ANCIENT GREEK THEATER/ ARISTOPHANES AND AESHYLUS

The word τραγῳδία,TRAGODIA, from which the word “TRAGEDY” is derived, is a compound of two Greek words: τράγος, tragos or “goat” and ᾠδή, ODE meaning “song”, from ἀείδειν, aeidein, ‘to sing’. This etymology indicates a link with the practices of the ancient DiONYSIAN CULTS. It is impossible, however, to know with certainty how these fertility rituals became the basis for tragedy and COMEDY

ARISTOPHANES

ARISTOPHANES(= ΑΡΙΣΤΟΦΑΝΗΣ,from the ancient Greek word ARISTOS meaning “NOBLIEST”, BEST and PHANES=ΦΑΝΗΣ, meaning to SHOW or to APPEAR born 445 BC, died 385 BC, was a Greek comedy writer from Athens.

Biography
Aristophanes spent his entire life in his native city: the external features of his life are otherwise unknown. His works show that he took the most lively interest in the turbulent political and cultural life of Athens during and after the Peloponnesian War.

Without losing its character as a burlesque carnival farce, comedy became for him a weapon in the service of conservative ideas. With unparalleled ruthlessness, he attacks both the war and great power policies of the Athenian democracy and the ideas that dissolve society and religion that he believes he can detect in contemporary literature and science.

Aristophanes’s style of poetry died with him. The newer “Attic comedy”, which has become the model for modern drama, was instead linked to Euripides’ drama of intrigue and character. Aristophanes’ strongly time-bound works have only sporadically exerted any influence on later poetry.[

A E S H Y L U S

AESHYLUS Aeschylus (born 525/524 bc—died 456/455 bc, Gela, Sicily/ Magna Greacia) was the first of classical Athens’ great dramatists, who raised the emerging art of tragedy to great heights of poetry and theatrical power.

Before Aeschylus, Greek tragedies consisted of a chorus and an actor who could play multiple roles. Aeschylus introduced a second actor, which allowed for more complex interactions and dialogue, and thus more drama between the characters.

Athenian playwright and “father of tragedy” who revolutionized Greek theater by introducing the second actor and raising the dramatic art to new heights of poetry and theatrical power. He participated in the Persian Wars, especially at Marathon and Salamis, and won thirteen times in the Athenian theater festivals. Of the approximately 70-90 plays he wrote, only six tragedies have survived, including the Oresteia trilogy (the ONLY complete Greek trilogy to survive) and The Persians.

His plays dealt with major themes from Greek mythology, such as the Trojan War and the Orestes saga, and often reflected the moral and divine aspects of human existence.
Important works and themes
The Persians (Persai): This play is unique as the only surviving Greek tragedy to depict contemporary historical events, namely the Persian invasion of Greece.
The Oresteia: The only complete trilogy of Greek dramas to survive. It follows Orestes and Electra in their revenge for the murder of their father Agamemnon, culminating in Orestes’ trial.
Themes of gods and morality: In Aeschylus’ plays, the gods are often exalted and morally instructive, and his characters represent larger contexts such as the family or humanity rather than individual individuals.

The Ancient Greeks valued the power of the spoken word, and it was their main method of communication and storytelling. Bahn and Bahn write, “To Greeks, the spoken word was a living thing and infinitely preferable to the dead symbols of a written language.” Socrates himself believed that once something has been written down, it lost its ability for change and growth. For these reasons, among many others, oral storytelling flourished in Greece.

Ingen fotobeskrivning tillgänglig.

The marble theatrical faces of the Hellenistic (= Late Hellenic) period were found in 1865 during the excavations of the oldest theater in the world in Athens, the Dionysian Theater on the southern slopes of the Acropolis hill. They are a copy of an older sculpture from the second half of the (4th century BC). It is a relief slab of Penteli marble with a height of (0.675 m.), and a length of (0.73 m.), dated to (2nd century BC), and has been welded together from three parts. They depict six (6) female theatrical faces arranged in threes in two rows, and are identical with only minor differences in the rendering of the hair. They probably belong to members of the Chorus who play young women in a drama performance, and are housed in the Acropolis Museum.
Theatrical masks with their sophisticated expression allowed the audience to be entranced, as they facilitated the disguise of actors who played two or more roles, male or female, in the same play, and on the other hand served to directly identify the audience with the characters being played in the theatrical performance, directly stimulating their emotional world. The male masks were dark-colored, while the female masks were light-colored, as would be the non-surviving paint on the specific relief from the Dionysian theater. In the Hellenistic period, greater emphasis was placed on the front of the masks, which became longer and more voluminous for a frontal view of the actors. This development is linked to the establishment of the l o g e i o u ,
where the actors performed with their foreheads facing the spectators, and later they were largely standardized, especially the dance masks.
As we contemplate these marble masks, we contemplate the tragedy of the story unfolding on stage!
Source:

