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KYRINI (Ancient city) LIBYA
Curene or Cyrenae (he Kurene: Eth. and Adj. as those of Cyrenaica:
Ghrennah, very large Ru.), the chief city of Cyrenaica and the most important
Hellenic colony in Africa, was founded in B.C. 631 by Battus and a body of Dorian
colonists from the island of Thera. (The date is variously stated, but the evidence
preponderates greatly in favour of that now given; Clinton, F. H. vol. i. s. a.:
for the details of the enterprise, and of the subsequent history of the house
of Battus, see Dict. of Biog. s. v. Battus, and Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. iv.
p. 39, seq.) The colonists, sailing to the then almost unknown shores of Libya,
in obedience to the Delphic oracle, took possession first of the island of Platea,
in the Gulf of Bomba, which they seem to have mistaken for the mainland. Hence,
after two years of suffering, and after again consulting the oracle, they removed
to the opposite shore, and resided in the well-wooded district of Aziris for six
years, at the end of which time some of the native Libyans persuaded them to leave
it for a better locality, and conducted them through the region of Irasa, to the
actual site of Cyrene. Though Irasa was deemed so delectable a region that the
Libyan guides were said to have led the Greeks through it in the night lest they
should settle there, the spot at which their journey ended is scarcely inferior
for beauty and fertility to any on the surface of the globe. In the very middle
of that projecting bosom of the African coast (as Grote well calls it), which
has been described under Cyrenaica on the edge of the upper of two of the terraces,
by which the table-land sinks down to the Mediterranean, in a spot backed by the
mountains on the S. and in full view of the sea towards the N., and thus sheltered
from the fiery blasts of the desert, while open to the cool sea breezes, at the
distance of 10 miles. from the shore, and at the height of about 1800 feet, an
inexhaustible spring bursts forth amidst luxuriant vegetation, and pours its waters
down to the Mediterranean through a most beautiful ravine. Over this spring which
they consecrated to Apollo, the great deity of their race (hence Apollonos krene,
Callim. in Apoll. 88), the colonists built their new city, and called it Cyrene
from Cyre the.name of the fountain. At a later period an elegant mythology connected
the fountain with the god, and related how Cyrene, a Thessalian nymph, beloved
of Apollo, was carried by him to Africa, in a chariot drawn by swans. (Muller,
Dorians, Bk. ii. c. 3. § 7.)
The site of Cyrene was in the territory of the Libyans named Asbystae;
and with them the Greek settlers seem from the first to have been on terms of
friendship very similar to those which subsisted between the Carthaginians and
their Libyan neighbours. The Greeks had the immense advantage of commanding the
abundant springs and fertile meadows to which the Libyans were compelled to resort
when the supplies of the less favoured regions further inland began to fail. A
close connection soon grew up between the natives and the Greek settlers; and
not only did the former imitate the customs of the latter (Herod. iv. 170); but
the two races coalesced to a much greater extent than was usual in such cases.
It is very important to remember this fact, that the population of Cyrene had
a very large admixture of Libyan blood by the marriages of the early settlers
with Libyan wives (Herod. iv. 186-189; Grote, vol. iv. p. 53). The remark applies
even to the royal family; and, if we were to believe Herodotus, the very name
of Battus, which was borne by the founder, and by his successors alternately,
with the Greek name Arcesilaus, was Libyan, signifying king; and we have another
example in that of Alazir, king of Barca. For the rest, the Libyans seem to have
formed a body of subject and tributary Perioeci (Herod. iv. 161). They were altogether
excluded from political power, which, in strict conformity with the constitution
of the other states of Spartan origin, was in the hands exclusively of the descendants
from the original settlers, or rather of those of them who had already been among
the ruling class in the mother state of Thera.
The dynasty of the Battiadae lasted during the greater part of two
centuries, from B.C. 630 to somewhere between 460 and 430; and comprised eight
kings bearing the names of Battus and Arcesilaus alternately; and a Delphic oracle
was quoted to Herodotus as having defined both the names and numbers. (Herod.
iv. 163.) Of Battus I., B.C. 630-590, it need only be said that his memory was
held in the highest honour, not only as the founder of the city, but also for
the benefits he conferred upon it during his long reign. He was worshipped as
a hero by his subjects, who showed his grave, apart from those of the succeeding
kings, where the Agora was joined by the road (skurote hodos), which he made for
the procession to the temple of Apollo. (Pind. Pyth. v.; Callim. Hymn. in Apoll.
77; Paus. iii. 14, x. 15; Catull. vii. 6; Diod. Excerpt. de Virt. et Vit. p. 232.)
