Ptolemy VIII willed Cyrene to Rome in 155 BC, and his son Ptolemy Apion's will handed it over in 96 BC

In 163 BC Ptolemy VIII was expelled from Alexandria, and Roman agents persuaded his older brother Ptolemy VI to give him Cyrenaica, the Libyan part of the kingdom. Around 156 to 155 BC Ptolemy VIII survived an attempt on his life and blamed his brother. He made a will and had it cut on a marble stele at Cyrene. Dated year fifteen, month Loios (155 or 154 BC), it says that if he died without heirs to the throne, his kingdom would go to the Romans, whose friendship and alliance he had kept from the beginning. A copy was sent to Rome. The condition never arose: Ptolemy VI died in 145 BC and Ptolemy VIII became king of Egypt. When he died in 116 BC, Cyrenaica went to Ptolemy Apion, his son by a concubine. Livius records that Apion took control only with Roman help and that Rome reminded him of his father's will. Apion died in 96 BC and named the Roman people his heir. The Senate declared the cities of his kingdom free, and Cyrenaica became a Roman province decades later. Some scholars, including Criscuolo, argue the stone was engraved to justify Roman rule. The stele was found on 24 August 1929 in the Sanctuary of Apollo at Cyrene. It is in the Cyrene Museum (no. 80) at Shahat, Libya, where it was recorded in 2010.