  1. Archaeological Museum of the Acropolis
  2. Archaeological Museum of Athens

Marble theatrical mask in the type of the young woman or courtesan of New Comedy (4th century BC), from the National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Relief tombstone from the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, with the figure of the deceased (probably an actor) ostentatiously holding a theatrical mask

Greek tragedy, as it is presently known, was created in Athens around 532 BC, when Thespis was the earliest recorded actor. Being a winner of the first theatrical contest held in Athens, he was the exarchon, or leader,[5] of the dithyrambs performed in and around Attica, especially at the Rural Dionysia. By Thespis’ time, the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots. Under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and the innovations of the poet Arion, it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. Because of these, Thespis is often called the “Inventor of Tragedy”; however, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as 16th in the chronological order of Greek tragedians; the statesman Solon, for example, is credited with creating poems in which characters speak with their own voice, and spoken performances of Homer‘s epics by rhapsodes were popular in festivals prior to 534 BC.[6] Thus, Thespis’s true contribution to drama is unclear at best, but his name has been given a longer life in English as a common term for performer—i.e., a “thespian.”

The ancient theatre at Epidaurus, considered by Pausanias the finest in Greece

Τhe acoustics in the ancient theater of EPIDAVRUS have the curious thing, that as the Greek is clearly heard there, other languages cannot be heard, there is some kind of coordination of the sound, the Mathematical Greek language, the space and the acoustics, and this is because the Greek language is a musical language. (the relationship between musical harmony and mathematics and mathematics and the harmony of the universe is well known, just as it is also known that in ancient Greece music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy were sister sciences)

Its orchestra is a perfect circle, while its cavity is part of a sphere. 34 rows of seats in the lower section and 21 in the upper give the number 55 (ЭЄ). The sum of the first 10 numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10) gives 55 (ЭЄ), the sum of the first 6 (1+2+3+4+5+6 ) gives 21 and the sum of the last 4 (7+8+9+10) gives 34.

The golden number Φ makes its appearance since the ratio of the rows of the two diazoms 21/34=0.618=Φ, but also the ratio of the lower diazom to the total of the rows 34/55=0.618=Φ6

The dramatic performances were important to the Athenians – this is made clear by the creation of a tragedy competition and festival in the City Dionysia (or Great Dionysia). This was organized possibly to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica (recently created by Cleisthenes). The festival was created roughly around 508 BC. While no drama texts exist from the sixth century BC, the names of three competitors besides Thespis are known: Choerilus, Pratinas, and Phrynichus. Each is credited with different innovations in the field.

Some information is known about Phrynichus. He won his first competition between 511 BC and 508 BC. He produced tragedies on themes and subjects later exploited in the Golden Age such as the Danaids, Phoenician Women and Alcestis. He was the first poet we know of to use a historical subject – his Fall of Miletus, produced in 493–2, chronicled the fate of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians. Herodotus reports that “the Athenians made clear their deep grief for the taking of Miletus in many ways, but especially in this: when Phrynichus wrote a play entitled The Fall of Miletus and produced it, the whole theatre fell to weeping; they fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for bringing to mind a calamity that affected them so personally and forbade the performance of that play forever.”He is also thought to be the first to use female characters (though not female performers).

Until the Hellenistic period, all tragedies were unique pieces written in honour of Dionysus and played only once; what is primarily extant today are the pieces that were still remembered well enough to have been repeated when the repetition of old tragedies became fashionable (the accidents of survival, as well as the subjective tastes of the Hellenistic librarians later in Greek history, also played a role in what survived from this period).

