Cyrene

CYRENE, the original capital of ancient Cyrenaica (q.v.), and one of the greatest of Greek colonies. The Theraean story of its foundation, as told by Herodotus, runs thus : Battus was bidden by the Delphic oracle to lead a portion of the citizens to Libya and build a city in a "place between waters." By this he understood an island, and therefore established his followers on the barren islet of Platea in the Gulf of Bomba. The colony being unsuccess ful made further application to the oracle and was bidden to trans fer itself to the mainland. The Libyan barbarians were induced to act as guides, and brought the Greeks to high ground from various points of which issued springs, and Battus, recognizing "a place between waters," began to build. This was in the middle of the 7th century B.C.

History.

The result was Cyrene, so called from a local nymph, the mother of Aristaeus by Apollo, really a nature god dess. The point first occupied was the hill above the fountain of Apollo, on the south-west, afterwards the Acropolis, and there was erected the fortress-palace of the Battiadae, who continued to rule the colony for eight generations. Battus I. reigned c. 63o to 590 B.C., and was succeeded by his son Arcesilaus (c. 74) • The kings henceforth bore alternately the names Battus and Arcesilaus. Under Battus II. (5 7o B.C. ?) a fresh band of settlers was invited from Greece, and the colony tended to become henceforth more maritime and democratic. Its port, Apollonia (Marsa Susa), now rose to importance; and a second (winter) port was created at Naustathmos (Marsa Hilal) about 15 m. E., behind a sheltering cape. Fine roads were cut through the rock connecting these har bours with the capital. The Libyans, robbed in favour of the new settlers, called in Egyptian help; but the force sent by Apries was defeated near the spring of Theste, and presently Amasis of Egypt made peace and took a Battiad princess to wife. Under Arcesilaus II. (c. 56o-55o) domestic dissensions and Libyan revolt led to the founding of a rival inland city, Barca, and a severe defeat and massacre. This, with the fact that Battus III. was thought to have disgraced the house by his lameness, prompted the Cyre naeans to send to Delphi for more advice, and as a result Demonax of Mantinea arrived as arbitrator and framed a Constitution limit ing the monarchy and dividing the citizens tribally. Further at tempts of the Battiadae (e.g., of Pheretima, wife of Battus III., and Arcesilaus his son), to annul this Constitution, and family dis sensions, brought about a Persian invasion, and finally the extinc tion of the dynasty about 45o B.C.

A republic succeeded, but it was often interrupted by tyrannies; and having made submission by embassy to Alexander in 331, Cyrene passed under Ptolemaic domination ten years later. From this epoch dates a decline which was due to economic causes. Apollonia and Berenice gradually superseded Cyrene and Barca respectively, but Cyrene continued to be a great city after it had passed to Rome (96 B.c.) by the will of Ptolemy Apion, its last king. The Romans took over only his personal property. Three boundary stones of the time of Vespasian have been discovered. In the last years of the reign of Trajan, a Jewish revolt and the repressive measures taken by the Imperial Government (A.D. I15 I16), dealt it an irreparable blow, and it is described as deserted in the 4th century, and in the 5th as a vast ruin. Henceforward, to the epoch of Arab conquest (A.D. 641) its Greek life gradually deserted it for Apollonia. At its acme Cyrene is said to have had over i oo,00o inhabitants. It was noted among the ancients for its intellectual life. Its medical school was famous, and it numbered among its celebrities Callimachus the poet, Carneades, the founder of the New Academy at Athens, Aristippus, a pupil of Socrates and the founder of the so-called Cyrenaics (q.v.), Eratosthenes the polyhistor and Synesius, one of the most elegant of the ancient Christian writers.

Archaeology.

The site lies on the crest of the highland of Jebel Akhdar (about 1,800 ft.) and 17 m. from the sea. The ground slopes very gradually south, and being entirely denuded of trees, makes good corn land. The northward slope falls more steeply in a succession of shelves, covered here and there with forest. Ravines surround the site on three sides, and of the springs in its area, one, having great volume, has been at all times the attraction and focus of the place. This is the so-called "Fount of Apollo," which issues from a tunnel artificially enlarged, and once faced with a portico. The channel is about 30o yd. long, and extremely tortuous. Here are numerous inscriptions of ancient vis itors, including a dedication to good fortune Oeoct.avda, ie., with a vision, which it was hoped would be granted. The acropolis was immediately above this on the west, and the main entrance of the city, through which came the sacred processions, passed it. The remains of Cyrene itself are enclosed by a wall having a circuit of about 4 m., of which little remains, but tombs and isolated structures extend far outside this area. The walls date from not before the 5th century B.C., and the large temples lie outside them.

The acropolis, on the south-western of the two hills, into which the site is divided by a valley, had separate fortifications es pecially conspicuous on the east, where a gate and a long stretch of wall on each side of it are preserved. Excavations made on the summit of the acropolis in 1910-1 I (described in Bulletin of the Archaeological Institute of America, ii., 1911, R. Norton and others), led to the discovery of a building of the 3rd century B.C. arranged round a colonnade with a series of rooms on the south, and wings on the east and west running north. Another building, with an apse, showed traces of protracted occupation. A number of sculptures, including a fine head of Athena, were found, and, on the north-west slope, a quantity of terracotta objects.

These excavations were suspended when Cyrenaica became Italian, and have not been resumed, attention having been de voted to other parts of the town, where results of the highest im portance have been obtained, and work is still (1928) in progress. On the north-east of the slope of the acropolis a small sanctuary of the divinities of Alexandria was found; the numerous works of art include a fine portrait head of Berenice II.

