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87-714: [REDACTED] Look up Σύρτις in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Syrtis (Ancient Greek: Σύρτις ) may refer to: Places [ edit ] North African coast [ edit ] Syrtis Major (or the Great[er] Syrtis) is the Latin name for the Gulf of Sirte, a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya Syrtis Minor (or

174-574: A temple and theater complex, is located south of the Wadi Bil Ghadir ravine, outside the city walls. The Sanctuary comprised structures sprawled out over twenty miles and are divided into three terraces: the Lower, Middle and Upper Sanctuaries. The archaeological remains date from the late seventh century BC to the mid-third century AD. During the time of this sacred activity at the Sanctuary

261-606: A Greek original, which prompted them to restrict their base to the Acropolis. The statue was transported to Rome, where it remained until 2008, when it was returned to Libya. The village of Shahat grew up on the site as a result of the Italian presence. The Italians created an antiquities service and, after the discovery of the Venus of Cyrene, carried out excavations at Cyrene on a very large scale, which were closely connected with

348-586: A country's shore as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea . Gaddafi claimed it to be a territorial sea, not just a coastal area. In response the United States authorized Naval exercises in the Gulf of Sidra to conduct freedom of navigation (FON) operations. On 21 March 1973, Libyan fighter planes intercepted and fired on a U.S. Air Force C-130 conducting signals intelligence off

435-468: A hurriedly built new defensive wall enclosed only the western half of the city. The civic hub shifted north from the street of Battus to the Valley street and many of the old public spaces were filled in with housing and shops. In the reforms of Diocletian , Cyrene became part of the new province of Libya Superior (also called Pentapolis). The Roman Martyrology mentions under 4 July a tradition that in

522-537: A length of 68.3 metres and a width of 30.4 metres, making it roughly the same size as the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the Parthenon at Athens . The front porch ( pronaos ) was supported by two columns in antis ; the back porch ( opisthodomos ) by three columns in antis. The cella was two stories high and two rows of columns divided it into three aisles. The external colonnade ( peripteros ) has eight columns at

609-544: A major center for tuna fishing in the Mediterranean for centuries. It gives its name to the city of Sirte situated on its western coast. The gulf measures 439 kilometres (273 mi) from the promontory of Boreum (now Ras Teyonas) on the east side to the promontory of Cephalae (Ras Kasr Hamet) on the west. The greatest extension of the gulf inland is 177 kilometres (110 mi) land inward and it occupies an area of 57,000 square kilometres. In ancient literature,

696-404: A minor Socratic school founded by Aristippus (perhaps the friend of Socrates , though according to some accounts a grandson of Aristippus with the same name). French Neo-Epicurean philosopher Michel Onfray has called Cyrene "a philosophical Atlantis" thanks to its huge importance in the birth and initial development of the ethics of pleasure. Known bishops of the town include No longer

783-443: A much less melodramatic account of Cato's march than Strabo's, saying (admittedly implausibly) that it took only seven days, and that locals were engaged to protect his troops from serpents (Cato Minor 56; see also the uneventful late 5th-century journey along the coast from Euesperides to Neapolis reported at Thucydides 7.50.2). And while Strabo pointed out the dangers of the sandbanks, he continues: "On this account sailors travel along

870-573: A new wave of Greek settlement at Euesperides. Some time after this however, the Cyreneans monarchy was abolished in obscure circumstances and the tomb of his ancestor Battus I was destroyed. In 454 BC, Cyrene gave refuge to the remnants of an Athenian army that had been defeated by the Persians in Egypt . In the following years, Barca seems to have become the dominant city in the region and Cyrene

957-596: A number of international incidents concerning territorial claims of the Gaddafi regime over the waters of the Gulf of Sidra. The gulf was generally referred to by the US military in those times as "Gulf of Sidra", after the increasingly important oil port of Sidra on its shores. In 1973, Gaddafi claimed much of the Gulf of Sidra to be within Libyan internal waters by drawing a straight line at 32 degrees, 30 minutes north between

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1044-458: A point near Benghazi and the western headland of the gulf at Misrata with an exclusive 62 nautical miles (115 km) fishing zone. Gaddafi declared it the Line of Death , the crossing of which would invite a military response. The US claimed its rights to conduct naval operations in international waters, using the modern international standard of 12-nautical-mile (22 km) territorial limit from

