60S 



CYRENAYCA. 



CYRENAl'CA. 



trees are seen near Bengasi and Derna. The road from Bengazi to 

 Tocra or Teuchira and Ptolemeta lies through a very fertile and 

 beautiful country, though a comparatively small part of it is culti- 

 vated. It is a plain, thickly covered with wood and flowering shrubs, 

 stretching from the sea to the foot of the mountains, and narrowing 

 every mile as we proceed towards Ptolemeta, where the high land 

 comes very close to the sea. The whole length of the plain from 

 Bengazi to Ptolemeta is 65 miles. The sides of the mountains also 

 are thickly clothed with wood, chiefly pine of various kinds, and 

 numerous shrubs, among which the juniper abounds. Ravines whose 

 sides are covered with wood and verdure cross the road very frequently 

 in their course from the mountains to the sea, most of which must be 

 impassable in the rainy seasons, as there is nothing like a bridge over 

 any of them. Open spaces, some of considerable extent, also occur 

 occasionally in the woods ; they were probably once cultivated, but 

 are now thickly covered with grasses of various kinds, among which 

 oats grow spontaneously, as well as a species of wild artichoke, which 

 ia eaten raw by the Arabs. Several towers of very solid construction 

 are scattered along this road. 



Of the five towns of the Pentapolis, Bengazi is generally believed to 

 occupy the site of the ancient Hesperis, afterwards called Berenice, of 

 which there are hardly any remains above ground. [BENGAZI.] In 

 the neighbourhood of Bengazi there are some curious chasms or pits 

 sunk in the rock 60 or 70 feet below the plain, with excellent soil at 

 the bottom covered with trees and rich vegetation, and which seem 

 to answer the description which Scylax gives of the gardens of the 

 Hesperides. The aext town on the coast is Tocra, the ancient Teuchira, 

 afterwards called Arsinof, which although totally deserted is still com- 

 pletely inclosed, except on the sea or north side, by walls of uncommon 

 solidity and thickness, strengthened at intervals by quadrangular 

 towers, twenty-six in number, and is entered by two strong-built 

 gateways placed opposite to each other on the east and west sides of 

 the walls. The circuit of Teuchira is about a mile and a half. It is 

 situated on a plain about four miles from the foot of the mountains. 

 The interior of Teuchira baa been utterly destroyed, and the few 

 remains, among which are those of a handsome Christian church, are 

 not distinct enough to give an idea of the former buildings. The 

 line of some of the streets however is distiuctly traced. We know 

 very little about the history of Teuchira or of the epoch of its final 

 destruction. The walls were repaired by Justinian, in doing which 

 blocks of stone and marble have been introduced, many of them 

 bearing Greek inscriptions, which evidently formed part of much 

 older buildings. A number of quarries with excavated tombs are 

 seen outside of the city walls. There is no appearance of a porj at 

 Teuchira, and the position of the coast is such as not to afford shelter 

 to veaeela. Ptolemeta, or Tolmeta, the ancient Ptolemau, is also ruined : 

 several of the buildings however are partly standing, such as a lofty 

 gateway, an amphitheatre, two theatres, a palace or large building, the 

 inner court of which retains its tesselated pavement ; several columns 

 are still erect, and a number of others are thrown down in heaps. 

 Though the walls of Ptolemeta have been thrown down their line can 

 be traced in many places, but nowhere do they rise more than a foot 

 above the ground. Ptolemais was originally the port of Barca, which 

 latter is mentioned as one of the five cities of the Pentapolis, though 

 it was inhabited by a mixed Greek and Libyan race. Ptolemais and 

 Barca have been confounded by some geographers, but Ptolemacus 

 distinguishes them, and Scylax says that Barca was 100 stadia from 

 the sea. Under the Ptolemies of Egypt the port of Barca assumed 

 the name of Ptolemai's ; and in the vicissitudes of the country the 

 Greek population of Barca withdrew to Ptolemais, which flourished 

 through its maritime trade. Pomponius Mela mentions Ptolemais, 

 and not Barca, among the cities of Pentapolis. [BARCA.] Ptolemeta 

 lies in a delightful position at the foot of the hills, and on a slope 

 stretching to the sea between two romantic wads, wadys, or ravines. 

 Its extent as far as can be traced was about one square mile ; but the 

 whole space is now overgrown with wild vegetation, with patches of 

 corn here and there among the ruins. The Arabs sow the corn and 

 leave it to the winter rains, and they return at harvest time to cut 

 and carry it off. There are several large cisterns in good preservation, 

 which were restored by Justinian, and now afford a supply of good 

 water. 



