Chapter XVII: Part 17

[56] _Excavations in Cyprus_ (London, 1900).

CYPRUS, CHURCH OF. The Church of Cyprus is in communion and in doctrinal agreement with the other Orthodox Churches of the East (see ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH), but is independent and subject to no patriarch. This position it has always claimed (see, however, W. Bright, _Notes on the Canons_, on Ephesus 8). At any rate, its independence "by ancient custom" was recognized, as against the claims of the patriarch of Antioch, by the council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, by an edict of the emperor Zeno (to whom the church had sent a cogent argument on its own behalf, the alleged body of its reputed founder St Barnabas, then just discovered at Salamis), and by the Trullan Council in 692. Attempts have been made subsequently by the patriarchs of Antioch to claim authority over it, the last as recently as 1600; but they came to nothing. And excepting for the period during which Cyprus was in the hands of the Lusignans and the Venetian Republic (1193-1571), the Church has never lost its independence. It receives the holy ointment ([Greek: myron]) from without, till 1860 from Antioch and subsequently from Constantinople, but this is a matter of courtesy and not of right. Of old there were some twenty sees in the island. The bishop of the capital, Salamis or Constantia, was constituted metropolitan by Zeno, with the title "archbishop of all Cyprus," enlarged subsequently into "archbishop of Justiniana Nova and of all Cyprus," after an enforced expatriation to Justinianopolis in 688. Zeno also gave him the unique privileges of wearing and signing his name in the imperial purple, &c., which are still preserved. A Latin hierarchy was set up in 1196 (an archbishop at Nicosia with suffragans at Limasol, Paphos and Famagusta), and the Greek bishops were made to minister to their flocks in subjection to it. The sees were forcibly reduced to four, the archbishopric was ostensibly abolished, and the bishops were compelled to do homage and swear fealty to the Latin Church. This bondage ceased at the conquest of the island by the Turks: the Latin hierarchy disappeared (the cathedral at Nicosia is now used as a mosque), and the native church emerged into comparative freedom. In 1821, it is true, all the bishops and many of their flock were put to death by way of discouraging sympathies with the Greeks; but successors were soon consecrated, by bishops sent from Antioch at the request of the patriarch of Constantinople, and on the whole the Church has prospered. The bishops-elect required the _berat_ of the sultan; but having received this, they enjoyed no little civil importance. Since 1878 the _berat_ has not been given, and the bishops are less influential. The suppressed sees have never been restored, but the four which survive (now known as Nicosia, Paphos, Kition and Kyrenia) are of metropolitan rank, so that the archbishop, whose headquarters, first at Salamis, then at Famagusta, are now at Nicosia, is a primate amongst metropolitans. There are several monasteries dating from the 11th century and onwards; also an archiepiscopal school at Nicosia, founded in 1812 and raised to the status of a "gymnasion" in 1893; and a high school for girls.

AUTHORITIES.--Ph. Georgiou, [Greek: Eideseis Historikai peri tes
Ekklesias tes Kyprou] (Athens, 1875); K. Kouriokurineos (Archbishop of
Cyprus), [Greek: Historia chronologike tes nesou Kyprou] (Venice,
1788); de Mas Latrie, _Histoire de l'ile de Chypre sous les princes de
la maison de Lusignan_ (Paris, 1852 f.); H. T. F. Duckworth, _The
Church of Cyprus_(London, 1900); J. Hackett, _History of the Orthodox
Church of Cyprus_ (1901). (W. E. Co.)

CYPSELUS, tyrant of Corinth (c. 657-627 B.C.), was the son of Aeetion and Labda, daughter of Amphion, a member of the ruling family, the Bacchiadae. He is said to have derived his name from the fact that when the Bacchiadae, warned that he would prove their ruin, sent emissaries to kill him in his cradle, his mother saved him by concealing him in a chest (Gr. [Greek: kypsele]). The story was, of course, a subsequent invention. When he was grown up, Cypselus, encouraged by an oracle, drove out the Bacchiadae, and made himself master of Corinth. It is stated that he first ingratiated himself with the people by his liberal conduct when Polemarch, in which capacity he had to exact the fines imposed by the law. In the words of Aristotle he made his way through demagogy to tyranny. Herodotus, in the spirit of 5th-century Greeks, which conventionally regarded the tyrants as selfish despots, says he ruled harshly, but he is generally represented as mild, beneficent and so popular as to be able to dispense with a bodyguard, the usual attribute of a tyrannis. He pursued an energetic commercial and colonial policy (see CORINTH), and thus laid the foundations of Corinthian prosperity. He may well be compared with the Athenian Peisistratus in these respects. He laid out the large sums thus derived on the construction of buildings and works of art. At the same time he wisely strove to gain the goodwill of the powerful priesthoods of the great sanctuaries of Delphi and Olympia. At Delphi he built a treasure-house for Corinthian votive offerings; at Olympia he dedicated a colossal statue of Zeus and the famous "chest of Cypselus," supposed to be identical with the chest of the legend, of which Pausanias (v. 17-19) has given an elaborate description. It was of cedar-wood, gold and ivory, and on it were represented the chief incidents in Greek (especially Corinthian) mythology and legend. Cypselus was succeeded by his son Periander.

See CORINTH: _History_; histories of Greece; Herodotus v. 92;
Aristotle, _Politics_, 1310b, 1315b; P. Knapp, _Die Kypseliden und die
Kypseloslade_ (Tubingen, 1888); L. Preller, _Ausgewahlte Aufsatze_
(1864); H. Stuart Jones, in _Journ. Hell. Stud._ (1894), 30 foll.