1131-546: A prominent snow-free hill on Alexander Island, Antarctica Other uses [ edit ] HMS Syrtis (P241) , a UK Royal Navy submarine launched in 1943 and sunk in 1944 Syrtis, one of the three fighting realms in the Regnum Online MMORPG See also [ edit ] Sirtis Sirte Surti Muslims Surti (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

1218-535: A ridge of the Jebel Akhdar uplands. The archaeological remains cover several hectares and include several monumental temples, stoas, theatres, bathhouses, churches, and palatial residences. The city is surrounded by the Necropolis of Cyrene . Since 1982, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The city's port was Apollonia (Marsa Sousa) , located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) to the north. The city

1305-489: A separate kingdom ca. 105-101 BC. Apion made a similar will to that of his father and the territory passed to Rome when he died without heirs in 96 BC. The city became an important Jewish centre during the Hellenistic period. The deuterocanonical book 2 Maccabees , is said by its author to be an abridgment of a five-volume work by a Hellenized Jew by the name of Jason of Cyrene who lived around 100 BC. After 96 BC,

1392-578: A series of missile launches, although they were seen to eject and parachute into the sea. Cyrene, Libya Cyrene , also sometimes anglicized as Kyrene , was an ancient Greek colony and Roman city near present-day Shahhat in northeastern Libya in North Africa . It was part of the Pentapolis , an important group of five cities in the region, and gave the area its classical and early modern name Cyrenaica . Cyrene lies on

1479-466: A strong (3 knots) clockwise current, at the rising tide, which then switches when the tide ebbs. That feature may explain the curious corkscrew shape in the area on the Peutinger Table . The landward side was a featureless plain which contrasted with the fertility of the rest of Tripolitania, to the west. Ancient writers mention sandstorms and serpents in this area. Strabo describes a march by

1566-400: A temple to Demeter . There is a large necropolis approximately 10 km between Cyrene and its ancient port of Apollonia. The Temple of Zeus was the largest ancient Greek temple at Cyrene, and one of the largest Greek temples ever built. The original Doric octastyle peripteral temple was constructed around 500-480 BC, It faced east and stood atop a three-stepped crepidoma , with

1653-440: A very melodramatic description: "The Syrtes [Minores] ... have no ports and are alarming because of the frequent shallows and even more dangerous because of the reversing movements of the sea as it flows in and out ... then [there is] a second Syrtes, equal in name and nature to the first, but about twice the size" (1.35–37). These sources should not however be taken at face value: Mela goes on to say that there were no ports in

1740-435: A voluminous amount of votive material was accumulated in its interior: pottery, lamps, coinage, stone sculpture, jewellery, inscriptions, glass, as well as bronze and terracotta figurines . The pottery excavated at the Sanctuary provides useful evidence concerning both the question of its foundation and type of religious activity. The necropolis consists of graves, rock-cut tombs, temple-tombs, and sarcophagi, dating from

1827-676: Is possible that he attempted to establish a radical democracy on the Athenian model. A group of 3,000 Messenians who had been expelled from Naupactus by the Spartans arrived in Cyrene in 404 BC and joined forces with the exiles, but were almost all killed in a battle, after which the Cyrenean exiles and the followers of Ariston reconciled. The surviving Messenians settled at Euhesperides. There are some signs that civic conflict continued over

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1914-739: Is recorded on a large inscription, which was heavily oligarchic and reserved a permanent role for himself in the city's administration. The city was accepted by the other Macedonian leaders as part of the Ptolemaic realm in the Treaty of Triparadisus in 321 BC. Cyrenean rebels attempted to expel the Ptolemaic garrison in 313 BC, but Ptolemy sent reinforcements who suppressed the revolt. In 308 BC, Ophellas led Cyrenaean and Athenian troops west to join Agathocles of Syracuse 's attack on Carthage and

2001-569: Is some evidence for settlement in the caves below the Acropolis which may pre-date Greek settlement. It is possible that Minoans and Mycenaeans visited Cyrene in the Bronze Age , since it is on the easiest sea route from the Aegean to Egypt, but the only archaeological evidence for this are separate finds of a small Minoan altar and a Minoan seal, which might have been brought over at a later date. A Greek myth first recorded by Pindar in

