Chapter XIX

Historical Sketch of Cyrene — Its Foundation by a Lacedemonian Colony — Dynasty of the Battiades, or Family of Battus — Cession of the Country to Ptolemy Lagus — And afterwards to the Romans by Apion, the last of the Ptolemies who possessed it — Cyrene becomes a Roman Province, and is united in one Government with Crete — Illustrious Persons who were natives of Cyrene — Tenets of the Sect of Philosophers termed Cyrenaic — Decay of the City, and its final Desertion in Christian times after the Transfer of the Bishopric to Ptolemeta — Return of the Expedition to Bengazi, and its subsequent Departure for Malta.

We learn from Herodotus, that Battus, a native of Thera, in compliance with the injunctions of the Oracle at Delphi, first landed with a party of his countrymen in Platæa; an island lying close to the northern coast of Africa, and supposed to be that which is at present called Bomba. Here he built a city; and after a lapse of two years proceeded again to Delphi, in order to consult the Pythia (or priestess) with respect to his future proceedings.

The new establishment appearing to be insufficient for the fulfilment of the deity’s instructions, Battus removed his colony to Aziris, a part of the continent opposite to Platæa, and described by the historian as a most delightful spot. In this new abode they remained for six years; and on the seventh, (by the advice of the Libyan tribes in their neighbourhood, who promised to conduct them to a much better place,) removed to the high ground then called Irasa, on which they built the city of Cyrene, about the third year, according to Eusebius, of the thirty-seventh Olympiad. We find little more worth relating of Battus, except, perhaps, that he lost the impediment in his speech, for which he had originally consulted the oracle, in the following extraordinary manner. As he wandered abroad one day unattended, a lion sprung very unexpectedly upon him; and the cry of surprise and dismay which he uttered so terrified the monarch of the woods, that he fled with the utmost precipitation. At the same moment Battus discovered that he had lost the infirmity under which he had laboured; for the sudden exertion of voice just alluded to had taken it effectually away. After a reign of forty years, Battus was succeeded by his son Arcesilaus, of whom little further is known, than that he reigned for sixteen years. During these two reigns, no accession appears to have been made to the numbers of the original colony; under Battus the third, however, who was distinguished by the appellation of Ευδαιμων, (the prosperous,) another migration took place from Greece; and the lands already occupied not being sufficient for the accommodation of the new colonists, an inroad was made upon the territory of the Libyan inhabitants, and one of their chiefs, whom Herodotus calls Adicran, was deprived of a considerable part of his dominions.

The Libyans applied for support to the Egyptians; and Apries, who at that time reigned over Egypt, (and is supposed to be the Pharaoh Hophra of Scripture,) despatched a large army to their assistance. The Cyreneans, aware of the approach of their invaders, drew up their forces at Irasa, near the fountain called by Herodotus Theste; and the Egyptians were routed with a loss so considerable, that few of them escaped to bear the tale of their defeat[1]. In the reign of Arcesilaus the third, who succeeded the last-mentioned Battus, dissensions appear to have taken place among the colonists, and the brothers of the king abjured his authority, and left Cyrene with their followers. After some consultation among themselves with respect to their future proceedings, they are said by Herodotus to have founded the city of Barca, and established themselves in that part of the country.