After the Achaemenid destruction of Athens in 480 BC, the town and acropolis were rebuilt, and theatre became formalized and an even greater part of Athenian culture and civic pride. This century is normally regarded as the Golden Age of Greek drama. The center-piece of the annual Dionysia, which took place once in winter and once in spring, was a competition between three tragic playwrights at the Theatre of Dionysus. Each submitted three tragedies, plus a satyr play (a comic, burlesque version of a mythological subject). Beginning in a first competition in 486 BC each playwright submitted a comedy.[9] Aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the second actor (deuteragonist), and that Sophocles introduced the third (tritagonist). Based on what is known about Greek theatre, the Greek playwrights never used more than three actors.

The Theatre of Dionysus

The Great Dionysia were attended by citizens from all over Attica and also foreigners, both men and women. The women sat in the upper part and all the actors were men, women’s parts were played by them.

Αll the dramas and comedies were played at Dionysus theatre, 2nd icon, in the southern slope of the Acropolis.

The cost of the ticket was two oboloi and the poor citizens didn’t pay. The theoroi, rich citizens, paid for them.

#atenas#dionysus#polytheistic#thymelereligiouscommunity#theatre#dionysiaenastei#pagan#actor#dionysustheatre#theoroi#acropolis.

ARCHITECURE

Most ancient Greek cities lay on or near hills, so seating was generally built into the slope of a hill, producing a natural viewing area known as the theatron (literally “seeing place”). In cities without suitable hills, banks of earth were piled up. At the foot of the hill was a flattened, generally circular performance space with an average diameter of 78 feet (24 m),[citation needed] known as the orchestra (literally “dancing place”),[11] where a chorus of typically 12 to 15 people performed plays in verse accompanied by music. There were often tall, arched entrances called parodoi or eisodoi, through which actors and chorus members entered and exited the orchestra. In some theatres, behind the orchestra, was a backdrop or scenic wall known as the skené.

The term theatre eventually came to mean the whole area of theatron, orchestra, and skené

PERGAMOS (/ˈpɜːrɡəməs/; ANCIENT GREEK:. ΠΈΡΓΑΜΟΣ) was the SON of THE WARRIOR NEOPTOLEMUS and THE ANDROMACHE. PERGAMUS’S PARENTS BOTH FIGURE IN THE GREEK CIVIL WAR, BETWEEN DANASEANS, ACHAEANS VS TROADES(=TROJANS) WAR, DESCRIBED IN HOMER’S THE ILIAD : NEOPTOLEMUS WAS THE SON OF ACHILLES AND FOUGHT ON THE DANAAEANS SIDE, WHILE ANDROMACHE(= MAN’S BATTLE) was THE TROJAN PRINCE HECTOR’S WIFE. AFTER THE DEATH OF BOTH ACHILLES AND HECTOR, AND THE FALL OF TROY , NEOPTOLEMUS CAPTURED THE NEWLY WIDOWED ANDROMACHE FOR HIS CONCUBINE AND WENT TO RULE IN EPIRUS. AFTER NEOPTOLEMUS ’s DEATH, SOME SOURCES SAY, THAT ANDROMACHE RETURNED TO IONIA(“ASIA MINOR” NOWDAYS), WITH HER YOUNGEST SON, PERGAMOS, , ALTHOUGH THIS IS PROBABLY A LATER ADDITION TO THE LEGEND..

PS: UNFORTUNATELY THE UGLY DISTORTION OF THE HISTORICAL FACTS PLACE IT, AS. MYTHOLOGY AND ACHAEANS-DANAEANS. NAMED, AS JUST HELLENES, WITHOUT MENTIONING AS ALL HISTORIANS WRITE, THAT TROJANS WERE ALSO GREEKS, EVEN, SOME OF THEM RELAIVES, SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE, SAME NAMES. RELIGION, CUSTOMS.. PRIAMOS FOR EXAP. LE WAS UNCLE OF AZAX OF SALAMIS ETC…

A S K L E P E I O N. OF PERGAMON BELOW.

Theatre of Pergamon, one of the steepest theatres in the world, has a capacity of 10,000 people and was constructed in the 3rd century BC

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Le monde est une scène de théâtre et la vie un passage sur celle-ci, tu es venu, tu as vu et tu es parti. (Démocrite)

ANCIENT THEATERS IN LIBYA-BY CULTURE OF MAGNA GRAECIA

CYRENE The Greek Theatre of Cyrene, in present-day Libya, was the oldest and largest of the city’s theatres, originally built in the 7th century BC. Originally a standard Greek theatre, the theatre underwent several renovations. In the 2nd century AD, it was converted into a Roman amphitheater, with the orchestra being deepened to create an arena for gladiatorial games and wild animal fights.