2088-517: The 48th Tactical Fighter Wing , flying from RAF Lakenheath supported by four EF-111A Ravens of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing , from RAF Upper Heyford in England to strike targets in Libya in conjunction with fifteen A-6 , A-7 , F/A-18 attack aircraft and EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga , USS America and USS Coral Sea on station in

2175-552: The First Syrian War . Inscribed accounts indicate severe inflation of food prices and a large fundraising campaign, possibly for repairs to the city walls. After his death, Apama invited a Macedonian prince, Demetrius the Fair , to marry her daughter Berenice and take the throne, but he was murdered after a short conflict with Berenice. She married Ptolemy III in 246 BC, bringing Cyrene back under Ptolemaic control. In

2262-461: The Italian invasion of Libya in 1911. The tomb of the excavation's epigrapher, Herbert de Cou, who was shot in mysterious circumstances, is located on the site. The Italian colonial government established a military base at the site in 1913. In the course of building the base, Italian soldiers found the " Venus of Cyrene ", a headless marble statue representing the goddess Venus, a Roman copy of

2349-632: The Libu or Garamantian language. Although both the Greek and Latin forms of the name were pronounced something like / k u ˈ r eɪ n eɪ / koo- RAY -nay , they are more often read in modern English as / k aɪ ˈ r iː n i / ky- REE -nee or, in its Latin form, / s aɪ ˈ r iː n i / sy- REE -nee . People have lived in Cyrenaica since the Palaeolithic . There

2436-490: The Robber Council of Ephesus in 449 and there was still a bishop of Cyrene, named Leontius, at the time of Patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria (580–607). The city fell under Arab conquest in 643. At some point thereafter it was abandoned, but the ancient name lived on as "Grennah" in the 19th century. The site was totally abandoned in the early modern period. Frederick and Richard Beechey visited and produced

2523-683: The Roman Republic and became part of the province of Crete and Cyrenaica . The city was destroyed by Jewish fighters in AD 115 during the Diaspora revolt , and slowly rebuilt over the following century. Earthquakes in 262 and 365 devastated the city, but some habitation continued through the early Byzantine period and the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in 642, after which the site was abandoned until

2610-530: The Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica . The provincial capital was on Crete, but Cyrene remained the chief city in Cyrenaica and enjoyed a highly prosperous period and much construction dates to the first century AD. In the mid-first century AD, the Roman authorities launched an extensive surveying campaign to reclaim the public land around Cyrene that had slipped into private control and stopped paying dividends to

2697-714: The caravanserai until it reaches the gates of the city. Below the Acropolis to the north, the Springs of Apollo and Cyra emerge from the cliff-face onto a triangular plateau at the base of the Wadi Bu Turqiyah. This plateau contains the Greek Theatre , the Sanctuary of Apollo , and the Baths of Trajan . From the sanctuary, a road known as "Valley Street" leads southeast up the Wadi Bu Turqiyah, roughly parallel to

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2784-582: The fisc . Because of its large Jewish population, Cyrene was an early centre of Christianity . A Cyrenian named Simon carried the cross of Jesus . Acts claims that Jews from Cyrene heard the disciples speaking in their own language in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and later says that Christians from Cyrene and Cyprus were among the assembled. According to the tradition of the Coptic Orthodox Church , its founder, Saint Mark

2871-530: The persecution of Diocletian a bishop Theodorus of Cyrene was scourged and had his tongue cut out. Earlier editions of the Martyrology mentioned what may be the same person also under 26 March. Another earthquake destroyed the city on 21 July 365. Skeletons crushed by falling masonry have been found and one tomb inscription mentions the earthquake. A contemporary historian, Ammianus Marcellinus , describes Cyrene as "an ancient but deserted city." However,

2958-540: The theater inside the Sanctuary of Apollo . In 2017 UNESCO added Cyrene to its List of World Heritage in Danger . Cyrene is now an archaeological site north of the village of Shahhat and east of Bayda , on a ridge of the Jabal Akhdar, about 600 metres above sea level. The southern edge of the ridge and the city is formed by the Wadi Bil Ghadir and the northern edge by the Wadi Bu Turqiyah. The Acropolis, at