Nothing of importance is recorded in the reign of his son, Arcesilaus I., about
B.C. 590-574; but that of his successor, Battus II. (about B.C. 574-554), surnamed
the Prosperous, marks the most important period of the monarchy; nothing less,
in fact, than a new colonization. An invitation was issued to all Greeks, without
distinction of race, to come and settle at Cyrene, on the promise of an allotment
of lands. It seems probable that the city of Apollonia, the port of Cyrene, owed
its foundation to this accession of immigrants, who arrived by sea direct, and
not, like the first colonists, by the circuitous land route from the Gulf of Bombay.
(Grote, p. 55.) The lands promised to the new settlers had of course to be taken
from the natives, whose general position also was naturally altered for the worse
by the growing power of the city. The Libyans, therefore, revolted, and transferred
their allegiance to Apries, king of Egypt, who sent an army to their aid; but
the Egyptians were met by the Cyrenaeans in Irasa, and were almost entirely cut
to pieces. This conflict is memorable as the first hostile meeting of Greeks with
Egyptians, and also as the proximate cause of the overthrow of Apries. Under Amasis,
however, a close alliance was formed between Egypt and Cyrene, and the Egyptian
king took his wife Ladice from the house of Battus. (Herod. ii. 180--181.) The
misfortunes of the monarchy began in the reign of Arcesilaus II., the son of Battus
II., about B.C. 554--544, Whose tyranny caused the secession of his brothers,
the foundation of Barca, and the revolt of a large number of the Libyan Perioeci,
in a conflict with whom no less than 7000 hoplites were slain; and the king was
soon afterwards strangled by his brother Learchus. To this loss of prestige, his
successor, Battus III. added the disqualification of lameness. The Cyrenaeans,
under the advice of the Delphic oracle, called in the aid of Demonax, a Mantineian,
who drew up for them a new constitution; by which the encroachments of the royal
house on the people were more than recovered, and the king was reduced to political
insignificance, retaining, however, the landed domain as his private property,
and also his sacerdotal functions. The political power, in which it would seem,
none but, the descendants of the original colonists had any share, was now extended
to the whole Greek population, who were divided by Demonax into three tribes:--
(1.) The Theraeans, to whom were still attached the Libyan Perioeci: (2) Greeks
from Peloponnesus and Crete: (3) Greeks from the other islands of the Aegean:
and a senate was also constituted, of which the king appears to have been president.
(Herod. iv. 161, 165.) In other respects the constitution seems to have resembled
that of Sparta, which was, through Thera, the original metropolis of Cyrene. We
read of Ephors, who punished with atimia litigious people and impostors, and of
a body of 300 armed police, similar to the Hippeis at Sparta (Heracleid. Pont.
4; Hesych. Triakatioi; Eustath. ad Hom. Od. p. 303; Grote, pp. 59, 60; Muller,
Dor. Bk. iii. c. 4. § 5, c. 7 § 1. c. 9. § 13.) After the time of Battus IlI.,
his son Arcesilaus III. and his mother Pheretime attempted to overturn the new
constitution, and to re-establish despotism. Their first efforts led to their
defeat and exile; but Arcesilaus returned at the head of a new body of emigrants,
chiefly from lonia, took Cyrene, and executed cruel vengeance upon his opponents.
Whether from a desire to confirm his position, or simply from dread of the Persian
power, he sent to Memphis to make his submission to Cambyses, and to offer him
an annual tribute, as well as a present; the 500 minae which formed the latter,
were deemed by Cambyses so inadequate, that he flung them contemptuously to his
soldiers. After these things, according to the motive assigned by Herodotus (iv.