CYRANO DE BERGERAC, SAVINIEN (1620-1655), French romance-writer and dramatist, son of Abel de Cyrano, seigneur de Mauvieres et de Bergerac, was born in Paris on the 6th of March 1619-1620. He received his first education from a country priest, and had for a fellow pupil his friend and future biographer, Henri Lebret. He then proceeded to Paris to the college de Beauvais, where he had for master Jean Grangier, whom he afterwards ridiculed in his comedy _Le Pedant joue_ (1654). At the age of nineteen he entered a corps of the guards, serving in the campaigns of 1639 and 1640, and began the series of exploits that were to make of him a veritable hero of romance. The story of his adventure single-handed against a hundred enemies is vouched for by Lebret as the simple truth. After two years of this life Cyrano left the service and returned to Paris to pursue literature, producing tragedies cast in the orthodox classical mode. He was, however, as a pupil of Gassendi, suspected of thinking too freely, and in the _Mort d'Agrippine_ (1654) his enemies even found blasphemy. The most interesting section of his work is that which embraces the two romances _L'Histoire comique des etats du soleil_ (1662) and _L'Histoire comique des etats de la lune_ (1656?). Cyrano's ingenious mixture of science and romance has furnished a model for many subsequent writers, among them Swift and E. A. Poe. It is impossible to determine whether he adopted his fanciful style in the hope of safely conveying ideas that might be regarded as unorthodox, or whether he simply found in romance writing a relaxation from the serious study of physics. Cyrano spent a stormy existence in Paris and was involved in many duels, and in quarrels with the comedian Montfleury, with Scarron and others. He entered the household of the duc d'Arpajon as secretary in 1653. In the next year he was injured by the fall of a piece of timber, as he entered his patron's house. Arpajon, perhaps alarmed by his reputation as a free-thinker, desired him to leave, and he found refuge with friends in Paris. During the illness which followed his accident, he is said to have been reconciled with the Church, and he died in September 1655.

M. Edmond Rostand's romantic play of _Cyrano de Bergerac_ (1897)
revived interest in the author of the _Histoires comiques_. A modern
edition of his _Oeuvres_ (2 vols.), by P. L. Jacob (Paul Lacroix),
appeared in 1858, with the preface by H. Lebret originally prefixed to
the _Histoire comique des etats de la lune_ (1656?). For an
interesting analysis of the romances see Garnet Smith in the
_Cornhill_ for July 1898. See also P.A. Brun, _Savinien de Cyrano
Bergerac_ (1894). Other studies of Cyrano are those of Charles Nodier
(1841), F. Merilhon (Perigueux, 1856), Fourgeaud-Lagreze (in _Le
Perigord litteraire_, 1875) and of Theophile Gautier, in his
_Grotesques_.

CYRENAICA, in ancient geography, a district of the N. African coast, lying between the Syrtis Major and Marmarica, the western limit being Arae Philaenorum, and the eastern a vague line drawn inland from the head of the gulf of Platea (Bomba). On the south the limit was undefined, but understood to be the margin of the desert, some distance north of the oasis of Augila (Aujila). The northern half of this district, which alone was fertile, was known as Pentapolis from its possession of five considerable cities (1) Hesperides-Berenice (Bengazi), (2) Barca (Merj), (3) Cyrene (Ain Shahat-Grenna), (4) Apollonia (Marsa Susa), (5) Teucheira-Arsinoe (Tocra). In later times two more towns rose to importance, Ptolemais (Tolmeita) and Darnis-Zarine (Derna). These all lay on the coast, with the exception of Barca and Cyrene, which were situated on the highland now called Jebel Akhdar, a few miles inland. Cyrene was the first city to arise, being founded among Libyan barbarians by Aristotle of Thera (later called Battus) in the middle of the 7th century B.C. (see CYRENE). For about 500 years this district enjoyed great prosperity, owing partly to its natural products, but more to its trade with interior Africa.

Under the Ptolemies, the inland cities declined in comparison with the maritime ones, and the Cyrenaica began to feel the commercial competition of Egypt and Carthage, whence easier roads lead into the continent. After all N. Africa had passed to Rome, and Cyrenaica itself, bequeathed by Apion, the last Ptolemaic sovereign, was become (in combination with Crete) a Roman province (after 96 B.C.), this competition told more severely than ever, and the Greek colonists, grown weaker, found themselves less able to hold their own against the Libyan population. A great revolt of the Jewish settlers in the time of Trajan settled the fate of Cyrene and Barca; the former is mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus in the 4th century A.D. as "urbs deserta," and Synesius, a native, describes it in the following century as a vast ruin at the mercy of the nomads. Long before this its most famous article of export, the _silphium_ plant, a representation of which was the chief coin-type of Cyrene, had come to an end. This plant, credited with wonderful medicinal and aromatic properties, has not been certainly identified with any existing species. The similar _Thapsia garganica_ (Arab. _drias_), which now grows freely in Cyrenaica, though it has medicinal properties, has not those ascribed to silphium. Henceforward till the Arab invasion (A.D. 641) Apollonia was the chief city, with Berenice and Ptolemais next in order. After the conquest by Amr ibn el-'Asi, inland Cyrenaica regained some importance, lying as it did on the direct route between Alexandria and Kairawan, and Barca became its chief place. But with the substitution of Ottoman for Arab empire, resulting in the virtual independence of both Egypt and Tripoli, the district lying between them relapsed to anarchy. This state of things continued even after Mahmud II. had resumed direct control over Tripoli (1835), and in the middle of the 19th century Cyrenaica was still so free of the Turks that Sheik Ali bin-Senussi chose it as the headquarters of his nascent dervish order. All over the district were built Senussi convents (_zawia_), which still exist and have much influence, although the headquarters of the order were withdrawn about the year 1855 to Jarabub, and in 1895 to Kufra, still farther into the heart of Africa. In 1875 the district, till then a sanjak of the vilayet of Tripoli, was made to depend directly on the Ministry of the Interior at Constantinople; and the Senussites soon ceased to be _de facto_ rulers of Cyrenaica. Their preserves have now been still further encroached upon by a number of Cretan Moslem refugees (1901-1902). This is not the first effort made by Turkey to colonize Cyrenaica. In 1869 Ali Riza Pasha of Tripoli tried to induce settlers to go to Bomba and Tobruk; and in 1888 an abortive effort was made to introduce Kurds. To protect the Cretans the Ottoman government has extended the civil administration and created several small garrisoned posts. The district is accordingly safer for Europeans than it was; but these still find themselves ill received. The Ottoman officials discourage travel in the interior, partly from fear of the Senussites, partly from suspicions, excited by the lively interest manifested by Italy in Cyrenaica.