Not content with this measure, the founders of Barca endeavoured to gain over the Libyan tribes to their party, and to stir up dissensions between them and the Cyreneans, in which they partially succeeded; Arcesilaus, in consequence, made war upon both, and the Libyans, either fearing to meet him in the field, or wishing to draw the Cyreneans from their heights to attack them with more advantage in the plains, retreated to the eastward, and joined the native tribes which occupied the country between Cyrene and Egypt. Here they were imprudently followed by the king, and an engagement took place, in which the Cyreneans were defeated, and seven thousand of their heavy-armed troops were left dead upon the field of battle. The consequences of this defeat were fatal to Arcesilaus; for soon after his return to Cyrene he was strangled by his brother Learchus, when disabled by weakness resulting from indisposition; the murderer, however, did not long survive him, for he was himself put to death by means of a stratagem, concerted, we are told, by Eryxo, the wife of Arcesilaus, who revenged in this manner the loss of her husband. To Arcesilaus succeeded another Battus, who is said by Herodotus to have been lame; and in his reign ambassadors were sent to Mantinea (according to the advice of the Oracle), to entreat the mediation of the Arcadians, in the disputes which had already been the cause of so much bloodshed. Demonax was in consequence selected by the Mantineans, a person highly respected for his probity; who, on arriving at Cyrene, divided the Greeks into three separate classes, according to the countries from which they originally came, and gave them a new form of government, which continued in force during Battus’ reign. The son of this Battus, however, Arcesilaus, refused to acknowledge the new constitution, by which many privileges of the former kings of Cyrene had been transferred to the body of the people. Insurrections of the populace took place in consequence, and Arcesilaus was obliged to take refuge in Samos, while his mother, Pheretime, went over to Cyprus, in order to implore the assistance of Euelthon, who reigned at that time in the island. The suppliant queen was received with great courtesy, and Euelthon made her several valuable presents; but Pheretime, while expressing her thanks for these attentions, suggested that an army, which might accompany her to Cyrene, and avenge the wrongs which her family and herself had sustained from the people of the city, would be a much more desirable gift. Euelthon, however, adhered to the line of conduct by which he had hitherto been regulated, which was that of a strict neutrality; and sent the queen a distaff and spindle of gold, assuring her that he was acting with much more consideration towards a female, in making her a similar offering, than if he had presented her with an army. Arcesilaus, in this interval, had collected an army in Samos; and went to Delphi to consult the Oracle on the probable consequence of his return to Cyrene. The answer was, as usual, mysterious; and predicted his death if certain events should take place which he was enjoined to avoid; at the same time he was advised to return to his dominions, and adopt conciliatory measures.

On recovering his possessions, Arcesilaus neglected the prudent advice of the Pythia, and commenced a vigorous persecution of those whose revolt had occasioned his flight from Cyrene. Some of them contrived to escape his resentment; but a party of the fugitives who had taken refuge in a tower, were burnt there by order of the king, who caused his people to set fire to the building. In this act, one of the injunctions had been neglected, on observing which the life of Arcesilaus depended; and he was afterwards assassinated in the market-place at Barca, together with Alazir, the king of the place, whose daughter he had taken for his wife. The queen Pheretime had established her son’s authority in Cyrene; but on hearing of his death, she fled immediately to Egypt, and persuaded Aryandes, who at that time commanded there as viceroy of Darius Hystaspis, to march an army against the Barceans. Before proceeding to extremities, Aryandes despatched a messenger to the people of Barca, desiring to be informed, if they really had been guilty of the death of Arcesilaus. On their acknowledging the act, he set his army in motion, and gave the command of it to Amasis, while a fleet at the same time was entrusted to Badres, and both proceeded to take vengeance of the assassins. After a long and ineffectual siege, Barca was entered by treachery: and Amasis, who had passed his word to spare the lives of the Barceans, gave them over to the vengeance of Pheretime; by whom all who were concerned in the murder of her son were put to death in the most inhuman manner. The city was plundered by the Persian army, and the lives and property of those persons only were respected, who had been averse to the murder of Arcesilaus.

Their object accomplished, the Persians returned to Egypt[2], leaving Barca, by desire of Pheretime, in possession of those who had been spared for their adherence to the family of Battus. The cruelties of Pheretime were visited upon her as those of Herod were afterwards punished; for we are told that she was eaten alive by worms, and died in the greatest torments.

The account which has descended to us of Cyrene and Barca, (with that of the various tribes of Northern Africa,) from the pen of the father of history, concludes with the death of Pheretime; which is believed by Herodotus to have been a judgment of the gods for the cruelties of which she had been guilty.