3045-710: The "Street of Battus", lined by a stepped portico and the Aqua Augusta , past the Baths of Paris to the Market Theatre and the Central Quarter , which contains several public buildings and palatial residences. To the northeast, on another ridge, but still inside the city walls, is the largely unexcavated northeastern quarter, containing the Temple of Zeus, the hippodrome, and the East Church. Outside

3132-567: The American side. Two weeks later on 5 April 1986, a bomb exploded in a West Berlin disco, La Belle , killing two American servicemen, a Turkish woman and wounding 200 others. The United States claimed to have obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany involved in the attack. After several days of diplomatic talks with European and Arab partners, President Ronald Reagan ordered eighteen F-111F strike aircraft of

3219-457: The Cyreneans and helped them to expel Thibron's troops and recapture the port. Cyrene allied with the Libyans and Carthaginians, but Thibron returned in 322 BC and defeated them. A democratic revolution took place in Cyrene and the exiled aristocrats appealed to Ptolemy I Soter for help. Ptolemy sent his general Ophellas to occupy the city and established a new constitution for the city, which

3306-532: The Greater Syrtes either, but his reliability on this point – and therefore presumably others – is highly questionable: Pseudo-Scylax, writing in the early 4th century BC, records a port in the larger gulf (109), and Strabo places a "very large emporium" in the smaller one before Mela's time (17.3.17). Furthermore, the ancient textual evidence is not unambiguous in its condemnation of the Syrtes. Plutarch gives

3393-531: The Gulf of Sidra. The planes flying from Britain had to fly over the Atlantic, down the coast of Spain, and then turn east into the Mediterranean because the French and Spanish governments refused permission to use their airspace for the attack. This necessitated use of mid-air refueling. The attack lasted about ten minutes, hitting several targets early on 15 April. Two American airmen were killed when their plane

3480-537: The Jewish rebellion left Libya depopulated to such an extent that a few years later new colonies had to be established there by the emperor Hadrian to maintain the viability of continued settlement. Restoration work is recorded in inscriptions and visible archaeologically; it was not completed until the reign of Commodus . The city was an early member of Hadrian's Panhellenion and a long inscription records its attempts to block membership for one of its neighbours. Cyrene

3567-492: The Lesser Syrtis) is the Latin name for the Gulf of Gabès, a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the eastern coast of Tunisia Mars [ edit ] Syrtis Major Planum is a "dark spot" (an albedo feature) located in the boundary between the northern lowlands and southern highlands of Mars Syrtis Minor, another of the classical albedo features on Mars Antarctica [ edit ] Syrtis Hill ,

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3654-472: The Libyan coast. During the encounter, two Libyan Mirage fighters signaled the C-130 to follow them toward Libya and land, prompting the American plane to take evasive action. The C-130 received cannon fire from the Libyan fighters as it fled, but was able to escape by using cloud cover. According to US officials, the American plane was never closer than 120 kilometres to the Libyan coast. While operating over

3741-609: The Mediterranean Sea on 16 September 1980, a US Boeing RC-135 V/W reconnaissance plane was fired on by a Libyan fighter. The RC-135 was not hit and the United States took no retaliatory action after the incident. In August 1981, during the United States Sixth Fleet Freedom of Navigation exercises, Libyan fighter planes were assembled from elsewhere in the country to fly patrols near the American ships. On 19 August, two Libyan Su-22 Fitter fighter-bombers were intercepted by two F-14 Tomcat fighters from

3828-606: The Roman general, Cato the Younger in 47 BC which took thirty days "through deep and scorching sand". Strabo also gives a full account of the dangers for shipping: "the difficulty with both the Greater and the Lesser Syrtes is that in many places the water is shallow, and at the rise and fall of the tides ships sometimes fall into the shallows and settle there, and it is rare for them to be saved" (17.3.20). Pomponius Mela gives

