Cyrene was a Libyan Amazon Queen. Prospered through the silphium plant. Cyrene was one of the largest cities in Africa in the 4th century BC. Temple of Zeus (above picture) was larger than Athens' Parthenon. The rulers of Cyrene include: Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, and Marc Antony. A series of turbulent rebellions sent the city in turmoil in the 2nd century AD. The city recovered under the patronage of the Libyan Emperor Septimius Severus. Cyrene was named Unesco World Heritage Site in 1982. One of the top archaeological destination in Libya today. The Greek Invasion of Cyrene The Greek invasions of Crete and Rhodes of the 9th century BC were shortly followed by their invasions of Cyrenaica in Eastern Libya. The city of Cyrene was a Greek colony, built in the seventh century BC (631 BC) upon the oracle advice of Delphi, on one of the best verdant regions of Eastern Libya's Green Mountain, by immigrants (or refugees according to some sources) from the island of Thera (Santhorini).

However, there was also a failed attempt to colonise Tripolitania under the command of Dorieus, the king of Sparta, who reached the River Cinyps (Wadi Caam), just east of Leptis Magna, in 520 BC and founded a city by that name. They were kicked out three years later by the Carthaginians (Berbers & Phoenicians). The prosperity of Cyrene was founded on the silphium plant, pictured on Cyrenaican coins, where it resembles a stylised leek or a sunflower. The plant once grew only in Libya and apparently its extinction was a grievous blow to the city's economy. Libyan Amazonian Cyrene: The city is locally known as Qurina: (QRN) > *Qyrne > Cyrne (CRN). But Cyrene was also one of the Libyan Amazon queens who, according to legend, founded a city with that name (Cerne) along the coast. The Greek goddess Ceres, a Hellenic form of African Isis, the Corn-goddess, the goddess of fertility, was also known as Qer, Ger or Cer, and therefore Qurina appears to be the Libyan form of Qer.

The Greek Version of the Myth of Cyrene According to the Greek version of the founding myth, the nymph-huntress Cyrene, whom the Greeks knew as Kurana (cf. Qurina), was spotted by the Sun-god Apollo wrestling with and subsequently strangling a lion in the jungle, and he immediately fell in love with the courageous princess. Typical of most Greek gods Apollo did what Zeus normally does, and so he abducted the beautiful princess, threw her in his golden chariot, and flew to a site that eventually bore her name. To make the region safe for settlers, the followers of the god built the Temple of Apollo, whence probably the port of Apollonia nearby. Like Graves had brilliantly pointed out in his Greek Myths, abductions and rapes point to physical invasions in the real world, and as such Apollo's abduction of Cyrene could point us to the fact that the Greeks had invaded an already existent city with that name, which we can, with some reserve, identify with the above Amazonian city. The evidence for this could also come from the myth itself: building a temple for Apollo to protect the settlers indicate that the place originally was inhabited by locals whom the settlers needed protection from.

Cyrene's Amazonian connection is also hinted at by the fact that instead of the usual household tasks of weaving and cooking, the nymph Cyrene was strongly passionate about "manly" activities, such as hunting wild beasts; and therefore the fact that Libyan nymph was seen by Apollo wrestling a lion could only point to her being an Amazon princess. One of several pieces found in Cyrenaica, which show the Libyan Amazons. This particular one, currently on display in Tolmeita Museum , was found in Wadi Khamish. Archaeological Evidence But given the advanced state the city had attained during its short period of Greek occupation, and given the fact that Leptis Magna, Sabratha and Tripoli were all in existence well before the arrival of the Phoenicians, and later on the Romans, one can safely assume that the city was in existence way before the Greek invasions. During the excavation of the Roman Theatre, it was found to have been built on top of an old market, which one is naturally led to think that it was a Greek market. But then archaeologists have further discovered that this market itself was also built on an earlier market or structure.

In fact this practice was so rife in the ancient world that almost all the religious sites, like temples and churches, were built over the earlier pagan temples, for more than one reason: to prevent the locals from continuing the worship of their gods and goddesses is one of them. Recent researchers were also puzzled by the fact that some of temples and tombs found in Cyrenaica were far more advanced than similar ones from Greece; indicating a south-north flow of culture rather than the presumed north-south. The Temple of Goddess Demeter. Two hundred years later, the Greeks established four more cities: Apollonia (Sousa), Ptolemais (Tolmeita), Taucheira (Tokra) and Berenice (Benghazi). When the Romans took over, or were handed over, the Cyrenaican area in the first century BC, they called the region the Pentapolis (The Five Cities). Among the best attractions are the landscape of the area, the Eastern Basilica, some ancient Greek inscriptions and mosaics, and the Roman rock grottos, which cut into the scarp of the rock and separated from the Sacred Way by a retaining wall.

Three of them formed a sort of nymphaeum, made of chair-like baths cut out of the rock, in which the bather sat in a niche, each containing a recess for a lamp. In the Sacred Laws of the sacred stelae, discovered by the Italians, the nymphaeum were used in connection with Artemis, where girls go down to the nymphaeum of Artemis in rite of purification on the eve of marriage. Cyrene's Necropolis encompasses hundreds of tombs expertly cut into the hills. The Venus of Cyrene: In ancient times Cyrene acquired the status of being one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean, and reached its peak in the 4th century BC. In the 2nd century AD. a series of violent rebellions sent the city in turmoil. After the massacres of the Jewish Revolt of 115 AD, the city began to recover, especially under the patronage of the Libyan Emperor Septimius Severus. But its final blow arrived with the great earthquake of 365 AD, where the city was reduced to ruins; only to be rebuilt again.