From this time the Cyreneans as well as the Libyans, with whom they appear to have been intermixed, are little alluded to in history till the conquest of the Persian empire. We are informed by Aristotle that, in his time, Cyrene was a republic; and we may perhaps suppose that, on the extinction of the family of Battus, that form of government took place which had been recommended by Demonax; although the Cyreneans may possibly have been tributary to, or under the protection of, Persia. At the period when the dispute concerning the limits of the countries took place between the people of Cyrene and Carthage, we may presume, from the account transmitted of it by Sallust, that democracy was the established form of government at Cyrene; and Strabo has informed us, that the Cyreneans continued to be governed by their own laws, till the reduction of Egypt by the Macedonians. After the death of Alexander, Cyrene became the prey of contending adventurers, and was at length delivered into the hands of Ptolemy by Ophellas; although that general is supposed to have obtained for himself the sovereignty of at least a part of the country. Magas, the brother of Ptolemy Lagus, reigned in Cyrene for fifty years; and it continued to be a part of the empire of the Ptolemies, some of whom resided there at different periods, till it was made over by his father to Apion, an illegitimate son of Ptolemy Physcon, who left it in his will to the Romans. The senate accepted the bequest, but allowed the several cities to be governed by their own laws; and the country was in consequence a prey to civil discord, and exposed to the tyranny and violence of many rival pretenders to supremacy. Lucullus in some measure restored tranquillity, when he visited it during the first Mithridatic war; but the evil was never finally removed till the whole of the Cyrenaica was reduced to the form of a Roman province. This event happened about twenty years after the death of Apion, and seventy-six before the birth of Christ: we find the country afterwards, in the time of Strabo, united with Crete in one government.

The most flourishing period of Cyrene was probably that of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and of the two or three centuries which preceded it; an epoch when Grecian art was in the highest perfection, and literature in great estimation.

At the time when the city, on account of an insurrection, was destroyed by the Roman people (who afterwards, however, rebuilt it,) it is probable that the temples were spared; for the architectural remains of those which we have described are decidedly Greek of an early style; and the same may be observed with respect to many of the tombs, although in these we may find examples of architecture in the style of many different periods.

Philosophy and literature were diligently cultivated at Cyrene; which gave birth to Aristippus, the founder of the sect distinguished by the name of Cyrenaic, and to many other celebrated men; among whom we may reckon Callimachus and Eratosthenes, Aristippus the younger, Anniceris, Carneades, &c.

The philosophy of Aristippus appears to have inculcated, that the soul has two particular motions, or sensations,—those of pain and pleasure; that all pleasures are alike; and that virtue is only to be esteemed inasmuch as it conduces to our gratification. Carneades denied that any thing could be perceived or understood in the world, and was the first philosopher who introduced an universal suspension of assent: he pretended to discover an uncertainty in the most self-evident notions; and vigorously opposed the doctrine of the stoics in his attempt to confute Chrysippus. When Carneades was sent as ambassador to Rome, with Diogenes the stoic, and Critolaus the peripatetic, he pronounced a very learned dissertation upon justice, which strongly convinced all his auditors of its value and importance in society: in another speech, however, the philosopher confuted all the arguments which he had established in his first discourse; and gave no existence at all to the virtue which he had just before strongly recommended. The Roman youth were so captivated with the eloquence and the reasoning powers of Carneades, that they are said, on this occasion, to have forgotten their usual amusements and thought of nothing else but philosophy. The effect produced upon the public mind was at all events so strong, that Cato the censor gave immediate audience to the Athenian ambassadors in the Senate; and dismissed them in haste, expressing his apprehension that they would corrupt the opinions of the Roman people[3].

Cyrene appears to have not long survived the introduction of Christianity into Northern Africa; for we find it described as—a mass of ruin—by Synesius, who lived in the time of Theodosius the younger. It is probable, that when the bishopric was transferred to Ptolemais, this once beautiful city no longer existed; and it is certain that the remains of Christian churches at Mersa Suza and Ptolemeta, (the Apollonia and Ptolemais of antiquity,) are superior in every respect to those which are found at Cyrene, and apparently of much more recent construction.

* * * * *

In returning from Cyrene to Bengazi, we proceeded by a different route from that which we had taken in approaching it; and passed through a country rich in vegetation, and producing abundance of grain; in which we observed frequent traces of building, particularly on the elevated spots of ground.

At Jenain, about two hours distance from Cyrene, we found two wells of excellent water, apparently of ancient construction; and observed remains of building on a rising ground adjoining, and some tombs excavated in the rock. An hour more, travelling along the brow of the ridge, brought us to Marábut Sidi Arāfi, the division between the territories of Derna and Bengazi. Here also we found several wells, and partial remains of building, which continued all the way along the road to Bĭrāsa, where their number considerably increased. This has evidently been an ancient site; and we have no doubt that the whole of the country, through which we this day travelled, was once very thickly inhabited. Traces of ancient pavement are continually met with on the road, which is occasionally flanked by ancient tombs, similar in construction to some of those at Cyrene, and every pass of importance has been fortified with towers of considerable strength[4].