At the present day we understand by Cyrenaica a somewhat larger district than of old, and include ancient Marmarica up to the head of the gulf of Sollum (Catabathmus Magnus). The whole area is about 30,000 sq. m., and has some 250,000 inhabitants, inclusive of nomads. Projecting like a bastion into the Mediterranean at a very central point, Cyrenaica seems intended to play a commercial part; but it does not do so to any extent because of (1) lack of natural harbours, Bengazi and Derna having only open and dangerous roads (this is partly due to coastal subsidence; ancient ports have sunk); (2) the difficulty of the desert routes behind it, wells being singularly deficient in this part of the Sahara. The ivory and feather caravans from Wadai and Borku have latterly deserted it altogether. Consequently Cyrenaica is still in a very backward and barbarous state and largely given up to nomad Arabs. There are only two towns, Bengazi and Derna, and not half a dozen settlements beside, worthy to be called villages. In many districts the Senussi convents supply the only settled element, and the local Bedouins largely belong to the Order. There are no roads in the province, and very little internal communication and trade; but a wireless telegraphic system has been installed in communication with Rhodes: and there is a landline from Bengazi to Tripoli.

Geologically and structurally Cyrenaica is a mass of Miocene limestone tilted up steeply from the Mediterranean and falling inland by a gentle descent to sea-level again at the line of depression, which runs from the gulf of Sidra through Aujila to Siwa. This mass is divided into two blocks, the higher being the western Jebel Akhdar, on which Cyrene was built (about 1800 ft.): the lower, the eastern Jebel el-Akabah, the ancient Marmaric highlands (700 ft.). There is no continuous littoral plain, the longest strip running from the recess of the Syrtis round past Bengazi to Tolmeita. Thereafter, except for deltaic patches at Marsa Susa and Derna, the shore is all precipitous. Jebel Akhdar, being without "faults," has no deep internal valleys, and presents the appearance of downs: but its seaward face is very deeply eroded, and deep circular sinkings (swallow-holes) are common. There is much forest on its northward slopes, and good red earth on the higher parts, which bears abundant crops of barley, much desired by European maltsters. Plenty of springs issue on the highlands, and wide expanses of grassy country dotted with trees like an English park are met with. Here the Bedouins (mostly Beni Hassa) pasture flocks and herds, amounting to several million head. The climate is temperate and the rainfall usually adequate, but one year in five is expected to be droughty. The southward slopes fall through ever-thinning pasture lands to sheer desert about 80 m. inland. Jebel el-Akabah is much more barren than Jebel Akhdar, and the desert comes right down to the sea in Marmarica, whose few inhabitants are more concerned with salt-collecting and sponge fishing than with agriculture. They have, however, the only good ports on the whole coast, Bomba and Tobruk. Much might be made of Cyrenaica by judicious colonization. All kinds of trees grow well, from the date palm to the oak; and there are over 200,000 wild olives in the country. The conditions in general are very like those of central Italy, and there is ample room for new settlers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--(1) Ancient Cyrenaica: J. P. Thrige, _Historia Cyrenes_
(1819); C. Ritter, _Erdkunde_, i. (1822); A. F. Gottschick, _Gesch.
der Grundung und Blute des hell. Staates in Kyrenaika_ (1858).

(2) Modern Cyrenaica: Paul Lucas, _Voyage_ (1712); T. Shaw, _Travels
and Observations_ (1738); J. Bruce, _Travels_ (1790); P. della Cella,
_Viaggio da Tripoli_, &c. (1819); G. F. Lyon, _Narrative of Travels_
(1821); A. Cervelli, in _Recueil de voyages_, pub. by Soc. de Geog.,
ii. (1825); J. R. Pacho, _Relation d'un voyage_ (1827); F. W. Beechey,
_Proceedings of Expedition to explore N. Coast of Africa_ (1828); H.
Barth, _Wanderungen_, &c. (1849); V. de Bourville, _Rapport_ (1850);
J. Hamilton, _Wanderings in N. Africa_ (1856); R. M. Smith and E. A.
Porcher, _Hist. of Discoveries_ (1864); G. Rohlfs, _Von Tripoli nach
Alexandrien_ (1871); G. Haimann, _La Cirenaica_ (1882); M. Camperio,
_Una Gita in Cirenaica_ (1881); H. Duveyrier, "La Confr. musulmane de
Sidi Moh. Ben Ali es-Senousi" (_Bull. soc. geog._, 1884); H. W.
Blundell in _Geog. Journ._ v. (1895) and _Annual Brit. Sch. at
Athens_, ii. (1895); D. G. Hogarth in _Monthly Review_ (Jan. 1904); G.
Hildebrand, _Cyrenaika_, &c. (1904); G. de Martino, _Cirene e
Cartagine_ (1908).

(3) Maps: The best are that by P. Carlo, to illustrate Camperio and
Haimann's Report, in Petermann's _Mitth._ (1881); and Sheet No. 2 of
_Carte de l'Afrique_ (Service geog. de l'armee, 1892). (D. G. H.)

