APOLLO´NIA
APOLLO´NIA (
Marsa Sousah), in Africa, one of the five cities of the Libyan Pentapolis in Cyrenaica.
It was originally the port of Cyrene, and is mentioned by Scylax (p. 45) simply as such, without any proper name; but, like the other ports on this coast, it grew and flourished, especially under the Ptolemies, till it eclipsed Cyrene itself.
It was the birthplace of Eratosthenes. (
Strab. xvii. p.837; Mela, 1.8;
Plin. Nat. 5.5;
Ptol. 4.4;
Diod. 18.19;
Steph. B. sub voce It is almost certainly the Sozusa (
Σώζουσα) of later Greek writers (Hierocl. p. 732; Epiphan.
Haeres. 73. 26); and this, which was very probably its original name, has given rise to its modern appellation.
The name Apollonia was in honour of the patron deity of Cyrene.
The site of the city is marked by splendid, though greatly shattered ruins, among which are those of the citadel, temples, a theatre, and an aqueduct. (Barth,
Wanderungen, &c., pp. 452, foll.)
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