At Wady Jeráhib the table land ceases, and a steep and somewhat perilous descent begins into the valley (or wady) here mentioned, down which we with difficulty conducted our horses. A strong fort on the right commands, or rather, formerly commanded the entrance on this side to the wady, and overlooks the country to a considerable extent. The sides of this ravine are quite perpendicular; and in some places more than five hundred feet high; they are filled with excavated caves, like those which we have described at Apollonia, and are entered by ropes in a similar manner, which are always very carefully drawn up after them by the inhabitants.

The road which leads along Wady Jeráhib winds for two hours through woods of pine-trees, some of which were two feet in diameter (the largest size we had hitherto seen in the country), and appear to be well adapted for spars. In the centre of the valley their naked trunks were lying (amongst heaps of stones, and other matter collected about them) in considerable numbers when we passed along it; and the bark of most of those trees which are standing has been worn away for several feet upwards. We may infer from these appearances, that in the rainy season the body of water which rushes along Wady Jeráhib must be very great; and to avoid the inconvenience to which travellers would in consequence have been exposed, we find the ancient road raised several feet above the actual level of the wady in other parts, and occasionally paved, and cut through the rock. At its western extremity, Wady Jeráhib opens out into a very spacious and beautiful, we may say without exaggeration, a magnificent valley: at the entrance of which are the remains of a very large fort, now called by the Arabs Belíggidem; the walls of this are still upwards of forty feet in height. Other valleys are seen from the fort, stretching out far into the blue horizon; and we looked on all sides over the tops of thick forests of pine, which covered the sides and the summit of the wadies, as far as the eye could reach. Belíggidem may be called a very good day’s journey from Cyrene, which would more frequently, indeed, be extended to a day and a half. The road from hence winds through a succession of wadies, and we found it to be very indifferent; till, after ascending a difficult hill, it brought us once more to Margàd,—a spot at which we had stopped for the night on our journey from Merge to Cyrene. From this place, our former conductor, Boo-Bukra, had turned off abruptly to the southward, in order to avoid passing through Bĕlĕnege (a part of the road which we had taken in returning), where he understood that the relations of two men whom he had killed were lying in wait for him. The party in advance had learnt this from an Arab at Bĕlĕnege; and it enabled us to account for the circuitous and difficult route along which Boo-Bukra had conducted us on our former journey. We had observed, that in addition to his musket and pistols, the usual arms of an Arab, he always carried a short carbine slung over his shoulder, which he never took off on any occasion; but were not at all aware of the difficulty of his situation, till we heard of the fact just mentioned. The change of route made a difference of two days to us, as nearly as we can recollect; but we do not regret the circumstance, since it enabled us to see a part of the country which we should not otherwise have had an opportunity of visiting. From Margàd we proceeded to Bogràta by the road which we had formerly taken, and from thence to Merge, where we found Bey Halil, for he had not been able to collect all his tribute. From Merge we descended to Ptolemeta, and joined Captain Beechey, who had arrived there the day before from Teuchira, having left Mr. Coffin at Bengazi, to make the necessary arrangements for our embarkation. We had arranged this meeting in order to complete the plans of both these places, which had been left somewhat unfinished in our eagerness to visit Cyrene. Three days were spent at Ptolemeta, and we then continued our journey to Teuchira, where we had no occasion to remain more than a single day, after which we proceeded to Bengazi[5].

On the 25th of July we had completed all our arrangements, and embarked the same afternoon for Malta.

We cannot close our account of the proceedings of the Expedition without expressing in a public manner our warmest thanks to the officers who accompanied us on our journey: the privations and hardships to which they were exposed might have reasonably drawn forth an occasional murmur; but these have always been patiently and cheerfully borne; and we have cause to be grateful, on many occasions, for services which have materially contributed to forward the objects, and facilitate the advance of the Expedition. To Lieutenant Coffin, in particular, who attached himself as a volunteer to our party, we feel ourselves under considerable obligations; and we should not do justice to the assiduity and regularity with which he kept the camel-track, mentioned above, if we did not state that it has enabled us to lay down the route with much greater precision than we could otherwise have attained to[6].