163, 164), Arcesilaus became sensible that he had disobeyed the Delphic oracle,
which, in sanctioning his return, had enjoined moderation in the hour of success;
and to avoid the divine wrath, he retired from Cyrene to Barca, which was governed
by his father-in-law, Alazir. His murder there, and the vengeance taken on the
Barcaeans by his mother Pheretime, by the aid of a Persian army, sent by Aryandes,
the satrap of Egypt, are related under Barca. Though the Persians ravaged a great
part of the country, and extended their conquests beyond Barca as far as Hesperides,
and though they were even inclined to attack Cyrene on their way back to Egypt,
they left the city unmolested (Herod. iv. 203, 204). The effect of these events
on the constitution of Cyrene is thus described by Grote (vol. iv. p. 66): The
victory of the third Arcesilaus, and the restoration of the Battiads broke up
the equitable constitution established by Demonax. His triple classification into
tribes must have been completely remodelled, though we do not know how; for the
number of new colonists whom Arcesilaus introduced must have necessitated a fresh
distribution of land, and it is extremely doubtful whether the relation of the
Theraean class of citizens with their Perioeci, as established by Demonax, still
continued to subsist. It is necessary to notice this fact, because the arrangements
of Demonax are spoken of by some authors as if they formed the permanent constitution
of Cyrene; whereas they cannot have outlived the restoration of the Battiads,
nor can they even have been revived after that dynasty was finally expelled, since
the number of new citizens and the large change of property, introduced by Arcesilaus
III., would render them inapplicable to the subsequent city. Meanwhile another
Battus and another Arcesilaus have to intervene before the glass of this worthless
dynasty is run out. Of Battus IV., surnamed the Handsome, nothing needs to be
said; but Arcesilaus IV. has obtained a place, by the merits of the Libyan breed
of horses rather than by his owns in the poetry of Pindar, who, while celebrating
the king's victories in the chariot race (B.C. 460), at the same time expostulates
with him for that tyranny which soon destroyed his dynasty. (Pind. Pyth. iv. v.)
It seems to have been the policy of this prince to destroy the nobles of the state,
and to support himself by a mercenary army. How he came to his end is unknown;
but after his death a republic was established at Cyrene, and his son Battus fled
to Hesperides, where he was murdered, and his head was thrown into the sea; a
significant symbol of the utter extinction of the dynasty. This was probably about
B.C. 450.
Of the condition of the new republic we have very little information.
As to its basis, we are only told that the number of the tribes and phratriae
was increased (Aristot. Polit. vi. 4); and, as to, its working, that the constant
increase of the democratic element led to violent party contests (ibid.), in the
course of which various tyrants obtained power in the state, among whom are named
Ariston and Nicocrates. (Diod. Sic. xiv. 34; Plut. de Virt. Mul.; Polyaen. Strat.
viii. 38.) The Cyrenaeans concluded a treaty with Alexander the Great (Diod. xvii.
49; Curt. iv. 7), after whose death the whole country became a dependency of Egypt,
and subsequently a province of the Roman empire. The favours bestowed on Apollonia
its port, under the Ptolemies, greatly diminished the importance of Cyrene, which
gradually sank under the calamities which it shared with the whole country. Under
the Romans it was a colony, with the surname of Flavia. (Euseb. Chron.; Eckhel,
vol. iv. pp. 127, foll.)
At the height of its prosperity Cyrene possessed an extensive commerce
with Greece and Egypt, especially in silphium: with Carthage, its relations were
always on a footing of great distrust, and its commerce on the W. frontier was
conducted entirely by smuggling. At what period its dominion over the Libyan tribes
was extended so far as to meet that of Carthage at the bottom of the Greater Syrtis
is disputed [Arae Philaenorum]; some referring it to the republican age, others
to the period of the Ptolemies. (Grote, vol. iv. p. 48, holds the latter opinion.)
Cyrene holds a distinguished place in the records of Hellenic intellect.
As early as the time of Herodotus it was celebrated for its physicians (Herod.
iii. 131); it gave its name to a philosophic sect founded by one of its sons,
Aristippus; another, Carneades, was the founder of the Third. or New Academy at
Athens; and it was also the birthplace of the poet Callimachus, who boasted a
descent from the royal house of Battus, as did the eloquent rhetorician Synesius,
who afterwards became bishop of Apollonia.
The ruins of Cyrene, though terribly defaced, are very extensive,
and contain remains of streets, aqueducts, temples, theatres, and tombs, with
inscriptions, fragments of sculpture, and traces of paintings. In the face of
the terrace, on which the city stands, is a vast subterraneous necropolis; and
the road connecting Cyrene with its port, Apollonia, still exists. The remains
do not, however, enable us to make out the topography of the city with sufficient
exactness. We learn from Herodotus (iv. 164) and Diodorus (xix. 79) that the Acropolis
was surrounded with water. The ruins are fully described by Della Cella (pp. 138,
foll.), Pacho (pp. 191, foll.), and Barth (p. 421, foll.).