The road from Ptolemeta to Cyrene leads up a romantic valley, the 

 idea of which are thickly clothed with pines, olive-trees, and various 

 kinds of laurel, interspersed with clusters of luxuriant honeysuckles, 

 myrtle, arbutus, juniper, and a variety of wild roses, and then opens 

 into the plain of Merdje, a large and fertile tract about five miles 

 in breadth, on the summit of the first range of mountains, with pools 

 and small lakes formed by the waters from the upper ridge. The 

 Arabs encamp here, and partly sow the ground with corn and use 

 the rest as pastures. From the plain of Merdje the path follows the 

 track of the ancient road in a north-east direction, leading through a 

 succession of hills and fine valleys to Ghrennah, the Arab name for 

 Oyrene. On approaching Ghrennah the country becomes more clear of 

 wood, the valleys produce fine crops of barley, and the hills afford 

 excellent pasture for cattle. A plant three feet high, perhaps the 

 ilphium of the ancients, and resembling in shape the hemlock, grows 

 IIPP: in great abundance. The position of Cyrene is one of the finest 

 that can be imagined, being on the edge of the upper range of hills, 



about 800 feet above the lower range. Below the town the hill slopes 

 down towards the north, forming several natural terraces one below 

 the other, and terminating with a fine sweep of table-land, which 

 forms the summit of the iower range, and which is covered with 

 wood, with scattered tracts of corn and verdant pastures. Ravines 

 whose sides are overgrown with trees intersect the country 

 in various directions, and form the channels of mountain streams. 

 This table-land extends east and west as far as the eye can reach, and 

 to the north after stretching about five miles it descends abruptly to 

 the sea. The slope of the lower ridge, which runs along the coast of 

 Cyrenaica, is here thickly covered with wood. Its height is about 

 1000 feet, so that Cyrene is about 1800 feet above the sea, of which 

 it commands an extensive view. The ledges or terraces of the upper 

 ridge afforded room for roads or drives sweeping along the sides of 

 the mountain, and the tracks of the chariot wheels are still impressed 

 upon the rock. The remains of Cyrene occupy a vast extent of 

 ground, but they have been sadly disfigured by the hand of man. 

 Innumerable tombs either built of stone or excavated in the rock 

 encircle the town, and are ranged on each side of the avenues leading 

 to it. In some of these excavations paintings have been found in 

 good preservation, representing funeral games, hunting parties, several 

 sketches of private life, and allegorical subjects. The costumes are 

 beautifully rendered, and the colours very brilliant. Within the 

 precincts of the ancient town are the remains of a bath built of brick, 

 of which some parts of the vaulted work are still left, some towers 

 or forts, a very large hypogeum picturesquely situated on the extre- 

 mity of the only grove that is found on the plateau, several large 

 temples of the Doric order, two small excavated temples of the 

 Roman period with Christian emblems, two theatres, an amphitheatre, 

 and an aqueduct, but all sadly damaged ; in fact the whole of the 

 existing remains are at present little more than one mass of ruins, 

 and the tombs afford the most perfect examples of Grecian art now 

 remaining in Cyrene. A quantity of prostrate columns, statues, 

 capitals, rilievi, and inscriptions are scattered about the ground, but 

 the statues are mutilated, and many of them want their heads, which 

 the Arabs have cut off. There are two copious springs, from one of 

 which, supposed to be the Fountain of Apollo, the water flows into a 

 subterraneous channel, and then issues out on the other side of the 

 mountain. 



The country around Cyrene must have been in the time of its 

 splendour a complete garden, and it is easy to conceive how the 

 people of such a country became so much addicted to luxury and 

 pleasure as they are reported to have been. Even now in its wild 

 state "the rich ochrish red soil, watered by rivulets gushing on every 

 side, brings forth a rich vegetation which pierces the mossy rocks, 

 clothes the hills, extends in rich pastures, or develops itself in forests 

 of dark juniper, green thaya, and pale olive-trees. The modern name 

 of the Cyrenaica, 'Jebel Akhdar,' that is, the Green Mountain, 

 expressly indicates its rich and smiling aspect." (Pacho.) 



Cyrene was governed by kings, from its foundation by Battus, who 

 died about B.C. 591, to about B.C. 450, when the government appears 

 to have changed to a republic. (Aristoteles, ' Politic.,' vi. 4.) The 

 subsequent history of Cyrene seems to have been a series of changes 

 and internal troubles till after the time of Alexander, when it became 

 subject to Egypt in the reign of the first Ptolemscus, and so it continued 

 till Ptolemieus Physcon, whose natural son Apion being in possession 

 of the chief power, gave it into the hands of the Romans about B.C. 97. 

 Strabo says (837, c) that in his time the kingdom of Cyrene, with 

 Crete, formed a Roman province. Cyrene appears to have gradually 

 declined under the Romans as the maritime towns of the Pentapolis 

 rose in importance. It afterwards suffered greatly, and was in a 

 great measure ruined during the insurrections of the Jews under the 

 reigns of Trajan anfl Hadrian ; the province was depopulated when 

 Hadrian colonised it afresh, at which time it is probable that many 

 of the buildings of Cyrene were restored, for there is a variety of 

 Greek and Roman style observable in them as well as in the sculptures. 

 The Jews were at one time very numerous in Cyrenaica ; they had 

 settled in it in the time of the Ptolemies, and chiefly resided at 

 Berenice, where they formed a distinct community governed by two 

 archous. 



Coin of Cyrene, 

 British Museum. Actual Size. Gold. Weight, 08 grains. 



In the 4th century Synesius, bishop of ' Ptolemais, one of the most 

 eloquent of the early fathers, deplored the ruin and depopulation of 

 Cyrene, hastened by the opp*ssions of the Byzantine governors. It 

 was iii his time that Cyrene was destroyed by an invasion of some 

 barbarous hordes of the interior of Libya, whose women were armed 



