'Cyrene', the ancient Greek city (in present-day
Libya) was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region and gave eastern Libya the classical name '
Cyrenaica' that it has retained to modern times. It lies in a lush valley in the
Jebel Akhdar uplands. It was named after a spring, Kyre, which the Greeks consecrated to
Apollo.
Cyrene was founded as a
colony of the Greeks of Thera (modern
Santorini), traditionally led by
Battus I from Thera, in
630 BC ten miles from its port,
Apollonia (Marsa Sousa). Details concerning the founding of the city are contained in Book IV of the ''
Histories'' of
Herodotus. It promptly became the chief town of the
ancient Libyan region between
Egypt and
Carthage (Cyrenaica), kept up commercial relations with all the Greek cities, and reached the height of its prosperity under its own kings in the
5th century BC. Soon after
460 BC it became a republic; after the death of
Alexander the Great (
323 BC) it passed to the Ptolemies and fell into decay.
Cyrenaica became part of the
empire controlled by the
Ptolemaic dynasty from Alexandria in Egypt and later passed to the
Roman empire. Cyrene was the birthplace of
Eratosthenes and there are a number of philosophers associated with the city including
Callimachus,
Carneades,
Aristippus and Arete, and
Synesius, bishop of
Ptolemais in the
4th century CE.
The inhabitants of Cyrene at the time of
Sulla (c.
85 BC) were divided into four classes: citizens, farmers, resident aliens, and Jews, who formed a restless minority. The ruler of the town, Apion bequeathed it to the Romans, but it kept its self-government. In
74 BC Cyrene was created a Roman province; but, whereas under the Ptolemies the Jewish inhabitants had enjoyed equal rights, they now found themselves increasingly oppressed by the now autonomous and much larger Greek population. Tensions came to a head in the insurrection of the Jews of Cyrene under
Vespasian (
73) and especially
Trajan (
117). This revolt was quelled by Marcius Turbo, but not before huge numbers of people had been killed (
Cassius Dio, lxviii. 32). According to
Eusebius the outbreak of violence left Libya depopulated to such an extent that a few years later new colonies had to be established there just to maintain the viability of continued settlement.
Cyrene's chief local export through much of its early history -- the medicinal herb
silphium -- was pictured on most Cyrenian
coins, until it was harvested to extinction. Though commercial competition from Carthage and Alexandria reduced its trade, Cyrene, with its port of Apollonia (Marsa Susa), remained an important urban center until the
earthquake of
365.
Ammianus Marcellinus described it in the
4th century as a deserted city, and
Synesius, a native of Cyrene, described it in the following century as a vast ruin at the mercy of the nomads.
The names of six Christian bishops are known: according to
Byzantine legend the first was St. Lucius (Acts 13:1); St. Theodorus suffered martyrdom under
Diocletian; about 370 Philo dared to consecrate by himself a bishop for Hydra, and was succeeded by his own nephew, Philo; Rufus sided with Dioscorus at the so-called Robber Synod (Latrocinium) of
Ephesus in 449; Leontius lived about 600.
Cyrene is now an archeological site near the village of Shahat. One of its more significant features is the Temple of
Apollo which was originally constructed as early as
7th century BC. Other ancient structures include a Temple to
Demeter and a partially unexcavated Temple to
Zeus (the latter was intentionally damaged under orders of
Moammar Al Qadhafi in the summer of 1978). There is a large
necropolis approximately 10 km between Cyrene and its ancient port of Apollonia.
Cyrene in the Bible
Cyrene is mentioned in
2 Maccabees: The book of
2 Maccabees is said by its author to be an abridgment of a five-volume work by a
Hellenistic Jew by the name of
Jason of Cyrene who lived around
100 BC. (Both the Catholic and the Eastern churches consider
2 Maccabees to be
canonical; Protestants do not.) Cyrene is also mentioned in the
New Testament: One
Simon of Cyrene carried the cross of
Christ (Mark 15:21 and parallels). See also Acts 2:10, 6:9; 11:20; 13:1.
New discoveries
In
2005,
Italian archaeologists from the
University of Urbino discovered 76 intact Roman statues at Cyrene from the
2nd century AD. The statues remained undiscovered for so long because, according to archaeologist Mario Luni, “during the earthquake of
375 AD, a supporting wall of the temple fell on its side, burying all the statues. They remained hidden under stone, rubble and earth for 1,600 years. The other walls sheltered the statues, so we were able to recover all the pieces, even works that had been broken."
[1]
External links
★
Livius,
Cyrene and the Cyrenaica by Jona Lendering
See also
★
Cyrenaica
★
Cyrenaics
★
List of Kings of Cyrene
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