3915-539: The Romans initially ignored the new territory. Plutarch mentions a tyrant of Cyrene, Nicocrates , who was deposed by his wife Aretaphila of Cyrene and succeeded by his brother Learchus, who was murdered in turn. Lucullus visited the city in 87 BC, suppressed the tyranny and granted Cyrene a new constitution. But it was only in 74 BC that the Romans first sent a governor, Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus. At some point between 67 and 30 BC, Cyrenaica became part of

4002-610: The Syrtes (the Greater, or majores , in the eastern and the Lesser, or minores , in the western part of the Gulf) were notorious sandbanks, which sailors always took pains to avoid. The local climate features frequent calms and a relatively powerful north wind. The shoreline between Cyrene in the east and Carthage in the west featured few ports. Ancient writers frequently mention the sandbanks and their vicinity as dangerous for shipping. The Syrtes maiores are unusually tidal and feature

4089-464: The aircraft carrier Nimitz . During the engagement, one of the American planes was targeted by an air-to-air Atoll missile. After evading the missile, the Tomcats shot down both Libyan planes with Sidewinder missiles. According to some reports, the two Libyan pilots managed to eject and were rescued from the sea. According to other reports, the parachute of one of the Libyan pilots failed to open. In

4176-518: The city walls to the south is the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone . The necropolis of Cyrene covers about 20 km² to the south and north of the city. Archaeological finds are stored and displayed in a temporary museum in the eastern portion of the site. In 2005, Italian archaeologists from the University of Urbino discovered 76 intact Roman statues at Cyrene from the 2nd century AD. The statues remained undiscovered for so long because "during

4263-402: The city's priesthood of Apollo . Cyrene was established as a separate kingdom once more for Ptolemy VIII in 163 BC after his siblings expelled him from Egypt. The city rebelled against him but was defeated. It is possible that he granted Cyrene's port, Apollonia, independence from Cyrene at this time, as a reward for remaining loyal. Ptolemy engaged in a wide-ranging construction project in

4350-433: The city, including the construction of a monumental gymnasium . He also had a will inscribed, promising Cyrene to the Roman Republic in the event that he died without heirs. However, he regained control of Egypt in 145 BC. In the dynastic conflicts that followed, Cyrene probably remained under the control of Ptolemy VIII and then of Ptolemy IX . It was apparently given to Ptolemy VIII's illegitimate son Ptolemy Apion as

4437-475: The coast at a distance, taking care lest they are caught off their guard and driven into these gulfs by winds." As in Cato, they do not avoid the area, but merely take precautions against its relative dangers. Similarly, Pliny's warning that the gulf was "formidable because of the shallow and tidal water of the two Syrtes" at Natural History 5.26 should be seen in the context of his broader claim in that work that all

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4524-546: The coastlines of the Mediterranean were welcoming ( NH 2.118). Their infamous reputation is, however, found in Roman poetry, for example Catullus (Carmen LXIV, 156) and Virgil (Aeneid IV, 41) on. The information in this section is largely taken from The Syrtes between East and West by Josephine Crawley Quinn. Two naval battles were fought in the Gulf of Sidra in World War II: After the coup d'état which brought Muammar Gaddafi to power in 1969, there were

4611-492: The course of the sixth century BC, Cyrene grew to become the most powerful city in the region. In the first half of the sixth century BC, Battus II encouraged further Greek settlement in the city, especially from the Peloponnese and Crete. This sparked conflict with the indigenous Libyans, whose king Adicran appealed to Egypt for help around 570 BC. The pharaoh Apries launched a military expedition against Cyrene, but

4698-540: The damage may have been over-emphasised. Archaeology shows that most buildings were damaged, but also that many were rebuilt, including many temples, which were only closed by the Theodosian decrees in 395. Settlement seems to have expanded east beyond Claudius Gothicus' fortification wall and a generation after the earthquake, Cyrene was a significant centre. Synesius , a wealthy magnate who became bishop of Ptolemais and whose letters are preserved, grew up in Cyrene in

4785-532: The deceased. A common find are statues of the so-called "Goddess of Death", a female bust - often faceless - depicted in the process of unveiling herself. In October 2023, a flood exposed a water canal, possibly dating back to the Roman era. Cyrene contributed to the intellectual life of the Greeks, through renowned philosophers and mathematicians. The School of Cyrene, known as the Cyrenaics , developed here as

