CYRENE
(Shahat) 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.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Notiziario Archeologico del Ministero
delle Colonie I-IV (1915-27) passim;
Africa Italiana, I-IV
(1928-35) passim; G. Oliverio,
Gli scavi di Cirene
(1931); J. Thrige,
Res Cyrenensium (1848), republished and translated into Italian by S. Fern (1940); P.
Romanelli,
La Cirenaica romana (1943); F. Chamoux,
Cyrène sous les Battiades (1953); E. Paribeni,
Catologo
delle sculture di Cirene (1959)
I; “Cirene” in
EAA II (1959) 655-92
MPI; S. Stucchi,
L'agora di Cirene (1959)
MP; G. Traversari,
Statue iconiche femminile cirenaiche (1960)
I; E. Rosenbaum,
A Catalogue of Cyrenaican Portrait Sculpture (1960)
I; R. G. Goodchild,
Cyrene and Apollonia. An Historical Guide (1963)
MP;
R. G. Goodchild,
Kyrene und Apollonia (1970)
MPI.
See also S. Stucchi,
Cirene 1957-1966. Un decennio
di attività della Missione A rcheologica Italiana a Cirene
(1967); L. Beschi, “Divinità funerarie cirenaiche,”
ASAtene 47-48, NS 31-33 (1969-70).
D. WHITE
