page_title: Tourism in Libya
section_title: Greek sites
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Libya / Main sites / Archeological sites / Greek sites
caption_attribution_description: English: The temple of Zeus in the Greek ancient city of Cyrene in Libya.
context_page_description: Tourism in Libya is an industry heavily hit by the Libyan Civil War. Before the war tourism was developing, with 149,000 tourists visiting Libya in 2004, rising to 180,000 in 2007, although this still only contributed less than 1% of the country's GDP. There were 1,000,000 day visitors in the same year. The country is best known for its ancient Greek and Roman ruins and Sahara desert landscapes.
  Libya is not issuing tourist visas now. Libyan borders with Chad, Niger, Sudan and Algeria are closed. In reality these borders are not controlled by the Government but by Tuareg people and Toubou people.
  As of 2017, governments of the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Hungary, Latvia, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Norway, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Russia, Denmark, Slovakia, Estonia, Italy, Poland, South Korea, the Republic of China and Japan advise their citizens against all travel to Libya.
context_section_description: Although Cyrene was later incorporated into the Roman Empire, it was founded in 630 BC as a colony of the Greeks from the Greek island of Thera. 16 kilometers from Cyrene is the port of Apollonia (Marsa Sousa). The city promptly became the chief town of ancient Libya and established commercial relations with all the Greek cities, reaching the height of its prosperity under its own kings in the 5th century BC. Soon after 460 BC, it became a republic, and after the death of Alexander III of Macedon (323 BC) it was passed to the Ptolemaic dynasty.
  Ophelas, the general who occupied the city in Ptolemy I's name, ruled the city almost independently until his death, when Ptolemy's son-in-law Magas received governorship of the territory. In 276 BC Magas crowned himself king and declared de facto independence, marrying the daughter of the Seleucid king and forming with him an alliance in order to invade Egypt. The invasion was unsuccessful and in 250 BC, after Magas' death, the city was reabsorbed into Ptolemaic Egypt. Cyrenaica became part of the Ptolemaic empire controlled from Alexandria, and became Roman territory in 96 BC when Ptolemy Apion bequeathed Cirenaica to Rome. In 74 BC the territory was formally transformed into a Roman province.
  The archeological site lies near the village of Shahhat. One of its more significant features is the temple of Apollo which was originally constructed as early as the 7th century BC. Other ancient structures include a temple to Demeter and a partially unexcavated temple to Zeus. There is a large necropolis approximately 16 km between Cyrene and its ancient port Apollonia. The Cyrene Museum also lies on the site.
caption: The temple of Zeus in Cyrene, Eastern Libya
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