4872-489: The early fifth century BC reports that the god Apollo fell in love with the huntress Cyrene and brought her to Libya, where she gave birth to a son Aristaeus . Greek historical traditions, reported in Herodotus ' Histories and in a fourth-century BC inscription found at Cyrene, say that a group of Cretan Greeks, who had been expelled from Sparta and settled on the island of Thera , founded Cyrene in 631 BC, under

4959-447: The earthquake of 375 AD, a supporting wall of the temple fell on its side, burying all the statues. They remained hidden under stone, rubble and earth for 1,630 years. The other walls sheltered the statues, so we were able to recover all the pieces, even works that had been broken." One of its more significant features is the temple of Apollo , which was originally constructed as early as 7th century BC. Other ancient structures include

5046-459: The end of the first century BC. Cyrene also made money from raising of horses and the transhipment trade between Egypt, the Aegean, and Carthage . It was a landing point for Greeks seeking to visit the oracle of Ammon at Siwah . Arcesilaus IV won the chariot race at the Pythian Games in 462 BC and at the Olympic Games in 460 BC, in celebration of which Pindar wrote the Fourth and Fifth Pythian Odes . Following this victory, he organised

5133-424: The establishment of an Italian military base on the site in 1913. Excavations have been ongoing since that time. Cyrene is the latinized form of the Greek name Kȳrḗnē ( Κυρήνη ) of uncertain origin. The Greeks themselves attributed the name to the legendary Thessalian princess Cyrene who supposedly founded the city with help from the sun god Apollo . Some modern scholars sometimes attribute

5220-421: The fifth century BC, they had expanded their control over the other cities of Cyrenaica. It became the seat of the Cyrenaics , a school of philosophy in the fourth century BC, founded by Aristippus , a disciple of Socrates . In the Hellenistic Age , the city alternated between being part of Ptolemaic Egypt and the capital of an independent kingdom. It was also an important Jewish hub. In 96 BC, it passed to

5307-464: The first site plans in 1821-1822. The French consul at Benghazi looted part of a tomb later in the century for the Louvre . The first systematic excavations were undertaken by Robert Murdoch Smith and E. A. Porcher in 1860 and 1861; their findings mostly went to the British Museum . They include the Apollo of Cyrene and a unique bronze head of an African man. The American Richard Norton began more scientific excavations in 1910, which were halted by

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5394-439: The following century. During the fourth century BC, Cyrene clashed with Carthage over the Syrtis and the trans-Saharan trade routes that ended there. The border was established at the Altars of the Phileni . Cyrene may also have extended its control eastwards to Catabathmus Magnus . Cyrene constructed a treasury at Delphi between 350 and 325 BC. When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 331 BC and marched west to visit

5481-422: The foundation narratives, are uncertain. Archaeological evidence from the site, especially ceramic finds, confirm that Greek settlement began in the mid-seventh century BC. This early pottery derves from Thera, Sparta, and Samos, but also Rhodes . The initial area of habitation was a ridge stretching eastwards from the Acropolis to the Agora , but the city rapidly expanded eastwards. The sanctuary of Apollo to

5568-460: The front and rear and seventeen columns on each of the long sides. It was destroyed in 115 AD during the Jewish sack of the city. Around 172-175 AD it was partially rebuilt as a non-peripteral temple. Between 185 and 192 AD, a colossal cult statue, modelled on the Statue of Zeus at Olympia was installed. The temple was destroyed once more in 365 AD by an earthquake and then burnt by Christians. The sanctuary to Demeter and Persephone, which includes

5655-437: The generation after the earthquake. Letter 67 of Synesius tells of an irregular episcopal ordination carried out by a bishop Philo of Cyrene, which was condoned by Athanasius . The same letter mentions that a nephew of this Philo, who bore the same name, also became bishop of Cyrene. The Central and East Churches were built in the fifth or sixth century AD and renovated several times. A bishop of Cyrene name Rufus attended

5742-479: The leadership of Battus I , at the prompting of the Oracle of Delphi . Some traditions say that the settlers left Thera because of a famine, others because of a civil war. Most say that the colonists first settled on an island at Aziris (east of Derna ) before relocating to Cyrene. The historicity of these narratives is uncertain, particularly the idea that Thera was Cyrene's sole "mother city." Relationships with other cities, such as Sparta and Samos, mentioned in