The Venus of Cyrene is back home During the recent meeting between the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Col Muammar al-Qaddafi Italy has agreed to pay Libya US$5 billion as compensation for its occupation of the country from 1911 to 1943. Apparently, as a gesture of goodwill, Berlusconi would also hand over to Libya the statue of Venus of Cyrene, an ancient statue taken by Italian troops from the ruins of Cyrene during the wars. A damaged statue of a goddess still standing in the open air. The Three Graces. The elegant three sister goddesses of beauty, elegance and magic, now on display at the Assaraya Alhamra Museum in Tripoli, were found in the city of Cyrene. They must have been of unimaginable beauty when the statues were in their original state. This drawing of the Silphium plant is on display in Apollonia Museum, Cyrenaica. The Silphium plant, or silphion, member of the giant fennel family (Ferula), once grew only in Cyrene, in a mountainous strip of land along the eastern coast of Libya.

Classical physicians and herbalists recommended the plant as both contraceptive and abortive, as well as a remedy for coughs. An image of a woman touching the plant with one hand and pointing to her genitalia with the other, found on a 5th century BC Cyrenian coin, was said to indicate the contraceptive property of the plant. In addition to its use in cooking, the plant was also used to treat stomach aliments, sore throat and fever. The plant was heavily cultivated, where it became more valuable than its weight in silver, and became an important product of Cyrenaican economy that eventually led the plant to go extinct by the second century AD. The plant is similar to the modern silphium laciniatum (compass flower), a Silphium species native to east-central North America, closely resembling sunflower plant, with the distinctive large yellow flower at the top; and hence the association in ancient times of Silphium with the Sun-God.

With Roman Ruins Under Threat, Libya’s Ancient Past Presses Against Its Present | TIME.com With Roman Ruins Under Threat, Libya’s Ancient Past Presses Against Its Present Follow @TIMEWorld According to a report on CNN.com , NATO officials overseeing the aerial bombing campaign against the forces of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya could target positions nestled within an ancient complex of Roman ruins. Rebel sources claim that Gaddafi troops have stashed rocket launchers and other military equipment at the site of the ancient city of Leptis Magna, a remarkably well-preserved relic of Roman antiquity halfway down the road between Tripoli and the besieged rebel-held port of Misratah. With NATO having escalated its efforts to topple the Gaddafi regime, no archaeological treasure — not even a UNESCO heritage site such as Leptis Magna — may be entirely safe. ( PHOTOS: See pictures of Leptis Magna. ) That Leptis Magna can fall under such peril is testament to how drastically things have deteriorated for Gaddafi and his family, whose rule seemed comfortably assured a few years ago.

Then, as Libya was gradually ingratiating itself with the mainstream of the international community, Gaddafi’s most visible son, Saif al-Islam, marketed the country’s impressive array of classical Greco-Roman ruins, which span the breadth of its long Mediterranean coast. In 2007, in the shadow of a Greek amphitheater at Cyrene — near the present day rebel stronghold of Benghazi — Saif presided over the glitzy launch of a mega-billion dollar project aimed at conserving the Libyan coast and paving the way for high-end tourism. Breathless accounts in the Western media followed of Libya’s historical curiosities — many conveniently accessible to Europe’s well-heeled skimming the shores of North Africa aboard yachts and cruise ships. Of course, now, a budding tourist industry has been left out in the cold, replaced by the specter of bomb attacks and troop offensives. The grandeur of Leptis Magna’s sweeping colonnades and pristine temples seems insignificant when faced with the reported atrocities perpetrated by Gaddafi soldiers and the geo-political headache the West’s intervention into Libya has created for NATO’s member states.

But, in another sense, the traces of Libya’s ancient history here too reflect something of its fractured present. The political fault lines of Roman Libya were not unlike the ones we see today. The Roman province of Tripolitania, named after the three ancient cities (“tri-polis”) of Leptis Magna, Sabratha (both pictured in this Time.com photoessay ) and Oea (modern day Tripoli) were trading centers first set up by the Phoenicians, the classical Mediterranean’s famed seafarers. They were later seized by Rome and became thriving urban centers in the heyday of the empire — the Roman emperor Septimus Severus was born in Leptis Magna and the city of his birth remains to this day one of the most unspoiled examples of imperial Roman architecture. Tripoli and its environs now still comprise the major center of Gaddafi power in war-torn Libya. To defend these three strategic cities from marauding tribes further inland, the Romans set up a string of forts known as the Limes Tripolitanus.

Ironically, it’s along this fringe of mountains that marked the southern edge of the Roman world that rebels in Libya’s west , including Berber tribesmen — descendants of the Romans’ foes — now struggle against the Gaddafi government. Hundreds of miles east across desert and sea from Tripolitania lies Cyrenaica, named after the 7th century BC Greek settlement of Cyrene, where Saif al-Islam grandstanded in 2007 and where this year TIME’s Abigail Hauslohner found a detachment of imprisoned Gaddafi mercenaries , seized by rebels. The culture and identity of Cyrenaica evolved separately from that of Tripolitania — ruled in conjunction with the Greek island of Crete, its orientation was traditionally closer to that of the Greek and Coptic world further east than that of the Tripolitanian cities to the west. History has rolled on since and the centuries have transformed the particular identities of the region, but the sense of a distinct political divide remains in Libya between its Tripolitanian west and Cyrenaican east — Cyrenaica, of course, is where the revolt against Gaddafi has proven most resolute and decisive.

Still, the politics of a Libya that may soon be free of Gaddafi will hardly be measured in the cold stone of its many ruins. Rather, it’ll be realized through the complex alliances of its tribes, the negotiations of regional and local powerbrokers and the significant economic interests invested in the country’s oil reserves, considerations that trump the symbolic weight of history. But after the schemes of men hatch and fade, those ruins will still stand in mute testament. Ishaan Tharoor is a Senior Editor at TIME magazine and Editor of TIME World, based in New York City. Subscribe Popular Among Subscribers UNESCO place Libyan World Heritage Sites on danger list - CNN.com READ: UNESCO's newest World Heritage sites "A lot of illegal construction has taken place," she told CNN. "This becomes irreversible when people build within a very large archaeological park that hasn't been completely explored [or] excavated." File photograph of statues and ruins at Cyrene, where UNESCO say bulldozers have started encroaching on ancient sites. Rock art across Africa is dying She describes "lack of governance" as the reason behind the treatment of the cultural treasure.