END OF THE NARRATIVE.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The whole of the table-land in the neighbourhood of Cyrene, as well as that upon which the city was built, may probably have been called Irasa, and the fountain of Theste may reasonably be imagined to have been that which we have formerly mentioned at Gobba, where remains of antiquity still exist. We are led to this conclusion, from the nature of the ground in the neighbourhood of the fountain in question; for it is there that the table-land ceases altogether, and the Cyrenaic range descends so abruptly as to be in most places inaccessible. We have mentioned the difficulty which we ourselves experienced in leading our horses down one of the passes near Derna, considered, of course, to be a practicable one; and can readily imagine the disadvantage which an army would labour under in having so formidable a barrier to surmount, as any of the passes alluded to would present; in front of an enemy whose lines were drawn up on the summit of the range, and on the edge of the ascent by which they were advancing.

This position in fact is one, of all others, which would naturally be selected as a line of defence against forces advancing from Derna and Egypt; and the Greeks would hardly have neglected to avail themselves of it, supposing them to be at all acquainted with the country, which can hardly be doubted at the period in question, after so long a residence on the mountain.]

[Footnote 2: This army is said by Herodotus to have penetrated farther to the westward; and the historian believes (what is extremely probable) that the Persians had views on other parts of Libya, besides that possessed by the people of Barca; and that the army of Amasis was intended to reconnoitre the country, if not to reduce it to subjection.]

[Footnote 3: Many pointed observations are recorded of Aristippus the elder, who appears to have possessed a very lively wit. He asked a certain person, who reproached him for having given a sumptuous entertainment—whether he would not have been equally hospitable if it would only have cost him three oboli? When the other replied in the affirmative, Aristippus observed, “It is you then, I find, who are fond of money, and not I of pleasure.” Dionysius once sent him three beautiful women, from which the philosopher was desired to select whichever pleased him most; but Aristippus retained them all three; observing that “Paris had greatly suffered by preferring one goddess to another.” When some one inquired what Aristippus would expect for the education of his son, he answered five hundred drachmas. “I can buy a slave,” replied the other, “for that money.” “Do so,” said Aristippus, “and then you will have two.”]

[Footnote 4: The name of Bĭrāsa will naturally suggest a resemblance between it and Irāsa, the country which is mentioned by Herodotus as that to which the Greeks were conducted by the natives of Libya. We do not mean to infer, that the place first mentioned has any other connexion with the territory upon which Cyrene was erected, than that which we are going to suggest; but if the affinity of the Arabic and Hebrew, or Chaldee, to the old Phœnician, or Samaritan language, (an early dialect of the Hebrew,) be really so great as is generally allowed, the two words in question may bear the same meaning without any forced application. The word _rās_ in Arabic, and in Hebrew, signifies a head; and the term is constantly applied by the Arabs to high and mountainous ground, whether inland or on the coast: land on the summit of a mountain may therefore be said to be—_bi-rās_—upon the head, or high ground; and _bi-rās-a_ would signify, in Arabic, as it does in the case of the territory in question—a tract of land on the upper part of a range of hills—and might be applied without any impropriety to a similar tract of land of whatever extent. It is not, perhaps, improbable that _rās_ had the same meaning among the Libyan tribes, (whom we may suppose to have spoken some dialect of the old Phœnician,) as it bears in Arabic and Hebrew; and that the particle _bi_ or _be_, was at the same time used by the Libyans, in the sense which belongs to it in those languages. Irāsa might then be supposed to mean a tract of table land; for the loss of the letter _b_ is of little importance, considering that the word comes through a Greek medium; and as the Greeks in the case alluded to were conducted from the low ground to the high, such an application is far from improbable. It is not, however, necessary for this application to insist upon the omission of the _b_; for the _i_ in Irāsa might well be a contraction of the article _el_ or _il_, signifying _the_, and _I-rāsa_ be pronounced for _el-rāsa_, which is consistent with the usual pronunciation of Arabic and other Oriental languages. The whole would then be taken for a part; and the country which the Greeks were recommended to inhabit, would be termed—the summit of the mountain—and in the Libyan dialect (let us suppose) Ir’rāsa, or Er’-rāsa.]

[Footnote 5: We have not been able to publish on this occasion (as we believe we have already stated) more than a limited number of plates; so that several to which we have referred have been unavoidably omitted. Some of the drawings, however, will appear in another publication, with others made in Egypt and Nubia; and in that we shall hope to find means of introducing the greater part of what has been omitted.]

[Footnote 6: The accuracy to which this method of computing distance may be brought, with proper attention, will be seen on referring to the Table, p. xliv. in the Appendix.]

=APPENDIX.=