CYRENAICS, a Greek school of philosophy, so called from Cyrene, the birthplace of the founder, Aristippus (q.v.). It was one of the two earliest Socratic schools, and emphasized one side only of the Socratic teaching (cf. CYNICS). Socrates, although he held that virtue was the only human good, admitted to a certain extent the importance of its utilitarian side, making happiness at least a subsidiary end of moral action (see ETHICS). Aristippus and his followers seized upon this, and made it the prime factor in existence, denying to virtue any intrinsic value. Logic and physical science they held to be useless, for all knowledge is immediate sensation (see PROTAGORAS). These sensations are motions ([Greek: kineseis]) which (1) are purely subjective, and (2) are painful, indifferent or pleasant, according as they are violent, tranquil or gentle. Further they are entirely individual, and can in no way be described as constituting absolute objective knowledge. Feeling, therefore, is the only possible criterion alike of knowledge and of conduct. "Our modes of being affected ([Greek: pathe]) alone are knowable." Thus Cyrenaicism goes beyond the critical scepticism of the Sophists and deduces a single, universal aim for all men, namely pleasure. Furthermore, all feeling is momentary and homogeneous. It follows (1) that past and future pleasure have no real existence for us, and (2) that among present pleasures there is no distinction of kind, but only of intensity. Socrates had spoken of the higher pleasures of the intellect; the Cyrenaics denied the validity of this distinction and said that bodily pleasures as being more simple and more intense are to be preferred. Momentary pleasure ([Greek: monochronos hedone]), preferably of a carnal kind, is the only good for man. Yet Aristippus was compelled to admit that some actions which give immediate pleasure entail more than their equivalent of pain. This fact was to him the basis of the conventional distinction of right and wrong, and in this sense he held that regard should be paid to law and custom. It is of the utmost importance that this development of Cyrenaic hedonism should be fully realized. To overlook the Cyrenaic recognition of social obligation and the hedonistic value of altruistic emotion is a very common expedient of those who are opposed to all hedonistic theories of life. Like many of the leading modern utilitarians, they combined with their psychological distrust of popular judgments of right and wrong, and their firm conviction that all such distinctions are based solely on law and convention, the equally unwavering principle that the wise man who would pursue pleasure logically must abstain from that which is usually denominated "wrong" or "unjust." This idea, which occupies a prominent position in systems like those of Bentham, Volney, and even Paley, was evidently of prime importance at all events to the later Cyrenaics.

Developing from this is a new point of practical importance to the hedonism of the Cyrenaics. Aristippus, both in theory and in practice, insisted that true pleasure belongs only to him who is self-controlled and master of himself. The truly happy man must have [Greek: phronesis] (prudence), which alone can save him from falling a prey to mere passion. Thus, in the end, Aristippus, the founder of the purest hedonism in the history of thought, comes very near not only to the Cynics, but to the more cultured hedonism of Epicurus and modern thinkers. Theodorus, held even more strongly that passing pleasure may be a delusion, and that permanent tranquillity is a truer end of conduct. Hegesias denied the possibility of real pleasure and advocated suicide as ensuring at least the absence of pain. Anniceris, in whose thought the school reached its highest perfection, declared that true pleasure consists sometimes in self-sacrifice and that sympathy in enjoyment is a real source of happiness. Other members of the school were Arete, wife of Aristippus, Aristippus the younger (her son), Bio and Euhemerus.

The Cyrenaic ideal was, of course, utterly alien to Christianity, and, in general, subsequent thinkers found it an ideal of hopeless pessimism. Yet in modern times it has found expression in many ethical and literary works, and it is common also in other ancient non-Hellenic literature. There are quatrains in the _Rubaiyat_ of Omar Khayyam and pessimistic verses in Ecclesiastes which might have been uttered by Aristippus. ("Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing than to eat and to drink and to be merry; for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life which God giveth him under the sun"). So in Byron and Heine, and, in a sense, in Walter Pater (_Marius the Epicurean_), there is the same tendency to seek relief from the intellectual _cul-de-sac_ in frankly aesthetic satisfaction. Thus Cyrenaicism did not entirely vanish with its absorption in Epicureanism.

See HEDONISM, EPICURUS; histories of philosophy by Zeller, Windelband,
Ueberweg; H. Sidgwick, _Methods of Ethics_ and _Outlines of the
History of Ethics_; J. Watson, _Hedonistic Theories_ (1895); James
Seth, Ethical Principles, c. i. (A), (1898); A. Wendt, _De philosophia
Cyrenaica_ (1841); H. von Stein, _De philosophia Cyrenaica_ (1855); T.
Gomperz, _Greek Thinkers_ (Eng. trans., vol. ii. bk. iv., _ad fin._,
1905); Beare, _Greek Theories of Elementary Cognition_; G. van Lyng,
_Om den Kyrenaiske skole_ (Christiania, 1868); and general ethical
text-books.

CYRENE [mod. _Ain Shahat-Grenna_], the original capital of ancient Cyrenaica (q.v.) and one of the greatest of Greek colonies. The Theraean story of its foundation, as told by Herodotus, runs thus. Battus (whose true Greek name seems to have been Aristoteles), a native of Thera (Santorin), itself a Laconian colony, was bidden by the Delphic oracle, if he wished to put an end to domestic dissensions, to lead a portion of the citizens to Libya and build a city in a "place between waters." (For other stories see BATTUS.) By this he understood an island, and therefore established his followers on the barren islet of Platea in the gulf of Bomba. The colony being unsuccessful made further application to the oracle and was bidden to transfer itself to the mainland. The Libyan barbarians reported that a fertile and well-watered district lay to the west and were induced to act as guides. They brought the Greeks through forests to high ground from various points of which issued springs, and Battus, recognizing "a place between waters," began to build. This was in the middle of the 7th century B.C.