5829-400: The name to its spring Cyra ( Κύρα , Kýra ), which was considered sacred to Apollo by the city's Greco-Roman inhabitants. The legend of Thessalian Cyrene seems to long predate attestation of the spring, however, and Janko instead suggests that the existing legend and name were adopted by the early Theran settlers for this specific location after some unattested but similar local name in

5916-416: The north of the Acropolis, of Demeter to the south, and of Zeus to the east all go back to the seventh or sixth centuries BC. Archaeological evidence shows that several other sites in Cyrenaica, such as Apollonia, Euesperides , and Taucheira (modern Benghazi and Tocra ) were settled at the same time as Cyrene. After its foundation, the city was ruled by a series of monarchs descended from Battus I. Over

6003-562: The oracle at Siwah , the Cyreneans sent an embassy to declare their friendship; they did not come under Macedonian control. An inscription records that during a famine in the late 320s, Cyrene sent over 800,000 medimni of grain (ca. 40,000,000 litres ) to the cities of Greece and the Macedonian royal family. In 324 BC, a Spartan mercenary leader, Thibron , joined forces with Cyrenean and Barcan exiles on Crete and invaded Cyrenaica, capturing Cyrene's port and forcing Cyrene to accept his rule. However, one of his officers, Mnasicles, defected to

6090-411: The process, the city of Euesperides was destroyed and re-founded as Berenice and the cities of Cyrenaica formed a federation, called the Pentapolis, which minted its own coinage. Constitutional reforms by a pair of Arcadians , Ecdelus and Demophanes, may also belong in this period. Cyrene was reduced to subject status, a garrison was installed, and a succession of Ptolemaic courtiers were appointed to

6177-487: The regime's propaganda. The Italian archaeologists were expelled in 1943 when the Allies captured Cyrenaica. Richard Goodchild , controller of antiquities from 1955 to 1966 moved the village of Shahat off the site and re-established it to the south; it has since expanded over much of the southern necropolis. He also restored control of excavations at the site to the Italians, under Sandro Stucchi  [ it ] . Goodchild also The Italian mission has excavated much of

6264-815: The site and restored several buildings through the process of anastylosis . The site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. Beginning in 2006, the Global Heritage Fund , in partnership with the Second University of Naples (SUN, Italy), the Libyan Department of Antiquities, and the Libyan Ministry of Culture, worked to preserve the ancient site through a combination of holistic conservation practices and training of local skilled and unskilled labor. The GHF -led team conducted ongoing emergency conservation on

6351-412: The sixth century BC until the fifth century AD. It covers about 20 km² to the south and north of the city, making it one of the largest known Greek necropoleis. The southern section has been encroached upon by the growing city of Shahat, especially after 2013, when many tombs were bulldozed. The northern portion is better preserved. Several of the tombs of the Roman period have niches for portrait busts of

6438-476: The spring of 1986, the U.S. Navy deployed three aircraft carrier task force groups, USS America , USS Coral Sea and USS Saratoga from the Sixth Fleet with 225 aircraft and some 30 warships across the "Line of Death" and into the disputed Gulf of Sidra. After a day of armed conflict, the operation was terminated after an unknown number of human and materiel losses to the Libyan side and no losses to

6525-543: The title Syrtis . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Syrtis&oldid=1254120983 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Gulf of Sirte The Gulf of Sidra or Sirte has been

6612-608: The western edge of the ridge, was the original centre of Greek occupation. From there, a road referred to by modern scholars as the "Street of Battus" or "Skyrotà" runs along the ridge to the southeast for around 1 kilometre, past the Agora , the House of Jason Magnus and a number of other palatial residences, the Stoa of Hermes and Heracles , the Caesareum , two theatres, a sacred area, and

6699-403: Was a native of Cyrene and ordained the first bishop of Cyrene. A massive Jewish revolt, the Diaspora revolt , broke out in Cyrenaica, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Cyprus and Judaea in 115 AD. Cyrene was sacked and almost all of the city's buildings were destroyed. Literary sources claim that 220,000 people were killed before the revolt was quelled by Marcius Turbo . According to Eusebius of Caesarea ,