The temple of Apollo occupied the centre of a large level space below the Acropolis on the north. Here Smith and Porcher had already found a number of sculptures, now, with the rest of their discoveries, in the British Museum. Remains of the original temple, erected by Battus, have come to light ; it had six columns in front, I I on the sides, and two internal rows of columns in two stories (cf. Paestum). Fragments of its terracotta decoration were found, and also an enormous marble acroterion (gable decoration) with a Gorgon's head. In the time of Augustus it was reconstructed on the same plan; but later (perhaps under Hadrian) the interior was divided into three compartments, one behind the other, the older columns being used as material for the foundations. In front of the temple was a huge altar, 25 yards long. To the north of it is the temple of Artemis (begin ning of 6th century B.c.) with an altar in front of it, and be tween the two is a small shrine of the Roman period. The temple was later surrounded by a sacred precinct, entered by propylaea erected in Roman times, in front of which is a temple of Pluto ; while in the precinct are some smaller temples, includ ing one of Isis (Iseum) and others dedicated to Apollo.

At the western extremity of the open space is a theatre (not well preserved) and at the eastern the Roman thermae, restored by Hadrian (large baths) and again in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. (small baths) cutting off part of the area; they are well pre served and contained numerous works of art, including two marble groups of the Three Graces and (probably) the fine Aphrodite Anadyomene (now in the Museo delle Terme at Rome) which was laid bare by a heavy rainstorm close by. The whole forms a most imposing group of remains; the valley is barred by a large supporting wall on the north, while to the south are the cliffs from which issues the Fountain of Apollo.

To the east of the Acropolis lay the Agora, and away to the north-east, on the eastern hill, the so-called Great Temple, with the stadium to the east of it again. In the centre of the Agora are two archaic round monuments—the heroon and the tomb of Battus. A portico surrounds it, with temples of Zeus Soter (the Saviour) and Rome and Augustus; while a late enlargement produced the temple of Demeter. To the south of the main road is the Capitolium, or temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The statues of these three deities were presented by Hadrian and Antoninus Pius in A.D. 138. The statue of Jupiter (Zeus Aigiochos, i.e., Zeus holding the aegis) was found in 1915, while the other two, discovered by Smith and Porcher, have recently been identi fied at the British Museum.

The temples attributed to Bacchus and Venus by Smith and Porcher, which yielded them numerous sculptures, have not yet been re-excavated. The great temple on the eastern hill was, as an inscription of the Roman period shows, dedicated to the Olympian Zeus. Smith and Porcher, in their hasty investigations, had found only fragments of sculpture there; but a fine head of Zeus of Pheidian type, with traces of gilding on the hair and beard, and belonging to an acrolithic statue, has recently been found there, as well as a head of Poseidon, probably belonging to a statue forming a "pendant" to it. To the north was a smaller temple, in which a colossal male head and two statuettes were found by Smith and Porcher; while to the east was the Stadium, and some way to the south of that a basilica of the Byzantine period. Further to the south again, at the south-east angle of the site are some very large reservoirs.

From a study of the numerous sculptures found, especially in the thermae, it is clear that in the archaic period Cyrene was influenced artistically by the Greek islands, and in the 5th cen tury B.C. by Olympia. Some inscriptions of great importance have come to light. The great spectacle, however, which dis tinguishes the site of Cyrene, is provided by its cemeteries. There is one along each of the approaches to the main gates, but the largest and most splendid lies by the Apollonian road, which winds by easy curves up the northern buttresses of the plateau.

Here the sepulchres rise in tiers one above the other along fully a mile of the way. The most important have pillared façades. Within, they open out either into large halls, leading one out of another with graves in recesses and pits in the floor ; or into rock corridors lined with loculi, disposed one above another like pigeon holes. Most of the wall paintings have perished; but one tomb still retains its decoration. The scenes are agonistic, i.e., represent funeral games, in which both white and black persons take part, the latter doubtless Libyan perioeci: but all wear Greek garments. Several tombs are inscribed and on some external paintings are still faintly visible. The commonest type of grave is a simple pit covered by a gabled lid. These occur by hundreds. But not all the sepulchres are rock-cut : altar tombs and other forms of heroa are found built upon plinths of rock.

The harbour of Cyrene was called Apollonia, after the tute lary deity of the city. It is the modern Marsa Susa, 12 m. to the N.E. of it ; and scanty remains of the mole are still to be seen. Its fortifications have been largely destroyed by an earthquake, and the same has happened to its other buildings, which suffered further damage from quarrying for material for modern houses within the last hundred years, so that the descriptions given by earlier travellers, such as Beechey and Smith and Porcher are of considerable value here as elsewhere. Remains of a Christian basilica, of tombs, of reservoirs and of an aqueduct may be recog nized; but the theatre is better preserved. Remains of the road leading down to it from Cyrene may be traced through the necroplis. Two milestones erected by Trajan in A.D. have been found along its course, and another of Hadrian set up in A.D. .1 I 8-I 19 ; and remains of several forts may be seen near it.

See authorities for Cyrenaica and F. Studniczka, Kyrene, eine alt greischische Gottin (Leipzig, 189o) ; also Notiziario Archaeologico del Ministero delle Colonie (Rome, 1915 sqq.) passim; Africa Italiana (1927 sqq.) passim.