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
An important Greek city in the north of Africa, lying between
Alexandria and Carthage. It was founded by Battus (B.C. 631), who led a colony
from the island of Thera, and he and his descendants ruled over the city for eight
generations. It stood eighty stadia (eight geographical miles) from the coast,
on the edge of the upper of two terraces of tableland, at the height of 1800 feet
above the sea, in one of the finest situations in the world. At a later time Cyrene
became subject to the Egyptian Ptolemies, and was eventually formed, with the
island of Crete, into a Roman province. The ruins of the city of Cyrene are very
extensive. It was the birthplace of Carneades, Callimachus, Eratosthenes, and
Aristippus. The territory of Cyrene, called Cyrenaica, included also the Greek
cities of Barca, Teuchira, Hesperides, and Apollonia, the port of Cyrene. Under
the Ptolemies, Hesperides became Berenice, Teuchira was called Arsinoe, and Barca
was eclipsed by its port, which became a city called Ptolemais.
Greek colony in Cyrenaica,
a province of northeastern Libya,
along the African shores of the Mediterranean.
The city of Cyrene was founded by Mynians, descendants of the Argonauts
who had migrated to Lemnos
and then to Sparta, and,
from there, had followed Theras to the island of Thera.
Obeying an oracle from the Pythoness of Delphi,
they moved from Thera to Lybia
under the leadership of Battus, a descendant of the Argonaut Euphemus.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Total results on 25/4/2001: 564 for Cyrene, 21 for Kyrene.
APOLLONIA (Ancient city) KYRINAIKI
On the coast about 184 km NE of Benghazi (Euesperides and later Berenice).
The town served from its foundation as the port for Cyrene, whose history it shared
until achieving autonomy during Roman times, if not before, when it was recognized
as one of the five cities of the Libyan Pentapolis. As the fortunes of both Cyrene
and Ptolemais waned in later times, Apollonia grew in prestige and power, until
it was created the provincial capital in the 6th c. A.D. During Christian times
it was more commonly called Sozusa, from which it developed its modern Arab name
of Marsa Susa. Urban life ceased with the Arab invasion of A.D. 643.
Excavations fall into two phases: those of the 1920s and 1930s and
those following the Second World War. The first phase saw the clearance and restoration
of the large E basilica (6th c.), excavation of tombs, recovery of statuary, and
the documenting of some topographical features, such as the aqueduct and an extra-mural
triconch church. The latter monument, notable for traces of a triple apse at its
E end, has not been excavated.
The second phase led to the investigations of remaining important
features, underwater and land. The S edge of the walled town ran ca. 1,000 m parallel
to the coast before turning N to meet the line of the sea. While its width today
nowhere exceeds 200 m, the original town must have included a third more territory
than it does at present since its outer and inner harbor facilities, with their
moles, warehouses, docks, shipsheds, and slipways, have almost completely disappeared
beneath the sea.
The principal buildings found inside the town walls are Roman or later.
However, earlier inhabitation is documented by tombs in its SW corner and on the
acropolis, in which pottery and coins of the 5th through the 3d c. have been found.
Furthermore, pottery from a settlement of the first half of the 6th c. B.C. has
been brought to light in the lowest occupation stratum W of the acropolis in the
vicinity of the eastern basilica. In all probability Apollonia was used as the
main port for Cyrene as early as the second generation of settlers following the
foundation of the metropolis ca. 631 B.C.
The side of the town facing seaward was never walled. The defensive
system was constructed in the Hellenistic period (ca. 250 B.C.) and then extensively
overhauled and repaired in early Byzantine times. It consisted of three elements:
towers, gates, and curtain wall. Nineteen towers survive on land, two round and
the remainder rectangular. Only one major gateway survives at the W end of the
city, while traces of smaller posterns have been found by each tower along the
W and S perimeter. The original curtain consisted throughout of stone headers
and stretchers. Each tower was connected by a short line of straight curtain to
form an indented trace.
Within its walls Apollonia was divided lengthwise by a broad avenue,
which ran from the W end of town to the acropolis hill occupying the E quarter.
Here the rise in ground level halted the further progress of the decumanus, which
was crossed at right angles by narrow cardines at intervals of every 35 m, at
least in the urban center where traces of two such streets have been located.
The first monument to be encountered in the W sector is a Byzantine
mortuary chapel, built against an exterior angle of the city wall. This structure,
which has four central pillars supporting a dome, housed the remains of a saint
or bishop in a Roman sarcophagus, recut in Byzantine times. Just inside the line
of the city wall is the restored western basilica, whose apse occupies a former
rectangular wall tower. Its nave and side aisles are divided by columns of varying
types, sizes, and materials. A complex of rooms E of its narthex contained a small
baptistery with sunken baptismal tank. Both the church and baptistery date to
the 6th c. Nearby, along the inner face of the city wall, are three excavated
rooms of Byzantine date. Their design, as well as their proximity to the main
W gate and its associated small oval piazza, suggest that their function was largely
governmental and bureaucratic.
