CYRENA'ICA, the name of the district whose capital was Cyrene (q.v.). At one period, it nominally stretched from Carthage to Egypt, and extended inland as far a. as the oasis of Fezzan; but a great portion of this territory was occupied by the subject Libyan tribes, and not by the Greek colonists, who were confined chiefly to the plateau of Baca, with the subjacent coast. This portion of C. was, and still is, one of the loveliest and most agreeable regions of the world. The climate is delicious, mountains on the s. sheltering the land from the scorching blasts of the Sahara, and cool sea-winds fanning it on the north. From the central plateau, whose breadth is about 80 m., the land slopes down in verdent terraces to the Mediterranean. These terraces are cut and watered by mountain streams, forming luxuriant ravines. The productions of C. men tioned by ancient writers are corn, oil, wine, honey, fruits of all kinds, cucumbers, truffles, cabbage; flowers yielding the richest perfumes; and a rare plant called silphium (still abundant), from which wasobtaiued the gum-resin, greatly esteemed for medicinal purposes. The country was also celebrated for its breed of horses, but was much
exposed to the ravages of locusts.
The chief cities of C. were Cyrene, Teucheira (afterwards called Arsina), Hesperides (afterwards called Berenice), Barca, and Apollonia. To each of these five cities (whence in the time of the Ptolemies C. was named Pentapolis and Pentapolitan Regia)a certain amount of territory was attached. This favored their individual independence; and the consequence was that the dynasty of Battus, vtho led the first Greek colony to Cryene exercised very little influence over C. in general. After passing into the hands of the Egyptians and Romans, C. became a portion of the Byzantine empire. In 616 A.D., it was conquered by the Persian Chosroes, and in 647 was overrun by the Arabs. Ancient C. nearly corresponds with modern Barca (q.v.)