The result was Cyrene, so called (it was said) from a local nymph, who has been shown by Studniczka to have been a Nature goddess, like the Greek Artemis. The point first occupied was probably the hill above the "Apollo" fountain on the west; and there was erected the fortress-palace of the Battiadae, who continued to rule the colony for eight generations. The neighbouring Libyans were conciliated and given a position similar to that of Laconian _perioeci_, and intermarriage between them and Greeks became so frequent that the colony rapidly assumed a somewhat hybrid character, and while being one of the centres of Hellenic culture, showed barbarian characteristics of violence and luxury. Battus I. reigned c. 630 to 590 B.C. and was succeeded by his son Arcesilaus (c. 590-574) of whom nothing is known. The kings henceforth bore alternately the names Battus and Arcesilaus, of which the first is said to be simply the native Libyan word for "king": the latter is, of course, Greek. This fact suggests that some compromise with the natives had been come to, resulting, perhaps, in an alternation of the supreme office. Under Battus II. (570 B.C.?) a fresh band of settlers was invited from Greece, and the colony tended to become henceforth more maritime and democratic. Its port, Apollonia (Marsa Susa), now rose to importance: and a second (winter) port was created at Naustathmos (Marsa Hilal) about 15 m. E. behind a sheltering cape. Fine roads were cut through the rock connecting these harbours with the capital. Trouble followed, however, with the Libyans, who saw themselves robbed in favour of the new settlers, and they called in Egyptian help; but the force sent by Apries was defeated near the spring Theste, and presently Amasis of Egypt made peace and took a Battiad princess to wife. Under Arcesilaus II. (c. 560-550) domestic dissensions and Libyan revolt led to the founding of a rival inland city, Barca, and a severe defeat and massacre. These misfortunes, coupled with the fact that Battus III. was thought to have disgraced the house by his lameness, prompted the Cyrenaeans to send to Delphi for more advice, and as a result Demonax of Mantinea arrived as arbitrator and framed a constitution limiting the monarchy and dividing the citizens tribally according to the date of their settlement and their place of origin. Further attempts of the Battiadae (e.g. of Pheretima, wife of Battus III., and Arcesilaus his son) to annul this constitution, and bitter family dissensions, brought about a Persian invasion and finally the extinction of the dynasty about 450 B.C. A republic of more or less Spartan type succeeded, but it was often interrupted by tyrannies; and having made submission by embassy to Alexander in 331, Cyrene passed under Ptolemaic domination ten years later. From this epoch dates a decline which was due to economic causes (see CYRENAICA) and to the Ptolemaic policy of favouring easily controlled harbour-towns rather than an inland place like Cyrene, whose ancient factions still continued to give trouble under the earlier Ptolemies. Apollonia and Berenice gradually superseded Cyrene and Barca respectively, being more in touch with Greece and less exposed to the hostile nomad Libyans, who increased in boldness and power: but Cyrene continued to be a great city after it had passed to Rome (96 B.C.), and up to the reign of Trajan, when a Jewish revolt and the repressive measures taken by the imperial government dealt it an irreparable blow. Ere Christianity became the religion of the empire, it was largely a ruin, and henceforward to the epoch of Arab conquest (A.D. 641) its Greek life gradually deserted it for Apollonia. At its acme Cyrene is said to have had over 100,000 inhabitants. It was noted among the ancients for its intellectual life. Its medical school was famous, and it numbered among its celebrities Callimachus the poet, Carneades, the founder of the New Academy at Athens, Aristippus, a pupil of Socrates and the founder of the so-called Cyrenaics (q.v.), Eratosthenes the polyhistor, and Synesius, one of the most elegant of the ancient Christian writers.

The first account of the site in modern times seems to be that of M. le Maire, who was French consul at Tripoli from 1703 to 1708, and twice visited Cyrene. Paul Lucas was there in 1710, and again in 1723, and Dr Thomas Shaw in 1738; an Italian, Dr A. Cervelli, who was there in 1812, furnished some information to the Societe de Geographie of Paris; and P. Della Cella published an account of his visit, made in 1817. In 1821-1822 important explorations were made by Lieutenant F. W. Beechey, R.N.; and he was almost immediately followed by a French artist, M. J. R. Pacho, whose pencil preserved a number of interesting monuments that have since disappeared. L. Delaporte, French consul at Tangier, and Vattier de Bourville come next in order of time. H. Barth, the famous African traveller, published an account of his investigations in his _Wanderungen durch die Kustenlander des Mittelmeers_, 1849, and James Hamilton, who was there in 1851, described the place in his _Wanderings in N. Africa_. In 1861 excavations were made on behalf of the British Museum by Lieuts. R. Murdoch Smith, R.E., and E. A. Porcher, R.N., the results of which are detailed in their valuable _Discoveries in Cyrene_ (London, 1864). Since that date, owing to the increase of Senussi influence, and the consequent fears of the Ottoman authorities, the site has been very seldom visited. The Italians, M. Camperio and G. Haimann, leading commercial missions, were there in the eighties, and Mr H. W. Blundell succeeded with a special _firman_ and a strong escort in reaching the place in 1895, but had trouble with the local Senussi Arabs. The prohibition of travel became thereafter more stringent, and it has only been overcome by a party from Mr A. V. Armour's yacht "Utowana," which marched up from Marsa Susa in April 1904, and stayed one night. They found some fifty families of Cretan refugees established at Ain Shahat and a _mudir_ with a small guard on the spot: but no inhabited houses, except the Senussi convent and the _mudiria_. Cretans and Arabs live in the ancient rock-tombs. An Italian senator, Chev. G. de Martino, with two Italian residents at Derna, passed through the place in 1907, and found it in Bedouin hands.

The site lies on the crest of the highland of Jebel Akhdar (about 1800 ft.) and 10 m. from the sea. The ground slopes very gradually south, and being entirely denuded of trees, makes good corn land. The northward slope falls more steeply in a succession of shelves, covered here and there with forest. Ravines surround the site on three sides, and there are at least four springs in its area, of which one, having great volume, has been at all times the attraction and focus of the place. This is the so-called "Fount of Apollo," which issues from a tunnel artificially enlarged, and once faced with a portico. The acropolis was immediately above this on the W., and the main entrance of the city, through which came the sacred processions, passed it. The remains of Cyrene itself are enclosed by a wall having a circuit of about 4 m., of which little remains but the foundations and fragments of two towers; but tombs and isolated structures extend far outside this area. The local Arabs say it takes them six camel-hours to go from one end to the other of the ruins, which they call generally "_Grenna_" (i.e. Kyrenna). Within the city itself not very much is now to be seen. Below the Apollo fountain on the N. lie a great theatre and the substructures of the main temple of Apollo, both included now in the Senussi convent garden. Above the fountain and by the main road is a smaller theatre. On the E., upon the crown of the plateau, are the sites on which Smith and Porcher placed temples of Bacchus, Venus and Augustus, but they are marked only by rubbish heaps. Remains of a large Byzantine church and a much ruined stadium lie to S.E. On the S. are immense covered tanks of Roman date, with remains of the aqueducts which supplied them. On the W. a fine fragment of a tower, the fortifications of the acropolis, and a pedestal sculptured on four sides in good 3rd century style, are the only things worth seeing. The Cretan occupation is fast obliterating other traces. The great spectacle, however, which distinguishes the site of Cyrene, is provided by its cemeteries, which for extent, variety and preservation are unparalleled in the classic lands. There is one along each of the approaches to the main gates, but the largest and most splendid lies by the Apollonian road which winds by easy curves up the northern buttresses of the plateau. Here the sepulchres rise in tiers one above the other along fully a mile of the way. The most important have pillared facades, Doric, Ionic, and even a hybrid mixture of both orders. Within, they open out either into large halls, leading one out of another with graves in recesses and pits in the floor; or into rock corridors lined with _loculi_, disposed one above another like pigeon holes. Most of the wall paintings, seen by Beechey and Pacho, have perished or become black with the smoke of troglodytes' fires; but one tomb below the road at about the middle of the cemetery still retains its decoration comparatively fresh, and seems to be that specially described by Smith and Porcher. The scenes are agonistic, i.e. represent funeral games, in which both white and black persons take part, the latter doubtless Libyan _perioeci_: but all wear Greek garments. Several tombs are inscribed and on some external paintings are still faintly visible. The commonest type of grave is a simple pit covered by a gabled lid. These occur by hundreds. But not all the sepulchres are rock-cut: altar tombs and other forms of _heroa_ are found built upon plinths of rock. All visible tombs have long ago been violated, but it is probable that there are others still virgin under the _talus_ of the hill side. To discover these and determine the topography of the city, excavation is urgently needed.