The 6th c. central basilica lies ca. 200 m E of the west gate. Its
restored interior was originally entered from the W through a small atrium, which
in turn led into a long narrow narthex with apses at either end. Local limestone
provided the material for some of its columns as well as sections of its paving.
Since the rest of its fittings were of marble, evidently pre-cut materials were
shipped to Apollonia where a structure had to be improvised for their accommodation.
A substantial Roman bath, which, prior to its conversion around A.D. 100, served
as a Late Hellenistic palazzo signorile, is located E of the church. Immediately
N are remains of the late baths, built to replace the Roman baths after the earthquake
of A.D. 365. Their construction indicates that they were never completed.
The Palace of the Byzantine Dux (ca. A.D. 500) was erected on the
hillside SE of the Roman baths. This major complex was divided into two sections,
with its W half containing the ceremonial chambers of the governor when Apollonia
was the provincial capital. These include an audience hail, guardroom, armory,
atrium, and chapel. The E wing is less monumental and appears largely residential
in nature. An early Roman villa and small houses belonging to the Byzantine period
are located ca. 100 m to the NE of the palace. Separated from the Byzantine housing
quarter is the restored E basilica (5th or 6th c.), built on top of an unidentified
Hellenistic building. The nave of this imposing monument is divided by large monolithic
columns of cipollino marble. A baptistery of triconch plan is attached to its
NE corner.
As ground rises toward the acropolis hill a rocky outcropping marks
the site of a heroon dedicated to the nymph (?) Callicrateia. Further NE are a
series of chambers, probably functioning as warehouses, hewn out of the rock ledge
facing the sea. Remains of vaulted cisterns and Byzantine houses are located close
by. The top of the acropolis hill was left open, with a series of rooms of late
date grouped around. No sure identification of this area's use has been made.
The Hellenistic theater, whose scene building was reconstructed during
the reign of Domitian, is located just outside the city walls E of the acropolis.
A small section of slipways is visible about half a kilometer off shore from the
center of the city. These once belonged to the inner harbor and today rise above
the sea in the form of an island. A second island slightly to the E preserves
traces of the base of an ancient pharos. About a kilometer W of the city are foundations
of a Hellenistic temple, as yet unidentified.
D. White, 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.
KYRINI (Ancient city) LIBYA
A city NE of Benghazi, ca. 176 km, and 8 km inland on the crest of
the second stage of the Gebel Ahkdar, an extended limestone plateau, 144 km long
and here nearly 622 m above sea level. In ancient times it was connected to its
port, Apollonia, 19 km away, by a road still visible in stretches along either
side of the modern highway.
Attempts to uncover traces of trading contacts between Minoan Crete
and eastern Libya have not yet met with success. While the historical annals of
dynastic Egypt occasionally refer to the hostile activities of Libyan tribesmen,
the real history of the region commences with the Greek colonization of Cyrene
ca. 631 B.C. Herodotos (4.150f) says that Delphi directed Thera to send a small
band of settlers under the leadership of Battos to found a city in Libya. After
six years of living by the sea not far from the modern town of Derna (Darnis),
Battos moved his people to Cyrene where they were assured of a constant supply
of water and the protection of the high ground. Here the colony flourished. After
a second wave of immigration from many parts of Greece organized by the grandson
of the original oecist (Battos II, ca. 583-60 B.C.), the primacy of Cyrene in
eastern Libya was established and a succession of Battiad kings assured. Political
unrest, which had broken out with depressing frequency in the intervening period,
finally put an end to the monarchy ca. 440 B.C. and a republican form of government
prevailed for the next century.
After the death of Alexander the Great the entire region of Cyrenaica
was annexed by Ptolemy I, who visited Cyrene in 322 B.C. Ptolemy's grandson Magas
succeeded the first governor Ophellas, in 300, first as governor and then after
283 as "king," a title he retained until his death in 250. The region
was thereupon reunited with Egypt. Under Ptolemaic rule the Cyrenaican cities,
including Cyrene, grew in size and were equipped with permanent defensive wall
systems. The old port of Barca was laid out on a magnificent scale and took the
regal name of Ptolemais. Euesperides (Beaghazi) was renamed Berenice, and Taucheira
(Tocra) became Arsinoe. It was perhaps during this time that Apollonia, the port
of Cyrene, first gained its independence and Cyrenaica came to be recognized as
the Pentapolis or land of the five cities. In 96 B.C. the kingdom of Cyrenaica
was willed by Ptolemy Apion to Rome.
