written after Pliny, towards the close of the first century; and we may therefore, perhaps, conclude, that the district called Tripolis, received that appellation between the times of Pliny and Solinus.