Elsewhere, Sabratha , once a Phoenician trading post, sits in a combat zone, while Ghadames , known as the 'pearl of the desert' and one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities, is in a "volatile" location, says Al Hassan. Placing these locations along with Leptis Magna and Tadrart Acacus on the list of World Heritage sites in danger is an attempt to raise the issue with the international community, says Al Hassan. "When you put a site on the danger list, it's easier to find funds for its protection," she explains. "It's very important for the Libyan people, to show that we're following up on what's happening with them. We're worried about what's happening in their country and at their sites." A course of action The UNESCO expert compares the ruins in Libya to World Heritage Sites in Iraq and Syria, similarly on the 'in danger' list, saying the move is a proactive one from the organization. READ: Meet Africa's oldest people "We have gained experience unfortunately, due to the conflict in the Middle East, as to what to do during conflict," Al Hassan says.

UNESCO was already training heritage police before the unrest began, she says, but subsequent events called for new measures to be taken. File photograph of the amphitheatre at Leptis Magna, located in the Libyan coastal city of Lebda. Doomsday prediction from tomb of ancient Egyptian queen? "There are ways of securing museums," Al Hassan explains. "You secure the buildings, you hide objects, you increase circles around the building in order for combatants not to reach them... And [then] there are secret places to hide objects. All of this has been done with the Libyans." The idea has been floated that if the situation deteriorates, artefacts could be removed from Libya and put out of harm's way on an international traveling exhibit. That plan has yet to materialize as of yet, she says, due to the immense logistics and high cost of insuring these threatened treasures. "It's very hard for them," adds Al Hassan of the Libyan conservationists, "they're firefighting all the time." Italy is already providing funds for site preservation -- no surprise given some of their Roman origins -- and Al Hassan is hopeful more contributions from the international community will follow.

File photograph of the old town of Ghadames, known as the 'pearl of the desert' and one of the oldest pre-Saharan cites. "It's very important that the international community values them, monitors them and protects them -- and [will] be there when the time of conservation, reconstruction and recovery plans are planned and are possible," she said. Al Hassan stresses this is not just an issue of national importance; we all have a shared interest in North Africa and the Middle East's cultural heritage. READ: Which ancient treasures did ISIS destroy in Palmyra? "We are talking about a region that has given the alphabet to the world: where the wheel was invented, where agriculture first existed, where the first urban centers were established," she argues.

"People have to know that we care about those sites, because they are at the heart of the advancement of our human civilization." Isis in Libya: The new centurions protecting the ruins of Leptis Magna from militants' cultural jihad | The Independent Africa Isis in Libya: The new centurions protecting the ruins of Leptis Magna from militants' cultural jihad At first they were like a Neighbourhood Watch of antiquities, but now locals with automatic weapons are protecting the Roman city from jihadists hell-bent on its destruction. Kim Sengupta meets a force to be reckoned with Thursday 4 June 2015 17:05 BST Click to follow The Independent Online The amphitheatre at Leptis Magna, a World Heritage site in the city of Lebda. The Roman ruins are among the most spectacular in the Mediterranean. AFP/Getty Leptis Magna was bathed in sunshine as a cool breeze from the Mediterranean blew tumbleweeds in the majestic amphitheatre; and nearby, gunmen moved in the shadows of the arch of Septimus Severus.

For a moment it looked as if Isis, on the march in Libya, had already arrived at one of the best preserved sites of antiquities in the world to carry out its cultural jihad of destruction. But the men with Kalashnikovs were locals, a volunteer guard determined to protect the remains of what was once said to be one of the Roman Empire’s most enchanting cities. The Independent found the new centurions on patrol during a visit to Leptis Magna. They started off as a version of Neighbourhood Watch for antiquities, with a few elderly men. But the group has grown, drawing from different generations and backgrounds: and as the threat has increased, so has their need to be prepared. Now they carry semi-automatic rifles and walkie-talkies, and have installed a surveillance system, albeit a rudimentary one. Local volunteer guards with automatic weapons are protecting the Roman city from jihadists Isis has destroyed some of the world’s most precious heritage in Iraq and Syria. In Libya, the jihadist group has taken control of the coastal cities of Sirte, former home of Muammar Gaddafi, and Darna in the east.

Its reach is growing and it has attacked targets in the capital, Tripoli, and in the cities of Misrata and Benghazi. A suicide bomber killed six people at Dafniya, just 30 miles from Leptis, on Sunday, and a man was beheaded in Darna on charges of spying and un-Islamic behaviour. There has been vandalism and looting in Libya since the revolution of 2011, even before Isis first appeared on the scene. Artefacts have gone missing from Sirte: a rare collection of 8,000 gold, silver and bronze coins, dating back to Alexander the Great, has disappeared from Benghazi. Prized ceramic tiles were stripped from the Karamanli Mosque in Tripoli and one of the capital’s iconic landmarks, a nude woman with a gazelle, was pulled down. There has been vandalism of Sufi shrines in Zlitan, and a Fatimid palace has been turned into a stable in Tobruk. Read more The silver writing in Arabic reads: The Museum of Assaraya Alhamra. The name Assaraya Alhamra means "The Red Castle" or "The Red Fort".

It was said that it was painted red after the Spanish invasions in 1510 AD, as still hinted at by its current ochrey colour. The fortified castle was built to defend the capital city and it continued to be the centre of Tripoli's power right down to the 20th century. Recent digging along an adjacent road revealed that the fort was built on top of an ancient Roman fortified camp, but some sources state that the actual building was established by the Phoenicians, who later abandoned the city after they settled in nearby Carthage. This road once passed through the castle and was adorned with statues on both sides, which gave the museum an outstanding outdoor department. After the Romans' descendants' return with the arrival of the 20th century, the Italians converted a section of the castle that was originally used as an ammunition storehouse into Libya's first museum, in 1919, to house some of the countless archaeological artifacts, scattered across Libya's vast landscape, and spanning from prehistoric times to the present. Many of these treasures are still in the open to this day, slowly degraded by water, wind and the scorching heat of the Libyan sun.