Many historical and artistic questions concerning Cyrene remain unsettled, but since the discoveries made in Laconia in 1908, the much disputed "Cyrenaic ware" has been ascribed to Sparta. A good deal of Cyrenaic sculpture, all of comparatively late date, was sent to the British Museum by Smith and Porcher. Nothing has yet been found on the site belonging to the great age of the city's independence, the fine vases sent to the British Museum in 1864, by Mr G. Dennis, having been discovered not there, but near Berenice (Bengazi). The latter site, with Ptolemais and Apollonia, has supplied most of the antiquities found latterly in Cyrenaica.

See authorities for CYRENAICA, and F. Studniczka, _Kyrene, eine
alt-griechische Gottin_ (1890). (D. G. H.)

CYRIL (c. 315-386), bishop of Jerusalem, where he was probably born, was ordained a presbyter in 345, and had the instruction of the catechumens entrusted to him. In 350 he was elevated to the see of Jerusalem, and became deeply involved in the dogmatic controversies of his time. His metropolitan, Acacius of Caesarea, inclined to Arianism, while Cyril strongly espoused the Nicene creed and was, in consequence, deposed for a time. On the death of the emperor Constantine he was restored; but on the accession of Valens, an Arian emperor, he had once more to resign his post till the accession of Theodosius permitted him to return finally in peace in 379. He attended the second oecumenical council held at Constantinople in 381, where he was received with grateful acclamations for his sufferings in defence of orthodoxy. Cyril was even more conspicuous as a pastor than as a controversialist, and this is seen in his one important work--his twenty-three addresses to catechumens delivered in A.D. 348. The first eighteen of these were meant for candidates for baptism; they deal with general topics like repentance and faith, and then expound in detail the baptismal creed of the Jerusalem church. The remaining five addresses were spoken to the newly-baptized in Easter week and explain the mysteries and ritual of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist. These lectures are said to be "the first example of a popular compend of religion," and are particularly interesting for the insight which they give us both into the creed-forms of the early church and the various ceremonies of initiation constituting baptism in the 4th century. The evidence which Cyril supplies as to the Jerusalem use is supplemented by the _S. Silviae peregrinatio_, dating from about a generation later. Other tracts and homilies have been ascribed to Cyril of Jerusalem, but they are of doubtful genuineness.

EDITIONS.--A. A. Touttee (Paris, 1720); W. C. Reischl and J. Rupp
(Munich, 1848-1860); Migne, _Patrol. Graeca._ xxxiii. Translation:
_Catecheses_ ("Oxford Library of Fathers," vol. ii.). See
Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyk._ (Forster); Delacroix, _St C. de Jerus., sa
vie et ses oeuvres_ (Paris, 1865).

CYRIL (376-444), bishop of Alexandria, a more distinguished father of the church than his namesake of Jerusalem, was born in 376, and died in 444. Becoming patriarch of Alexandria about 412, he soon made himself known by the violence of his zeal against Jews, pagans and heretics or supposed heretics alike. He had hardly entered upon his office when he closed all the churches of the Novatians and seized their ecclesiastical effects. He assailed the Jewish synagogues with an armed force, drove the Jews in thousands from the city, and exposed their houses and property to pillage. The prefect of Egypt, Orestes, who endeavoured to withstand his furious zeal, was in turn denounced himself, and had difficulty in maintaining his ground against the fury of the Christian multitude. It was during one of the violent commotions kindled by the strifes of these parties in Alexandria that the illustrious Hypatia, famed for her beauty and her eloquent advocacy of the Neo-Platonic philosophy in opposition to Christianity, was murdered. Her murder has been attributed to the direct instigation of the patriarch himself; but this charge is held to be baseless by others, although there can be no doubt that "the perpetrators were officers of his church," and undoubtedly drew encouragement from his own violent proceedings. Hypatia was a friend of Orestes, and the hostility that existed betwixt the prefect and the patriarch overflowed towards her, and undoubtedly led to her destruction.

But Cyril's violence was not merely confined to those who might be considered enemies of the church. He inherited from Theophilus, his uncle and predecessor in the see of Alexandria, a strong aversion to John Chrysostom, the noble bishop of Constantinople, and even after his death opposed for a time all attempts to remove the unjust sentence of condemnation which had been passed upon him. Afterwards he so far yielded to remonstrances as to allow the name of Chrysostom to appear in the list of distinguished martyrs and bishops mentioned in the prayers of his church. These names were inserted in what were called "diptychs" ([Greek: diptycha nekron]), or two-leaved tablets preserved in the churches--a usage which the Greek Church has continued to this day.

Cyril thus represents--though he differs largely from his predecessors--the tendencies dominant at Alexandria in the 5th century, and their antagonism to the Antiochene school. The story of his opposition to Nestorius at the council of Ephesus in 431 is told elsewhere (see NESTORIUS). He himself incurred the charge of heresy from the oriental bishops. Satisfied, however, with the deprivation and exile of his opponent, he returned to Alexandria in triumph as the great champion of the faith, and thence continued, by the "unscrupulous use of all the means at his command," the theological strife for years. He was a bitter opponent of the great Antiochene expositor and apologist Theodoret.