With the arrival of the quaestor Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus in
74 B.C., Cyrenaica began its development as a Roman province. Cyrene, like the
other cities of the region, enjoyed nearly a century and a half of peace under
Roman imperial rule until the outbreak of the Jewish revolt in A.D. 115. At that
time, a certain Lucas or Andreas seized control of the city. Bands of his men
systematically destroyed most of its public buildings. The Roman general Marcus
Turbo was dispatched to suppress the rebellion, but before this could be accomplished
some 20,000 persons were said to have been killed. Property losses were also severe.
Hadrian materially aided the recovery of Cyrene by restoring many
of its ruined buildings and by bringing in new settlers to replenish its depleted
population. In 134 it was given the title of metropolis in recognition of its
importance within the province. From the time of Antoninus Pius down to Septimius
Severus, the city appears to have made a nearly full recovery from the misfortunes
of 115.
Decline set in during the troubled years of the 3d c. when Cyrene
suffered from the attack of hostile tribesmen and a crippling earthquake in 262.
Diocletian dissolved the old Province of Crete and Cyrenaica in 297 and reorganized
eastern Libya into two smaller regions.
By the end of the 4th c. the most serious problem to face Cyrene's
fast dwindling population was invasion from the desert. To meet this crisis the
Cyreneans abandoned the line of their original Hellenistic defensive walls and
drew back to improvise a new circuit. The reconquest of Africa by Justinian after
550 and his general policy of fortifying the countryside must have brought some
indirect relief at least to the hard-pressed city. But the Arab invaders led by
Amr ibn el-Aasi apparently encountered no armed resistance when they seized Cyrene
along with the other cities of the Pentapolis in 643.
The excavated, visible remains of Cyrene today belong mainly to the
Roman period and are either new constructions or remodelings of earlier buildings.
Their urban framework, however, is essentially Hellenistic, since the laying-out
of the acropolis, the agora, the lower valley street, and the Sanctuary of Apollo
had all been completed by Ptolemaic times. But the initial development of each
of these areas was begun in the early archaic period. And conversely most of the
monuments of the E third of the city, including the forum, the city center, and
the cathedral area, all belong from their inception to later times. With the exception
of the Zeus Temple the pre-Roman appearance of this part of Cyrene has yet to
be determined.
The Hellenistic defenses, which survive in only intermittent stretches,
enclose two lofty hills (max. elevation 620 m above sea level) separated by a
valley dropping away to the NW. The over-all NW-SE length of the walled city is
just under 1,600 m, while its maximum NE-SW width is approximately 1,100 m. The
SW hill (acropolis, agora, and forum) is totally free of modern buildings. However,
the NE hill is today covered by the modern town of Shahat, stands of reforested
evergreens, and cultivated ploughland. As a consequence, its ancient features
are still largely unexcavated and poorly known.
The ancient town was divided along its long NW-SE axis by two main
roads. The valley road followed the descent of the valley between the two hills
to the Sanctuary of Apollo. The road of Battos connected the acropolis with the
Roman forum. A third major artery crossed the main axis of the city at right angles
immediately E of the forum area. Gates in the city ramparts linked all three roads
with the overland routes leading to nearby Apollonia, Balagrae, Darnis, and Lasamices
(Slonta), the closest of Cyrene's ancient neighbors.
The acropolis, occupying the W end of the SW hill, has been only fractionally
excavated and is still virtually terra incognita. While it seems logical to suppose
the original band of Thereans settled on its heights, none of its exposed remains
are earlier than the Hellenistic period.
South of the city proper, at a point across the steep wadi Bel Gadir
opposite the agora, is the extra-mural Sanctuary of Demeter. The lowest levels
of this precinct, which is still in the process of excavation, have already yielded
pottery dating as early as 600 B.C. to document the activities of the early settlers
in this area. At least two sets of walls, one dating early in the 6th c. B.C.
and the other toward the century's end, comprise the earliest traces of a built
sanctuary complex. These were replaced in the later 3d-2d c. by a monumental walled
precinct, rising over some five terraced levels, which remained in active use
until destroyed by earthquake apparently in A.D. 262.
A second extra-mural discovery of marble and bronze sculptures and
architectural fragments datable to the second and third quarters of the 6th c.
was recently made outside the walls at the E end of the city. The material, which
represents favissa remains of an early sanctuary, may have been buried at this
spot after the Persians destroyed the shrine in 515-514 B.C. The massive Temple
of Zeus, which was erected late in the 6th c. as its replacement perhaps, is located
about 200 m inside the walls of the NE corner of the city. Its octostyle peripteral
colonnade and interior (presently undergoing restoration) were extensively repaired
during the reign either of Augustus or of Tiberius. Its colonnade was overturned
during the Jewish rebellion. During the ensuing hundred years its cella and porches
were put back into use. These were totally wrecked by the earthquake of 365, and
the temple was desecrated by Christian zealots.