By 1930s, it was re-named the Classical Museum - in reference to the classical Greco-Roman period. After the British occupied Libya during the Second War, the museum grew to occupy the entire complex and became known as The Libyan Museum in 1948; with the following wings: Prehistory. Ancient Libyan Berber Tribes (Berber Garamantes, Berber Tuareg, etc.). Libyan-Punic-Greco-Roman-Byzantine Traditions. Natural History. After Gaddafi's arrival in 1969, a new wing was added, namely The People's Era Wing, to document the Libyan struggle for independence. It is emerged later that Libya has taken this a step further and began building its war museum, known as The Conflict Museum (see above menu for link). In 1982, in a joint venture with UNISCO, the museum was further developed to its current state and became known as Assaraya Alhmara Museum, which reopened its doors to the public in 1988.

Although the actual museum occupies only 10000 square meters, it is widely recognised as one of the most important and richest museums in the world; owing to its unique collection of original items spanning all periods of human history, from the stone age and the prehistoric civilisations of the great Sahara, right down to the medieval periods and the present time. In fact, Libya is an unprecedented archaeological goldmine, with most of its prehistoric secrets still buried under the desert's sand and beneath the sea's water, for future generations to rediscover and bring to life once more. In August 2011, after the fighters' push into Tripoli, reports from Russian sources circulated the vandalism of the museum and other sites which said to have been damaged by bombing. Most people dismissed these claims, but the Guardian (gu.com/p/3xz76) later confirmed the looting of the museum, with the headline: "In Tripoli's museum of antiquity only Gaddafi is lost in revolution".

At 11.30pm on the 20th of August 2011, 20 armed men stormed the museum and broke a window glass, splattered "graffiti in places", and took revenge as they wrecked Gaddafi's vintage cars, smashing windows and headlamps, leaving "thousands of shards of glass" on the floor. Apparently they took a cloak and an antique rifle used against the Italian occupation. An info sheet from the museum about Assaraya Alhamra. The above sheet provides some basic information about the Red Fort, including its total area (about 13000 square meters), and a view of Tripoli from the sea as it appeared in 1645 AD (bottom drawings). The sheet also states that Assaraya Alhamra was built on the remains of either a Roman temple or a Roman bath dating from the first and second centuries AD. The museum is also known as Tripoli, al-Jamahiri, al-Jamahiriya, and the National Museum.

The museum houses some of the best of Libya's archaeological and historical heritage, including a spectacular collection of Neolithic, prehistoric, Berber, Garamantian, Phoenician, Punic, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Christian, Islamic and Turkish treasures, such as marble and stone statues and busts, columns, grave covers, tombs, pottery, oil lamps, mosaic panels, coins, glass, funerary monuments, colour photos of the various archaeological sites, fossilised and stuffed animals, dinosaur bones, and a model of the Red Castle itself (the Assaraya Alhamra). The contents of Assaraya Alhamra Museum are housed in 47 galleries, distributed across 4 levels. Some of the floors and wings are closed to the public, some are undergoing current renovation, while other sections of the complex are always closed to the public - probably serving as storage areas for unsorted items and for reconstruction, research and renovation works. Fossilised Skeleton of a Sperm Whale (h'out albal) From Ajdabya, Eastern Libya.

Ground Floor (Galleries 1 - 9) Entrance Hall (Gallery 1: Garamantes & Ghirza) : a map of Libya showing the main archaeological and historical sites; Gaddafi's volkswagen beetle (which he used leading up to the 1st of September); the statue of the goddess Venus; gladiatorial mosaics from Leptis Magna; stone Mausoleum from Ghirza. An impressive Stone Mausoleum From Ghirza: a Berber farming community from the Roman period, located in Wadi Ghirza, about 156 miles south-south-east of Tripoli. The Ghirza mausoleum tombs are well known for being advanced, of high standard, and built with rare imagination and craftsmanship. The chief Sun-God of Ghirza was Ghurza, also mentioned as Gurzil by Corippus, and identified with ancient Libyan Amon (or Amen) of Berber Siwa. Also there are a number of interesting mosaic panels collected from the main archaeological sites in Tripolitania, depicting various mythical themes and geometrical patters, fishing scenes, goddesses & gods, nymphs & cherubs, animals & beasts.

Also a complete mosaic floor is on display. (See Villa Silene , and Qasr Libya Museum (above).) The Goddess Venus (Ground Floor, Gallery 1). Immediately inside is a fine statue of the goddess Venus, originally found at the Hadrianic Baths in Leptis Magna. The statue was stolen during the colonial period, and it was not returned until the year 2000. This second century BC statue is apparently a copy of an earlier statue by Praxiteles (4th century BC). There are other copies of the statue, the most famous of which is the Capitoline Venus in Rome's Musei Capitolini. Is this the Libyan Holy Grail? Galleries 2, 3, 4: Stone Age, Prehistoric Periods & Rock Art : fossilised tree, stone tools, stone arrows from the Sahara, hand-axes (300,000 years old), pottery & ceramics (some of which are 8000 years old), rock art reproductions, and Tashwinat mummy of a child found by Professor Mori.

The Tashwinat Mummy of a child found in Wan Muhuggiag (or Uan Mughjaj), Tadrart Acacus, Fezzan, southern Libya, by Professor Mori in 1958. The mummy was thought to be at least 5400 years old and therefore it is much older than any of the mummies found in Egypt. The child is thought to have been 3 years old at the time of death. The mummy was found wrapped in an animal skin and covered with herbs and plants, probably to aid preservation and to ward off decay. Rock Art Reproduction. Gallery 5 : Libyan Period: Berber Civilisations: Slontah (Slonta), Zinchera, Garama, Ghirza: temple relieves from Slonta; royal Garamantian tombs, stone altars, stone hands, stone offering tablets and pottery from Fezzan; and stone carvings from Ghirza. 8000 years old pottery from Fezzan A funerary door with a lock from Ghirza. These doors were found in tombs, and thought to help the souls enter the tomb to visit the body of the deceased.