Altogether Cyril presents a character not only unamiable, but singularly deficient in the graces of the Christian life. His style of writing is as objectionable as his character and spirit. Yet he takes high rank as a dogmatic theologian, and those who seek precise and rigid definitions of orthodox belief conjoined with tenacity of conviction find him indispensable. In addition to his _Twelve Anathematisms_ and the defence of the same, he wrote five other books against Nestorius, _Thesaurus_--a treatise in dialogue form on the Trinity, a book _On the Right Way_ and another _On the Incarnation_. In other fields--mystical, exegetical and apologetical--he was equally prolific and forceful. He wrote a tract "On worshipping in spirit and in truth" to defend a spiritual interpretation of the Mosaic law, several commentaries, festival-orations, and a reply to the emperor Julian's attack on the church. His letters are valuable sources to the student of the Nestorian controversy.

LITERATURE.--The collected edition of J. Aubert (Paris, 1638) formed
the basis of Migne's reprint in vols. 68-77 of the _Patr. Graec._ Many
of the writings have been edited separately (see bibliography in
Herzog-Hauck). For an account of his career and position in the
history of dogma, see A. Harnack, vols. iii. and iv. _passim_; O.
Bardenhewer's _Patrologie_ (Freiburg, 1894), pp. 335-343; R. L.
Ottley's _Doctrine of the Incarnation_, ii. 80 ff.; A. Largent's
_Etudes d'hist. eccles.; St Cyrille d'Alexandrie et le concile
d'Ephese_ (Paris, 1892). See also Charles Kingsley's romance
_Hypatia_.

CYRIL (827-869), apostle of the Slavs, amongst whom he worked in conjunction with his elder brother Methodius (q.v.). Tradition says that while in the Khazar country (where he combated Jewish and Mahommedan influence) he found at Kherson the remains of Clement of Rome, which he bore with him wherever he went, finally depositing them at Rome in 867. His name is associated with the invention of the modified (Cyrillic) form of the Greek alphabet, which largely superseded the ancient Slavonic characters.

CYRILLIC, the alphabet used by the Orthodox Slavs. It is modelled on the Greek Liturgical Uncial of the 9th century, and its invention is traditionally, though in all probability wrongly, ascribed to the Greek missionary Cyril (d. 869). For an account of its origin and development, with a table of its letters, see Slavs.

CYRILLUS, Greek jurist of the 5th century, was professor in the ancient law college of Berytus, and one of the founders of the oecumenical school of jurists ([Greek: tes oikoumenes didaskaloi]) which preceded the succession of Anastasius to the Eastern empire (A.D. 491), and paved the way for Justinian's legislation. His reputation as a teacher of law was very great; and from the fragments of his works which have been preserved it may be inferred that his merit as a teacher consisted in his going direct to the ancient sources of law, and in interpreting the best writers, such as the commentary of Ulpian on the edict and the Responsa Papiniani. He wrote a treatise on definitions ([Greek: hupomnema ton dephiniton]), in which, according to a statement of his contemporary Patricius, the subject of contracts was treated with superior precision and great method, and which has supplied the materials for many important scholia appended to the first and second titles of the eleventh book of the Basilica. He is generally styled "the great," to distinguish him from a more modern jurist of the same name, who lived after the reign of Justinian, and who compiled an epitome of the Digest.

CYRTO-STYLE (Gr. [Greek: kyrtos], convex, and [Greek: stylos], column), in architecture, a circular projecting portico with columns; like those of the transept entrances of St Paul's cathedral and the western entrance of St Mary-le-Strand, London.

CYRUS (Gr. [Greek: Kyros]; Pers. _Kuru-sh_; Babyl. _Kurash_; Hebr. _Koresh_), the Latinized form of a Persian name borne by two prominent members of the Achaemenid house.

1. CYRUS THE GREAT, the founder of the Persian empire, was the son of Cambyses I. His family belonged to the clan of the Achaemenidae--in the inscription on the pillars and columns of the palace of Pasargadae (Murghab) he says: "I am Cyrus the king, the Achaemenid"--the principal clan ([Greek: phretre]) of the Persian tribe of the Pasargadae (q.v.). But in his proclamation to the Babylonians (V.R. 35; Sir H. Rawlinson, _Journal of the R. Asiat. Soc._, n.s., xii., 1880; Schrader, _Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek_, iii. 2, 120 ff.; Hagen, in Delitzsch and Haupt, _Beitrage zur Assyriologie_, ii., 1894, where the chronicle of Nabonidus is also published anew with a much improved translation) he calls his ancestors, Teispes, Cyrus I. and Cambyses I., "kings of Anshan," and the same title is given to him in the inscriptions and in the chronicle of Nabonidus of Babylon before his victory over Astyages. Anshan is a district of Elam or Susiana, the exact position of which is still subject to much discussion. As we know from Jeremiah xlix. 34 ff. (cf. Ezekiel xxxii. 24 ff.) that the Elamites suffered a heavy defeat in 596 B.C., it is very probable that the Pasargadian dynast Teispes conquered Anshan in this year. Modern authors have often supposed that Cyrus and his ancestors were in reality Elamites; but this is contrary to all tradition, and there can be no doubt that Cyrus was a genuine Persian and a true believer in the Zoroastrian religion. In Herodotus vii. 11 the genealogy of Cyrus is given in exactly the same way as in the proclamation of Cyrus himself; Teispes is called here the son of the eponym Achaemenes.

The Pasargadian kings of Anshan were vassals of the Median empire. Their kingdom cannot have been of large extent, as Nabonidus in a contemporary inscription (Cylinder from Abu Habba, VR. 64, Schrader, _Keilinschriftl. Bibliothek_, iii. 2, 96), where he mentions his rebellion against Astyages, calls Cyrus "king of Anshan, his (i.e. Astyages') small servant (vassal)." From this inscription we learn that the rebellion of Cyrus (who seems to have become king in 558 B.C., as Herod. i. 214 gives him a reign of 29 years) began in 553 B.C., and from the annals that in 550 Astyages marched against Cyrus, but was defeated; his troops revolted against him, he was taken prisoner, and Cyrus occupied and plundered Ecbatana. The relation of Ctesias (preserved by Nic. Dam. fr. 66; Anaximenes of Lampsacus in Steph. Byz. s.v. [Greek: Pasargadai], Strabo xv. p. 729; Polyaen. vii. 6. 1, 9, 45. 2) that Cyrus was three times beaten by Astyages and that the decisive battle took place in the mountains of Pasargadae, is certainly in the main historical although Herodotus (i. 127 ff.) only mentions the treason of the Median general Harpagus and the defeat and captivity of Astyages. In the rebellion the Persian tribes of the Maraphians and Maspians joined the Pasargadae (Herod. i. 125), while the other tribes appear not to have acknowledged Cyrus till after his victory (see PERSIS). From then he calls himself "king of the Persians."

