Εμφανίζονται 3 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο για το τοπωνύμιο: "ΤΑΥΧΕΙΡΑ Αρχαία πόλη ΚΥΡΗΝΑΪΚΗ".
A city of the Libyan Pentapolis on the coast between Berenice and
Ptolemais. The name (Hdt. 4.171) is probably Libyan. In the 3d c. B.C. the city
was named Arsinoe after the consort of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The country around
was fertile and there were many wells, which may help to explain why, despite
its poor anchorage, Tocra became the last Byzantine stronghold in Cyrenaica.
The archaic pottery from the excavations (1963-65) in a small area
of the city by the shore, shows that there was a settlement here in the twenties
of the 7th c. B.C. within a decade of the traditional foundation of Cyrene. The
great mass of it came from votive deposits and indicates that there was already
close at hand a much frequented shrine of Demeter and Kore. Among the early sherds
are imports from Corinth, Rhodes, the Cyclades, Lakonia, and Crete. Few structural
remains were found, but there were remains of early huts and stretches of a wall
which may, it is suggested, have been part of a defensive wall protecting the
early settlement. The votive offerings continue more sparsely into the 5th and
4th c. and the beginnings of the Hellenistic period.
The most prominent remains of ancient Tocra are its Byzantine walls.
Many of the 30 great square or polygonal towers and an advance wall (proteichisma)
on the W and S sides are clearly Byzantine, but the main circuit is built on the
line of the Hellenistic walls. The walls, described and drawn by various early
travelers, form a rough square with sides of about 650 m. On the landward sides
they still stand in places several meters high, but they have almost entirely
vanished on the seaward side.
The quarries, in which numerous tombs had been cut, have yielded fine
vases. Many inscriptions, some of them Jewish, have been found among the tombs.
Among inscriptions found within the city was part of an Edict of Anastasius.
Systematic excavation within the walls was begun in 1939. The general
lines of the main streets had long been visible, showing a grid of insulae. Three
churches, each with an apse at the E end, were known, one outside the W wall.
A large, solid building near the center of the town is regarded as probably the
Byzantine governor's palace. In 1966 and 1967 a detailed survey of the town buildings
and of the walls was prepared, making use of recent air photographs. The existence
was established of three main periods of construction of the city wall and the
street system and 18 internal buildings were related to the new survey.
O. Brogan, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
or Teuchira (Taucheira, Teucheira). A colony of Cyrene, on the northwestern coast of Cyrenaica, in Northern Africa. Under the Ptolemies it was called Arsinoe. It was a chief seat of the worship of Cybele, who had here a great temple and an annual festival.
Tauchira or Teuchira (Taucheira, Herod. iv. 171, et alii; Teucheira,
Hierocl. p. 732; Plin. v. 5. s. 5, &c.), a town on the coast of Cyrenaica, founded
by Cyrene. It lay 200 stadia W. of Ptolemais. Under the Ptolemies it obtained
the name of Arsinoe. (Strab. xvii. p. 836; Mela, i. 8; Plin. l. c.) At a later
period it became a Roman colony (Tab. Peut.), and was fortified by Justinian.
(Procop. de Aed. vi. 3.) Tauchira was particularly noted for the worship of Cybele,
in honour of whom an annual festival was celebrated. (Synes. Ep. 3.) It is the
same town erroneously written Taricha by Diodorus (xviii. 20). It is still called
Tochira. (Cf. Della Cella, Viagg. p. 198; Pacho, Voyage, p. 184.)
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