Cyrene (city)

Cyrene

Κυρήνη
The ruins of Cyrene
Shown within Libya
Location	Shahhat, Jabal al Akhdar, Cyrenaica, Libya
Region	Jebel Akhdar
Coordinates	32°49′30″N 21°51′29″E / 32.82500°N 21.85806°E / 32.82500; 21.85806Coordinates: 32°49′30″N 21°51′29″E / 32.82500°N 21.85806°E / 32.82500; 21.85806
Type	Settlement
History
Builder	Colonists from Thera led by Battus I
Founded	630 BC
Abandoned	4th century AD
Periods	Archaic Greece to Roman Empire
Site notes
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Archaeological Site of Cyrene
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, vi
Designated	1982 (6th session)
Reference no.	190
Region	Arab States

Cyrene (/saɪˈriːniː/; Ancient Greek: Κυρήνη Kyrēnē) was an ancient Greek and Roman city near present-day Shahhat, Libya. It was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.

Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar uplands. The city was named after a spring, Kyre, which the Greeks consecrated to Apollo. It was also the seat of the Cyrenaics, a famous school of philosophy in the 3rd century BC, founded by Aristippus, a disciple of Socrates. It was then nicknamed the "Athens of Africa".

Grinus, son of Aesanius a descendant of Theras, and king of the island of Thera, had visited the Oracle and offered a hecatomb to the Oracle on sundry matters. The Oracle had offered the advice to found a new city in Libya. Many years had passed and the advice was not taken, and Thera had succumbed to a horrific drought and all of the crops and trees had perished. They again sent to Delphi and were reminded that the Oracle had said several years before to settle in the country of Libya, but this time she specifically said to found a settlement in the land of Cyrene. Not knowing how to get to Libya they sent a messenger to Crete to find someone to lead them on their journey. They found a dealer in purple dyes named Corobius. He had once traveled to an island across from Libya called Platea. Grinus and Corobius sailed to Platea, when they reached their destination they left Corobius with months of supplies and Grinus went back to Thera to collect men to settle the newly made colony. After two years of settling the colony they had little success and went back to the Oracle to get advice. The Oracle had repeated her advice to move directly to the country of Libya instead of across from Libya. So they moved to a place called Aziris. They settled there for six years, and were very successful until the Libyans visited the settlement of Aziris to convince the people to move further inland. They were swayed by the Libyans to move and settled into what is now Cyrene. The current king of that time Battus reigned for 40 years, until he passed on and his son, Arcesilaus, took over and reigned for 16 years, with no more or less population change until the Oracle had told the third king, another Battus, to bring Greek citizens to the settlement and with that expansion the Libyans had lost a lot of land surrounding Cyrene.