6786-466: Was attributed to Apollo and the legendary etymon Cyrene by the Greeks themselves but it was probably actually colonized by settlers from Thera (modern Santorini ) in the late seventh century BC. It was initially ruled by a dynasty of monarchs called the Battiads, who grew rich and powerful as a result of successive waves of immigration and the export of horses and silphium , a medicinal plant. By

6873-738: Was decisively defeated at the Battle of Irasa. According to Herodotus, conflict with king Arcesilaus II "the Cruel" (ca. 560-550 BC) led his brothers to leave the city and found the city of Barca to the west. Archaeological evidence shows that Greek presence at Barca predates this foundation, going back to the seventh century. Arcesilaus was defeated by the Barcans and Libyans at the Battle of Leuco, killed by his brother and succeeded by his infant son Battus III (ca. 550-530 BC), under whom Cyrene continued to suffer from continued internal conflict. This

6960-494: Was driven into exile. He returned with an army from Samos and regained control but forced out once more and was assassinated at Barca. His mother Pheretime appealed to the Achaemenid governor of Egypt, Aryandes , who besieged and sacked Barca in 515 BC. According to Herodotus, Aryandes marched his troops through Cyrene and then, regretting that he had not taken the opportunity to conquer Cyrene, attempted to get back in, but

7047-465: Was immediately murdered. Cyrene rebelled against Ptolemy again around 305 BC. Control was re-established in 300 BC by Ptolemy's step-son Magas . After Ptolemy's death in 282 BC, Magas refused to submit to his half-brother Ptolemy II and had crowned himself king by 276 BC. He married Apama the daughter of the Seleucid king Antiochus I and assisted him in an unsuccessful invasion of Egypt during

7134-619: Was once again prosperous by the third quarter of the second century AD and several palaces date to this period, including the House of Jason Magnus . In the mid-third century AD, Cyrene's economy began to decline. This was hastened by an earthquake of 262, which destroyed much of the city. After the disaster, the city was raided by the Marmaritae , Libyan nomads, who were defeated in 269 by Tenagino Probus , prefect of Egypt. The emperor Claudius Gothicus restored Cyrene, naming it Claudiopolis . Many buildings were subsequently rebuilt, but

7221-465: Was prevented. The story is strange; it may be that the city was actually conquered by the Persians. Remains of an extramural temple destroyed by the Persians at this time have been found. In the fifth century BC, perhaps as a consequence of the Persian intervention, Cyrene's influence over the other Greek cities in Cyrenaica seems to have solidified into institutionalised political control. The city

7308-453: Was prosperous and construction of the Temple of Apollo, Temple of Zeus , Temple of Demeter , and structures in the Agora date to this time. Cyrene's chief local export through much of its early history was the medicinal herb silphium , which may have been used as an abortifacient ; the herb was pictured on most Cyrenian coins. Silphium was in such demand that it was harvested to extinction by

7395-513: Was regularly in conflict with the other Greek cities of Cyrenaica and with the Libyans. In 414 BC, during the Peloponnesian War , Spartan forces travelling to Sicily were driven to Cyrenaica by adverse winds and Cyrene provided them with two triremes and pilots to lead them to Sicily. Towards the end of the fifth century BC, one Ariston took control of the city, put five hundred leading Cyreneans to death and exiled others. It

7482-496: Was resolved through a reform of the city's laws by Demonax of Mantinea . These reforms appear to have limited the authority of the king to religious matters, vested political power in the Cyrenaean people, and divided the Cyreneans into three tribes . He may also have mediated a peace with Barca and introduced trial by combat . Battus III's son Arcesilaus III (ca. 530-515 BC) attempted to revoke Demonax's constitution and

7569-487: Was shot down over the Gulf of Sidra. Forty-five Libyan soldiers and government officials and fifteen civilians were also killed. In 1989, in another Gulf of Sidra incident , two Libyan MiG-23 Flogger aircraft were shot down when it was believed they were about to attack the U.S. fighters that were in the area. In this instance, the Flogger pilots were reportedly lost when they were fired on and successfully shot down after

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