A central pillar of the religion of the ancient Libyans, likewise of their cousins and neighbours the Egyptians, was the worship of the dead, and as such the soul was seen as part of everyday life (of the dead) in the same way it was for the living before death. Such doors therefore would seem to keep unwanted stray souls away from the sacred body of the deceased; which speculatively were decorated or marked with special symbols or objects only the deceased soul would recognise and thus obtain access to the holy tomb. The lock seems to have been secured with a chain (below). Gallery 6 : Libyan-Phoenician Period: tablets of the Punic alphabet; the sign of the Libyan Goddess Tannit (Ta-Neith), adopted by the Phoenicians as Tanit after they arrived in North Africa. The Libyan Goddess Tannit (Libyan Neith) Temehu.com's translation of the Arabic text at the Museum: " The Goddess Tannit. Tannit is regarded as one of the most famous and important Punic goddesses in Tripolitania. She is the wife of the Punic god Bal Hamon.

She was the goddess of sowing, harvest and fertility, and a sky goddess essentially associated with the moon. Her symbol, known as the symbol of Tannit, is a triangle representing the human body, surmounted by a circle representing the head, and separated by a horizontal line which represents the hands (or the arms). The worship of the goddess Tannit emerged after the 5th century BC. She appears to be of Libyan origin. This piece is from the 2nd century BC. " [End of translation.] The worship of the Goddess Tannit among the Libyans of the ancient Delta (in present day Egypt) goes back to predynastic times. The Goddess Minerva (Athena): the goddess of wisdom. Found in the Theater, Leptis Magna, dating to the first century AD. Galleries 7 & 8 : Greek Period: statues of Athena, Apollo, Dionysus, Serapis and two busts of Persephone, the Death-goddess and the queen of Hades; a model of the temple of Zeus from Cyrene; decorative Greek pottery. Gallery 8: The Three Graces : the intimate mates of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.

The Three Graces The three sister goddesses of beauty, elegance and magic. The statue was found, among other similar works of art, in the city of Cyrene, in Eastern Libya. The realistic finish and the fine elegance with which the statues were crafted clearly reflect the qualities they supposed to represent: elegance and beauty. One can only wonder at the stunning effect they once had on viewers when they were in their original and perfect state. Gallery 9: Roman Period: This gallery houses a large collection of Roman artifacts from the cities of Leptis Magna and Sabratha, like statues and busts, including those of the emperors Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus and their wives, and Venus, Roma, Mercury, Diana, Hercules, Calliope and Artemis; columns and column bases; mosaic scenes, including the following one; a model of Leptis Magna; a model of Sabratha; glassware and other artifacts from the Roman period. The Mosaic of The Four Seasons. This floor piece was originally found in Dar Bouk A'meer, in Zliten. The All-Commanding Roman God of War: Mars (centre).

First Floor (Galleries 10 - 14): Gallery 10: Roman period : a collection of miniature pots, plates, bowels, small statues & heads, bronze items, coins, oil lamps and clay drinking jars from the Roman period found in various sites around the country, including Sabratha, Leptis Magna. Roman collection Gallery 11: Roman Period: the Arch of Septimius Severus, from Leptis Magna: a marble relief from the Arch of the Berber-Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, showing the emperor with his wife Julia Domna and sons Geta and Caracalla; some of the pieces and panels are the original ones brought from Leptis Magna. Gallery 12, 13: Roman Period: Byzantine Period (5th to 6th centuries AD): grave covers, glass bottles, photos. Second Floor (Galleries 15-30): Traditional & Islamic Exhibits Spells & Amulets Written in Arabic Script and Berber Symbols The above magical charts or amulets are used in traditional medicine.

Medicinal amulets, which are a kind of "text prescriptions", are widely used in North Africa for all kinds of ailments and illnesses. They are prescribed by "holy men" - people who are highly religious and thought to have some kind of "healing gift " . This practice must have its roots in prehistoric times as Herodotus and the ancient Egyptians have both provided us with similar examples. Gallery 15-16: large Green Koran; mud-brick vernacular arch; a map of the world in 1349; models of sand stone tombs. Gallery 19 : a map of Oea (old Tripoli); a model of Assaraya Alhamra; an old wooden door; a painting of Ahmed Pasha Karamanli Mosque; a model of a house from Ghadames. Gallery 20 : a collection of traditional crafts, jewellery, costumes, weaving, and other local artifacts. Galleries 21 - 23 : Tuareg Galleries: Tuareg leather items, metal work, like spears, jewellery, costumes, basketwork using palm leaves, thatched hut, and other traditional Berber Tuareg items.

Galleries 26 - 27 : Libyan Farming & Agriculture: a stone relief from Ghirza showing farming scene; farming tools, bee-keeping; and an old oil press from the Nafousa Mountain. The press was in use until recently in the mountains. A wooden branch connected to a large stone is attached to an animal, usually a cow or a bull, which goes around the circular wall. The turning of the stone crushes the olives and sends the oil to the bottom of the press where it collects in a specially-made hole. Galleries 28-30 : Libyan folklore and music, including traditional musical instruments. Third Floor: Libyan Struggle For Independence: Gallery 31: This section commemorates some of the main figures of the Libyan resistance: personal belongings, photos and writings of Suleiman al-Barouni, a native of Yefren in Nafousa Mountain, and the leader of 1912 rebellion. Photos of Omar al-Mukhtar, including a photo during his trail. Omar al-Mukhtar, the Lion of the Desert, was a native of Cyrenaica.