The agora was cleared before the Second World War to bring to light
its Hellenistic-Roman phase of development. Additional work has been conducted
in this area since 1957 to expose its earlier phases. From this it has become
apparent that the E edge of the agora was used from about 625 B.C. as a sacred
area as well perhaps as the burial ground of Battos I. Constantly transformed
over the years, this area eventually was occupied by a stoa of the Doric order
and a handsome tetrastyle, prostyle Corinthian temple (early 3d c. A.D.).
Stoa constructions covered the N edge of the agora throughout most
of its history. The most splendid of these was a portico (2d c. B.C.), which during
the reign of Tiberius was flanked by an Augusteum, honoring the imperial family.
In Byzantine times prior to the invasions of 643, both sides of the agora were
transformed into impoverished private houses.
The history of the rest of the agora, an open space measuring ca.
105 x 125 m, is less well known. The N half of its W side was marked by a large
stoa of mixed orders, while the S half contained a smaller Portico of the Emperors
and Temple of Apollo. A Hellenistic naval monument and two commemorative tholoi
were erected in its open center.
The S edge of the agora was bounded by the road of Battos, connecting
the acropolis with the forum. Across the street some six civic and religious structures
have been excavated, including a capitolium and a prytaneum, both as presently
constructed belonging to the Roman period.
Continuing E, two complete insulae of the town plan were occupied
in the 2d c. A.D. by the large House of Jason Magnus, which replaced two earlier
independent structures. The W half of the house, with its central court surrounded
by mosaics and triclinium richly paved in opus sectile, preserves a more public
and official appearance than the E half, which appears mainly residential.
Across the road of Battos to the N is the House of Hesychius, a president
of the provincial council of Cyrenaica and a devout Christian living early in
the 5th c. A.D. Although small, the house attests to the continuity of urban life
in Cyrene after the disastrous earthquake of 365.
The imposing Caesareum dominates the Roman forum area ca. 150 m E
of the agora on a continuation of the SW hill. It was constructed as a rectangular
enclosure with blank exterior walls on three sides and entered by Doric propylaea
on the S and E. A complete Doric peristyle on its interior faced onto an open
central court. A small temple, perhaps dedicated to the deified Julius Caesar,
occupied the center of the court, while a large civil basilica lay immediately
to the N. In its original Hellenistic form the complex functioned as a gymnasium,
with the area taken up in Roman times by the basilica housing the traditional
closed rooms. A running track, exactly one third of a stadium in length, extended
W, paralleling the road of Battos. Its S facade, known as the Stoa of Hermes and
Herakles, consisted of a blank curtain wall, whose upper level was pierced by
windows flanked by alternating telemon figures of the two divinities providing
its name. The conversion of the gymnasium to a complex honoring the dictator is
attributed to the later years of Augustus' reign. The basilica, remodeled during
the reign of Hadrian, was probably used for law cases. Like the Caesareum, the
Stoa of Hermes and Herakles has been heavily restored. Behind it is a small covered
theater or odeon, also restored. Across the road of Battos S of the Caesareum
are a small Roman theater and a so-called Temple of Venus.
The valley road between the SW and NE hills descends to an open expanse
of leveled ground ca. 80 m below the N edge of the acropolis, developed at an
early time into the Sanctuary of Apollo. The Fountain of Apollo, which figures
prominently in Herodotos' account of the foundation of the Therean colony, still
pours forth its waters from a tunnel leading under the acropolis hill. The restored
remains of the Temple of Apollo rise in the center of the sanctuary ground. This
impressive monument was first built as a simple megaron without external columns
around 550 B.C. By the end of the century it had received its first Doric peristyle,
which was subjected over the passage of time to repeated restorations. Its currently
standing colonnade belongs to repairs following the Jewish revolt.
Immediately W of the temple is the conspicuous Altar of Apollo, remodeled
with white marble revetment in the 4th c. B.C. The S corner of the sanctuary is
occupied by the fully restored strategeion, a rectangular stone building with
pedimented roof, erected in the 4th c. B.C. by victorious Cyrenean generals to
honor Apollo. Nearby are the remains of the partially restored Greek propylaia,
again built in the 4th c. to mark the entrance into the sanctuary from the valley
road, and their later replacement, the Roman propylaia (2d c. A.D.), erected a
short distance to the W.