The history of Cyrus very soon became involved and quite overgrown with legends. Herodotus (i. 95) tells us that he knew four different traditions about him. One makes him the son of Mandane, a daughter of Astyages (originally evidently by a god), who is exposed in the mountains by his grandfather on account of an oracle, but suckled by a dog (a sacred animal of the Iranians) and educated by a shepherd; i.e. the myth which we know from the stories of Oedipus, Perseus, Telephus, Pelias and Neleus, Romulus, Sargon of Agade, Moses, the Indian hero Krishna, and many others, has been transferred to the founder of the Persian empire. At the same time, the rule of Cyrus and the Persians is legitimated by his family connexion with Astyages. This account is partly preserved in Justin i. 4. 10 (probably from Charon of Lampsacus) and in Aelian, _Var. Hist._ xiv. 42, and alluded to by Herodotus i. 95 and 122. The second account, which Herodotus follows, is a rationalized version of the first, where the dog is changed into a woman (the wife of the shepherd) named Spako (bitch). In the later part of his story Herodotus is dependent on the family traditions of Harpagus, whose treason is justified by the cruelty with which Astyages had treated him (the story of Atreus and Thyestes is transferred to them). Harpagus afterwards stood in high favour with Cyrus, and commanded the army which subdued the coasts of Asia Minor; his family seems to have been settled in Lycia. In a third version, preserved from Ctesias in Nicolaus Damasc. p. 66 (cf. Dinon ap. Athen. xiv. 633 C), Cyrus is the son of a poor Mardian bandit Atradates (the Mardians are a nomadic Persian tribe, Herod. i. 125), who comes as a voluntary slave to the court of Astyages, and finds favour with the king. A Chaldaean sage prophesies to him his future greatness, and another Persian slave, Oebares, becomes his associate. He flies to Persia, evades the pursuers whom Astyages sends after him, and begins the rebellion. After the victory Oebares kills Astyages against the will of Cyrus, and afterwards kills himself to evade the wrath of Cyrus. Parts of this story are preserved also in Strabo xv. p. 729, and Justin i. 6. 1-3; 7. 1; cf. Ctesias _ap._ Photium 2-7; many traces of it were afterwards transferred to the story of Ardashir I. (q.v.), the founder of the Sassanid empire. With this version Ctesias and Nicolaus have connected another, in which Cyrus is the son of a Persian shepherd who lives at Pasargadae, and fights the decisive battle at this place. The didactic novel of Xenophon, the _Cyropaedia_, is a free invention adapted to the purposes of the author, based upon the account of Herodotus and occasionally influenced by Ctesias, without any independent traditional element. The account of Aeschylus, _Pers._ 765 ff., is a mixture of Greek traditions with a few oriental elements; here the first king is Medos (the Median empire); his nameless son is succeeded by Cyrus, a blessed ruler, beloved by the gods, who gave peace to all his friends and conquered Lydia, Phrygia, Ionia. Then comes his nameless son, then Mardos (i.e. Smerdis, to whom the name of the Mardians is transferred) who is killed by Artaphrenes (i.e. Artaphernes, Herod. iii. 78, one of the associates of Darius), then Maraphis (eponym of the Maraphian tribe), then another Artaphrenes, then Darius.

The principal events of the later history of Cyrus are in the main correctly stated by Herodotus, although his account contains many legendary traditions. The short excerpt from Ctesias, which Photius has preserved, contains useful information, although we must always mistrust him. Of great value are a short notice in the fragments of Berossus and another in the Old Testament. The original sources are very scanty, besides the cylinder containing his proclamation to the Babylonians we possess only a great many dated private documents from Babylon. These serve to fix the chronology, which is here as everywhere quite in accordance with the dates of the canon of Ptolemy.

Soon after the conquest of the Median empire, Cyrus was attacked by a coalition of the other powers of the East, Babylon, Egypt and Lydia, joined by Sparta, the greatest military power of Greece. In the spring of 546 Croesus of Lydia began the attack and advanced into Cappadocia, while the other powers were still gathering their troops. But Cyrus anticipated them; he defeated Croesus and followed him to his capital. In the autumn of 546 Sardis was taken and the Lydian kingdom became a province of the Persians. The famous story of Herodotus, that the conqueror condemned Croesus to the stake, from which he was saved by the intervention of the gods, is quite inconsistent with the Persian religion (see CROESUS).

During the next years the Persian army under Harpagus suppressed a rebellion of the Lydians under Pactyas, and subjugated the Ionian cities, the Carians and the Lycians (when the town Xanthus resisted to the utmost). The king of Cilicia (Syennesis) voluntarily acknowledged the Persian supremacy. Why the war with Babylon, which had become inevitable, was delayed until 539, we do not know. Here too Cyrus in a single campaign destroyed a mighty state. The army of Nabonidus was defeated; Babylon itself attempted no resistance, but surrendered on the 16th Tishri (10th of October) 539, to the Persian general Gobryas (_Gaubaruva_, see the chronicle of the reign of Nabonidus; the name Gobryas is preserved also by Xenophon, _Cyrop._ vii. 4. 24); it is possible that the Chaldaean priests, who were hostile to Nabonidus, betrayed the town. In a proclamation issued after his victory Cyrus guarantees life and property to all the inhabitants and designates himself as the favourite of Marduk, the great local god (Bel, Bel-Merodak) of Babel. It is very odd that modern authors have considered this proclamation as inconsistent with the Zoroastrian creed.