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Difino
| • | Cyrene, the ancient Greek city (in present-day Libya) was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region and gave eastern Libya the classical name 'Cyrenaica' that it has retained to modern times. It lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar uplands. It was named after a spring, Kyre, which the Greeks consecrated to Apollo.
Cyrene was founded as a colony of the Greeks of Thera, traditionally led by Aristotle (later called Battus) of Thera, about 630 BC, ten miles from its port, Apollonia (Marsa Sousa). Details concerning the founding of the city are contained in Book IV of the Histories of Herodotus. It promptly became the chief town of the Lybian region between Egypt and Carthage (Cyrenaica), kept up commercial relations with all the Greek cities, and reached the height of its prosperity under its own kings in the 5th century BC. Soon after 460 BC it became a republic; after the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) it passed to the Ptolemies and fell into decay.
Cyrenaica became part of the empire controlled by the Ptolemies from Alexandria in Egypt and later passed to the Roman empire. Cyrene was the birthplace of Eratosthenes and there are a number of philosophers associated with the city including Callimachus, Carneades, Aristippus and Arete, and Synesius, bishop of Ptolemais in the 4th century CE.
The inhabitants of Cyrene at the time of Sulla (c. 85 BC) were divided into four classes: citizens, farmers, resident aliens, and Jews, who formed a restless minority. Lucullus was sent to Cyrene by Sulla to quell disturbances in which the Jews were taking a prominent part. The ruler of the town, Apion bequeathed it to the Romans, but it kept its self-government. In 74 BC Cyrene was created a Roman province; but, whereas under the Ptolemies the Jewish inhabitants had enjoyed equal rights, they now considered themselves oppressed by the autonomous Greek population. Cultural conflicts were exacerbated by the resurgence of Jewish nationalism and resentment of Hellenistic culture with which many Jews had accommodated. Tensions came to a head in the insurrection of the Jews of Cyrene under Vespasian (AD 73) and especially Trajan (AD 117). This revolt
Source: [wikipedia: cyrene, libya]
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