Cyrene

Cyrene (sīrē`nē), ancient city near the northern coast of Africa, in Cyrenaica (now E Libya). It was a Greek colony founded (c.630 B.C.) by Aristoteles of Thera, who became king of Cyrene as Battus. For eight generations the monarchs were alternately named Battus and Arcesilas. Having important commerce with Greece, the little city-state flourished. Other cities were founded in Cyrenaica, notably Barca, but Cyrene retained power. In the late 6th cent. Cyrene submitted to the Persians under Cambyses II (see under Cambyses), but later (after 480 B.C.) became independent again. Although the city became subject to Alexander the Great in 331 and was later practically annexed by the Ptolemies of Egypt, it seems to have had nominal independence until the marriage of Berenice (d. 221?), daughter of Cyrene's king, to Ptolemy III. Cyrene remained part of the Ptolemaic kingdom until 96 B.C. It was later the center of a Roman province. Under the Roman emperor Trajan there were Jewish uprisings, which were severely punished, and Cyrene declined. At its prime Cyrene was a large and beautiful city and an intellectual center noted for its schools of medicine and philosophy. Aristippus, Callimachus, Eratosthenes, and Synesius were born here. Extensive ruins include the temple of Apollo (dating from the 7th cent. B.C.), the agora, the capitol, the acropolis, and the theater.

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Cyrene

Sanctuary of Apollo, Cyrene

(credit: Josephine Powell, Rome)

Ancient city, North Africa. Located in modern-day Libya, it was founded c. 630 BC by a group of emigrants from the Aegean island of Thíra. Their leader, Battus, became the first king; his dynasty ruled until c. 440 BC. Under the aegis of Ptolemaic Egypt (from 323 BC), Cyrene became one of the great intellectual centres of the Classical world, boasting such scholars as Eratosthenes and Aristippus, founder of the Cyrenaics. Taken by the Romans in 96 BC, it later declined and, with the Arab conquest of AD 642, ceased to exist. Areas of the old city have been excavated, revealing impressive ruins.

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Cyrene

an ancient Greek city of N Africa, near the coast of Cyrenaica: famous for its medical school

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Cyrene 

(now Shahhat, Libya), an ancient city 15 km from the Mediterranean coast, chief center of Cyrenaica. It was founded circa 630 B.C. by Greek settlers from the island of Thera; later its population became mixed Greek and Libyan. Until 460 it was ruled by the royal dynasty of the Battiadae, whereupon a slave-holding democracy was established. Circa 331 the city was conquered by Alexander the Great, and in 322 it became part of the empire of the Ptolemies. Beginning in 96 B.C. it was under Roman rule.

Cyrene was one of the major commercial and cultural centers of the classical world. It was important for the export of the Cyrenaican vases, grain, wine, fruits, and especially silphium, a medicinal plant. During the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., however, the city began to decline in importance, and in the seventh century it was destroyed by the Arabs.

Excavations conducted in the 20th century have revealed the remains of several ancient structures, including the complexes of the acropolis, the capitolium, the Caesareum, and agora; the temples of Apollo (late seventh century B.C., rebuilt in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., second century A.D., and later), Artemis (sixth century B.C.), and Olympian Zeus; large and small thermae (first and second centuries A.D.); and a theater. Outside the city walls is a Christian basilica of the Byzantine era. Also discovered were ceramic items and stone sculptures. There is an archaeological museum.

REFERENCES

Oliverio, G. Scavi di drene. Bergamo, 1931.
Chamoux, F. Cyrène sous la monarchie des Battiades. Paris, 1954.
Goodchild, R. G. Cyrene and Apollonia. [No place] 1959.