His first campaign was against the Italians between 1911 and 1917, after which he succeeded in uniting the Libyan resistance under one force. He was still fighting at the age of 73 when he was captured and subsequently executed by the Italians in September 1931. Galleries 32-37: The September 1969 Coup: English translation of the declaration of the "people's power", photos, images and other related material. Gaddafi walking in London (Piccadilly Square) while he was attending military training before the 1969 coup. The Royal Libyan Military Academy, the Sandhurst of the Libyan army, was set up in 1957. Among its early recruits was Gaddafi himself. Galleries 38 - 47: Natural History Museum : stones and rocks from various geological epochs; local plants; stuffed, preserved and fossilised animals; and a massive skeleton of a sperm whale (see photo below).

Cyrene - Clickable Map of the Roman Empire - First Century AD Map of the Roman Empire | Bible History Online Cyrene CYREï¿½NE CYREï¿½NE or CYRENAE (ἡ Κυρήνη: Eth. and Adj. as those of CYRENAICA: Ghrennah, very large Ru.), the chief city of CYRENAICA and the most important Hellenic colony in Africa, was founded in B.C. 631 by Battus and a body of Dorian colonists from the island of Thera. (The date is variously stated, but the evidence preponderates greatly in favour of that now given; Clinton, F. H. vol. i. s. a.: for the details of the enterprise, and of the subsequent history of the house of Battus, see Dict. of Biog. s. v. Battus, and Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. iv. p.

39, seq.) The colonists, sailing to the then almost unknown shores of Libya, in obedience to the Delphic oracle, took possession first of the island of Platea, in the Gulf of Bomba, which they seem to have mistaken for the mainland. Hence, after two years of suffering, and after again consulting the oracle, they removed to the opposite shore, and resided in the well-wooded district of Aziris for six years, at the end of which time some of the native Libyans persuaded them to leave it for a better locality, and conducted them through the region of Irasa, to the actual site of Cyrene. Though Irasa was deemed so delectable a region that the Libyan guides were said to have led the Greeks through it in the night lest they should settle there, the spot at which their journey ended is scarcely inferior for beauty and fertility to any on the surface of the globe.

In the very middle of that ï¿½projecting bosom of the African coastï¿½ (as Grote well calls it), which has been described under CYRENAICA on the edge of the upper of two of the terraces, by which the table-land sinks down to the Mediterranean, in a spot backed by the mountains on the S. and in full view of the sea towards the N., and thus sheltered from the fiery blasts of the desert, while open to the cool sea breezes, at the distance of 10 miles. from the shore, and at the height of about 1800 feet, an inexhaustible spring bursts forth amidst luxuriant vegetation, and pours its waters down to the Mediterranean through a most beautiful ravine. Over this spring which they consecrated to Apollo, the great deity of their race (hence Ἀπόλλωνος κρήνη, Callim. in Apoll. 88), the colonists built their new city, and called it Cyrene from Cyre the.name of the fountain.

At a later period an elegant mythology connected the fountain with the god, and related how Cyrene, a Thessalian nymph, beloved of Apollo, was carried by him to Africa, in a chariot drawn by swans. (Mï¿½ller, Dorians, Bk. 2.3.7.) The site of Cyrene was in the territory of the Libyans named ASBYSTAE; and with them the Greek settlers seem from the first to have been on terms of friendship very similar to those which subsisted between the Carthaginians and their Libyan neighbours. The Greeks had the immense advantage of commanding the abundant springs and fertile meadows to which the Libyans were compelled to resort when the supplies of the less favoured regions further inland began to fail. A close connection soon grew up between the natives and the Greek settlers; and not only did the former imitate the customs of the latter (Hdt. 4.170); but the two races coalesced to a much greater extent than was usual in such cases. It is very important to remember this fact, that the population of Cyrene had a very large admixture of Libyan blood by the marriages of the early settlers with Libyan wives (Hdt.

4.186-189; Grote, vol. iv. p. 53). The remark applies even to the royal family; and, if we were to believe Herodotus, the very name of Battus, which was borne by the founder, and by his successors alternately, with the Greek name Arcesilaï¿½s, was Libyan, signifying king; and we have another example in that of Alazir, king of Barca. For the rest, the Libyans seem to have formed a body of subject and tributary Perioeci (Hdt. 4.161). They were altogether excluded from political power, which, in strict conformity with the constitution of the other states of Spartan origin, was in the hands exclusively of the descendants from the original settlers, or rather of those of them who had already been among the ruling class in the mother state of Thera. The dynasty of the Battiadae lasted during the greater part of two centuries, from B.C.

630 to somewhere between 460 and 430; and comprised eight kings bearing the names of Battus and Arcesilaus alternately; and a Delphic oracle was quoted to Herodotus as having defined both the names and numbers. (Hdt. 4.163.) Of Battus I., B.C. 630--590, it need only be said that his memory was held in the highest honour, not only as the founder of the city, but also for the benefits he conferred upon it during his long reign. He was worshipped as a hero by his subjects, who showed his grave, apart from those of the succeeding kings, where the Agora was joined by the road (σκυρωτὴ ὁδός), which he made for the procession to the temple of Apollo. (Pind. Pyth. v.; Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 77; Paus. 3.14, 10.15; Catull. 7.6; Diod. Excerpt. de Virt. et Vit. p.

232.) Nothing of importance is recorded in the reign of his son, Arcesilaï¿½s I., about B.C. 590--574; but that of his successor, Battus II. (about B.C. 574--554), surnamed the Prosperous, marks the most important period of the monarchy; nothing less, in fact, than a new colonization. An invitation was issued to all Greeks, without distinction of race, to come and settle at Cyrene, on the promise of an allotment of lands. It seems probable that the city of Apollonia, the port of Cyrene, owed its foundation to this accession of immigrants, who arrived by sea direct, and not, like the first colonists, by the circuitous land route from the Gulf of Bombay. (Grote, p. 55.) The lands promised to the new settlers had of course to be taken from the natives, whose general position also was naturally altered for the worse by the growing power of the city.