Aside from various minor shrines and altars grouped around the main
Temple of Apollo and cut into the rock-cliff face of the acropolis hill, the remaining
significant monuments within the sanctuary zone are the Trajanic baths and their
later Byzantine replacement. The Trajanic baths (A.D. 98) covered most of the
NE corner of the sanctuary, here extended on terracing supported by a massive
retaining wall in order to provide space for its frigidarium. After their destruction
by earthquake the baths were replaced around A.D. 400 by Byzantine baths, which
today dominate the entire NE edge of the sanctuary.
The W edge of the sanctuary is bounded by the Wall of Nikodamos, set
up perhaps in the late 2d or early 3d c. A.D. to separate its sacred monuments
from the profane zone of the theater. Here a large-scale Greek theater with its
cavea built against the N slope of the acropolis hill was radically transformed
in the Roman period into an amphitheater.
The city center was built around the intersection of the valley road
with the principal N-S cardo. Its E half is still unexcavated, while much of its
W half is obscured by the modern town of Shahat. A triumphal arch, raised in honor
of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, marked the W entrance to this area from the
valley road. A small market theater has been excavated just S of the modern road.
Remains of a market building and ornate propylon are visible close by, both probably
erected in Severan times, to judge from their windblown acanthus capitals and
the relief sculptures from the gateway.
Several ancient structures have been identified in the area ca. 200
m long and B of the modern shops of Shahat and below the old post office. The
latest is a stoa dating after A.D. 365, whose Corinthian portico ran parallel
to the N curb of the valley road. Three small temples lay across the valley road
to the S, occupying the front of a complete city block. The central temple housed
the imperial cult, the easternmost was dedicated to the eponymous nymph Kurana,
while the third is unidentified. In later times the first two were destroyed and
then ritually purified by fire by Christians. In addition the city center contained
two basilical churches, apparently 6th c. The first is in the SW corner of the
zone; the second is found E of the intersection of the valley road with the N-S
cardo.
The most important monument of the period of Christian ascendency
at Cyrene is its large cathedral, situated at the E end of the city not far from
the main east gate. The basilica proper was connected to a baptistery in its NE
corner. Its broad nave was paved with mosaics depicting animal and rural scenes.
The apse was originally placed at the E and the church entered through three doors
on the W. The church was later rebuilt so that its entrance was on the S and its
apse located at the W end. The entire structure was fortified with thicker and
loftier walls in its final stages. During these troubled times the Byzantine circuit
did not take in the cathedral, and it had to double in function as a kind of advanced
phrurion to protect the E face of the city. This sector lacked the protection
of rising ground and was especially vulnerable to attack from the interior. The
remains of a Byzantine defensive tower (Gasr Sheghia) have survived to be excavated
about 150 m to the NW. Its initial erection probably coincided with the fortification
of the cathedral. It was rebuilt in Early Islamic times.
The unexcavated hippodrome lies directly N of the cathedral just within
the circuit of the Hellenistic defenses. South of the cathedral and just exterior
to the line of the defenses is an elaborate vaulted cistern complex, built in
the Roman period.
The extensive necropoleis of Cyrene cover many square meters of territory
on all sides of the walled city. Numbering in the thousands, the burials are located
in four main groups. The N necropolis is found on either side of the road to Apollonia.
The E necropolis occupies the rolling plain between Cyrene and the modern Beida
crossroad. The S necropolis lies beside the ancient track to Balagrae (Beida).
The W necropolis is built into the steep slopes of the wadi Bel Gadir either side
of the Sanctuary of Demeter. The types of burials vary from one area to the next.
The least complicated are the simple cist burials with stone cover slabs and the
rock-cut sarcophagi with removable lids. A more elaborate form is the stepped
burial, which has a stepped pedestal carrying a stele. Then there is a rich series
of rock-cut chamber tombs with cut-stone masonry facades, which are occasionally
decorated with the Doric or Ionic order, as well as free-standing circular and
rectangular masonry tombs. All periods of urban occupation are represented, from
archaic to Christian. Many of the graves in the Hellenistic period were surmounted
by a bust of a veiled female figure symbolizing death. Occasionally these busts
are rendered faceless. In Roman times funerary portraits of the actual deceased
became extremely popular. Many examples of both classes of representations are
displayed in the local sculpture museum, as is a full selection of major sculptures
from all other phases of the clearance of the city.
D. White, 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.
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