The Libyans, therefore, revolted, and transferred their allegiance to Apries, king of Egypt, who sent an army to their aid; but the Egyptians were met by the Cyrenaeans in Irasa, and were almost entirely cut to pieces. This conflict is memorable as the first hostile meeting of Greeks with Egyptians, and also as the proximate cause of the overthrow of Apries. Under Amasis, however, a close alliance was formed between Egypt and Cyrene, and the Egyptian king took his wife Ladice from the house of Battus. (Hdt. 2.180-181.) The misfortunes of the monarchy began in the reign of Arcesilaï¿½s II., the [1.735] son of Battus II., about B.C. 554--544, Whose tyranny caused the secession of his brothers, the foundation of Barca, and the revolt of a large number of the Libyan Perioeci, in a conflict with whom no less than 7000 hoplites were slain; and the king was soon afterwards strangled by his brother Learchus. To this loss of prestige, his successor, Battus III.

added the disqualification of lameness. The Cyrenaeans, under the advice of the Delphic oracle, called in the aid of Demonax, a Mantineian, who drew up for them a new constitution; by which the encroachments of the royal house on the people were more than recovered, and the king was reduced to political insignificance, retaining, however, the landed domain as his private property, and also his sacerdotal functions. The political power, in which it would seem, none but, the descendants of the original colonists had any share, was now extended to the whole Greek population, who were divided by Demonax into three tribes:--(1.) The Theraeans, to whom were still attached the Libyan Perioeci: (2) Greeks from Peloponnesus and Crete: (3) Greeks from the other islands of the Aegean: and a senate was also constituted, of which the king appears to have been president. (Hdt. 4.161, 165.) In other respects the constitution seems to have resembled that of Sparta, which was, through Thera, the original metropolis of Cyrene.

We read of Ephors, who punished with atimia litigious people and impostors, and of a body of 300 armed police, similar to the Hippeis at Sparta (Heracleid. Pont. 4; Hesych. Τριακάτιοι; Eustath. ad Hom. Od. p. 303; Grote, pp. 59, 60; Mï¿½ller, Dor. Bk. 3.4.5, 100.7 ï¿½ 1. 9.13.) After the time of Battus IlI., his son Arcesilaï¿½s III. and his mother Pheretime attempted to overturn the new constitution, and to re-establish despotism. Their first efforts led to their defeat and exile; but Arcesilaï¿½s returned at the head of a new body of emigrants, chiefly from lonia, took Cyrene, and executed cruel vengeance upon his opponents.

Whether from a desire to confirm his position, or simply from dread of the Persian power, he sent to Memphis to make his submission to Cambyses, and to offer him an annual tribute, as well as a present; the 500 minae which formed the latter, were deemed by Cambyses so inadequate, that he flung them contemptuously to his soldiers. After these things, according to the motive assigned by Herodotus (4.163, 164), Arcesilaï¿½s became sensible that he had disobeyed the Delphic oracle, which, in sanctioning his return, had enjoined moderation in the hour of success; and to avoid the divine wrath, he retired from Cyrene to Barca, which was governed by his father-in-law, Alazir.

His murder there, and the vengeance taken on the Barcaeans by his mother Pheretime, by the aid of a Persian army, sent by Aryandes, the satrap of Egypt, are related under BARCA Though the Persians ravaged a great part of the country, and extended their conquests beyond Barca as far as Hesperides, and though they were even inclined to attack Cyrene on their way back to Egypt, they left the city unmolested (Hdt. 4.203, 204). The effect of these events on the constitution of Cyrene is thus described by Grote (vol. iv. p. 66): ï¿½The victory of the third Arcesilaï¿½s, and the restoration of the Battiads broke up the equitable constitution established by Demonax. His triple classification into tribes must have been completely remodelled, though we do not know how; for the number of new colonists whom Arcesilaï¿½s introduced must have necessitated a fresh distribution of land, and it is extremely doubtful whether the relation of the Theraean class of citizens with their Perioeci, as established by Demonax, still continued to subsist.

It is necessary to notice this fact, because the arrangements of Demonax are spoken of by some authors as if they formed the permanent constitution of Cyrene; whereas they cannot have outlived the restoration of the Battiads, nor can they even have been revived after that dynasty was finally expelled, since the number of new citizens and the large change of property, introduced by Arcesilaï¿½s III., would render them inapplicable to the subsequent city.ï¿½ Meanwhile ï¿½another Battus and another Arcesilaï¿½s have to intervene before the glass of this worthless dynasty is run out.ï¿½ Of Battus IV., surnamed the Handsome, nothing needs to be said; but Arcesilaï¿½s IV. has obtained a place, by the merits of the Libyan breed of horses rather than by his owns in the poetry of Pindar, who, while celebrating the king's victories in the chariot race (B.C. 460), at the same time expostulates with him for that tyranny which soon destroyed his dynasty. (Pind. Pyth. iv.

v.) It seems to have been the policy of this prince to destroy the nobles of the state, and to support himself by a mercenary army. How he came to his end is unknown; but after his death a republic was established at Cyrene, and his son Battus fled to Hesperides, where he was murdered, and his head was thrown into the sea; a significant symbol of the utter extinction of the dynasty. This was probably about B.C. 450. Of the condition of the new republic we have very little information. As to its basis, we are only told that the number of the tribes and phratriae was increased (Aristot. Pol. 6.4); and, as to, its working, that the constant increase of the democratic element led to violent party contests (ibid.), in the course of which various tyrants obtained power in the state, among whom are named Ariston and Nicocrates. (Diod. 14.34; Plut. de Virt. Mul.; Polyaen. Strat. 8.38.) The Cyrenaeans concluded a treaty with Alexander the Great (Diod. 17.49; Curt.

4.7), after whose death the whole country became a dependency of Egypt, and subsequently a province of the Roman empire. [CYRENAICA] The favours bestowed on APOLLONIA its port, under the Ptolemies, greatly diminished the importance of Cyrene, which gradually sank under the calamities which it shared with the whole country. Under the Romans it was a colony, with the surname of FLAVIA. (Euseb. Chron.; Eckhel, vol. iv. pp. 127, foll.) At the height of its prosperity Cyrene possessed an extensive commerce with Greece and Egypt, especially in silphium: with Carthage, its relations were always on a footing of great distrust, and its commerce on the W. frontier was conducted entirely by smuggling. At what period its dominion over the Libyan tribes was extended so far as to meet that of Carthage at the bottom of the Greater Syrtis is disputed [ARAE PHILAENORUM]; some referring it to the republican age, others to the. period of the Ptolemies. (Grote, vol. iv. p.

48, holds the latter opinion.) Cyrene holds a distinguished place in the records of Hellenic intellect. As early as the time of Herodotus it was celebrated for its physicians (Hdt. 3.131); it gave its name to a philosophic sect founded by one of its sons, Aristippus; another, Carneades, was the founder of the Third. or New Academy at Athens; and it was also the birthplace [1.736] of the poet Callimachus, who boasted a descent from the royal house of Battus, as did the eloquent rhetorician Synesius, who afterwards became bishop of Apollonia. The ruins of Cyrene, though terribly defaced, are very extensive, and contain remains of streets, aqueducts, temples, theatres, and tombs, with inscriptions, fragments of sculpture, and traces of paintings. In the face of the terrace, on which the city stands, is a vast subterraneous necropolis; and the road connecting Cyrene with its port, Apollonia, still exists. The remains do not, however, enable us to make out the topography of the city with sufficient exactness.

We learn from Herodotus (4.164) and Diodorus (19.79) that the Acropolis was surrounded with water. The ruins are fully described by Della Cella (pp. 138, foll.), Pacho (pp. 191, foll.), and Barth (p. 421, foll.). The coins of Cyrene are numerous. In the second of the two specimens here annexed the obverse represents the head of Zeus Ammon and the reverse the silphium, which formed the chief article in the export trade of Cyrene. - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, LLD, Ed. Leptis Magna | ancient city, Libya | Britannica.com Leptis Magna Alternative Titles: Labdah, Labqi, Lepcis Magna, Lpqi Related Topics World Heritage site Leptis Magna, also spelled Lepcis Magna, Punic transliteration Labqior Lpqi, modern Labdah, largest city of the ancient region of Tripolitania . It is located 62 miles (100 km) southeast of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast of Libya .

Lying 2 miles (3 km) east of what is now Al-Khums (Homs) , Leptis contains some of the world’s finest remains of Roman architecture. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982. Remains of the Roman amphitheatre at Leptis Magna, Libya. © Pascal RATEAU/Fotolia Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Founded as early as the 7th century bce by Phoenicians of Tyre or Sidon, it was later settled by Carthaginians , probably at the end of the 6th century bce. Its natural harbour at the mouth of the Wadi Labdah facilitated the city’s growth as a major Mediterranean and trans-Saharan trade centre, and it also became a market for agricultural production in the fertile coastland region. Near the conclusion of the Second Punic War , it passed in 202 bce to Masinissa ’s Numidian kingdom, from which it broke away in 111 bce to become an ally of Rome .

Through the 1st century ce, however, it retained several of its Punic legal and cultural traditions, including its municipal constitution and the official use of the Punic language. The Roman emperor Trajan (reigned 98–117 ce) designated Leptis a colonia (community with full rights of citizenship). The emperor Septimius Severus (193–211 ce), who was born at Leptis, conferred upon it the jus Italicum (legal freedom from property and land taxes) and became a great patron of the city. Under his direction an ambitious building program was initiated, and the harbour, which had been artificially enlarged in the 1st century ce, was improved again. Over the following centuries, however, Leptis began to decline because of the increasing insecurity of the frontiers, culminating in a disastrous incursion in 363, and the growing economic difficulties of the Roman Empire. After the Arab conquest of 642, the status of Leptis as an urban centre effectively ceased, and it fell into ruin. Arch of Trajan at Leptis Magna, Libya. C.

Sappa/DeA Picture Library Ṣaqqārah Buried by sand until the early 20th century, Leptis still preserves traces of early Punic structures near the excavated shell of its amphitheatre (56 ce) and its old forum , the heart of the city in early Roman times. From this nucleus, the city spread westward along the coast and inland to the south. Second-century buildings include well-preserved baths erected under the emperor Hadrian (117–138) and a circus (racecourse) some 1,500 feet (460 metres) long. The largest surviving monuments were erected during the reign of Severus. Linking the city centre to the harbour was a colonnaded street roughly 1,350 feet (410 metres) long that terminated in a circular piazza dominated by an intricately designed nymphaeum (ornamental fountain house). Leptis’s two main roads intersected under a massive four-way arch, a tetrapylon, upon which the grandeur of Severus and his family was depicted in a frieze.

Among the other structures erected during that period were an aqueduct 12 miles (19 km) long, an elaborate complex of buildings on the left bank of the wadi, and the Hunting Baths, which are extraordinarily well preserved, with colourfully painted scenes of hunting exploits (including a 2nd- or 3rd-century painting of a leopard hunt) and the still-legible names of honoured hunters on the walls. The Arch of Septimius Severus in Leptis Magna, Libya. AdstockRF The basilica, which stood on the western side of the colonnaded street, was dedicated in 216 (five years after Severus’s death). It was one of the grandest buildings constructed at Leptis. Measuring 525 feet (160 metres) long and 225 feet (69 metres) wide, it was a three-aisled, colonnaded hall with an apse at each end. Flanking the apses were ornately sculpted pilasters depicting the Life of Dionysus and the Twelve Labours of Hercules (both favourites of the Severus family). Adjoining the basilica was the new forum, elaborately adorned with imported marble and granite.

A central component of the forum was a temple honouring the emperor Severus and the imperial family. The remains of the Roman basilica at Leptis Magna, Libya. © Canpinos/Fotolia

Question: The ancient cities of Leptis Magna and Cyrene can be found in which modern-day country?
Answer: Libya