Cyrene, also sometimes anglicized as Kyrene, was an ancient Greek colony and Roman city near present-day Shahhat in northeastern Libya in North Africa. It was part of the Pentapolis, an important group of five cities in the region, and gave the area its classical and early modern name Cyrenaica.

Cyrene lies on a ridge of the Jebel Akhdar uplands. The archaeological remains cover several hectares and include several monumental temples, stoas, theatres, bathhouses, churches, and palatial residences. The city is surrounded by the Necropolis of Cyrene. Since 1982, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1] The city’s port was Apollonia (Marsa Sousa), located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) to the north.

The city was attributed to Apollo and the legendary etymon Cyrene by the Greeks themselves but it was probably actually colonized by settlers from Thera (modern Santorini) in the late seventh century BC. It was initially ruled by a dynasty of monarchs called the Battiads, who grew rich and powerful as a result of successive waves of immigration and the export of horses and silphium, a medicinal plant. By the fifth century BC, they had expanded their control over the other cities of Cyrenaica. It became the seat of the Cyrenaics, a school of philosophy in the fourth century BC, founded by Aristippus, a disciple of Socrates. In the Hellenistic Age, the city alternated between being part of Ptolemaic Egypt and the capital of an independent kingdom. It was also an important Jewish hub. In 96 BC, it passed to the Roman Republic and became part of the province of Crete and Cyrenaica. The city was destroyed by Jewish fighters in AD 115 during the Diaspora revolt, and slowly rebuilt over the following century. Earthquakes in 262 and 365 devastated the city, but some habitation continued through the early Byzantine period and the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in 642, after which the site was abandoned until the establishment of an Italian military base on the site in 1913. Excavations have been ongoing since that time.

Name

Cyrene is the latinized form of the Greek name Kȳrḗnē (Κυρήνη) of uncertain origin. The Greeks themselves attributed the name to the legendary Thessalian princess Cyrene who supposedly founded the city with help from the sun god Apollo.[2] Some modern scholars sometimes attribute the name to its spring Cyra (Κύρα, Kýra), which was considered sacred to Apollo by the city’s Greco-Roman inhabitants.[3] The legend of Thessalian Cyrene seems to long predate attestation of the spring, however, and Janko instead suggests that the existing legend and name were adopted by the early Theran settlers for this specific location after some unattested but similar local name in the Libu or Garamantian language.[3] Although both the Greek and Latin forms of the name were pronounced something like /kuˈreɪneɪ/ koo-RAY-nay,[4] they are more often read in English as /kaɪˈriːni/ ky-REE-nee or, in its Latin form, /saɪˈriːni/ sy-REE-nee.

History

People have lived in Cyrenaica since the Palaeolithic. There is some evidence for settlement in the caves below the Acropolis which may pre-date Greek settlement. It is possible that Minoans and Mycenaeans visited Cyrene in the Bronze Age, since it is on the easiest sea route from the Aegean to Egypt, but the only archaeological evidence for this are separate finds of a small Minoan altar and a Minoan seal, which might have been brought over at a later date.

Foundation

Main article: Greek colonisation

First recorded by Pindar in the early fifth century BC reports that the god Apollo fell in love with the huntress Cyrene and brought her to Libya, where she gave birth to a son Aristaeus.[2] Greek historical traditions, reported in Herodotus‘ Histories and in a fourth-century BC inscription found at Cyrene, say that a group of Cretan Greeks, who had been expelled from Sparta and settled on the island of Thera, founded Cyrene in 631 BC, under the leadership of Battus I, at the prompting of the Oracle of Delphi.[6][7] Some traditions say that the settlers left Thera because of a famine, others because of a civil war. Most say that the colonists first settled on an island at Aziris (east of Derna) before relocating to Cyrene.[7] The historicity of these narratives is uncertain, particularly the idea that Thera was Cyrene’s sole “mother city.” Relationships with other cities, such as Sparta[8] and Samos,[9] mentioned in the foundation narratives, are uncertain.[6]

Archaeological evidence from the site, especially ceramic finds, confirm that Greek settlement began in the mid-seventh century BC. This early pottery derves from Thera, Sparta, and Samos, but also Rhodes.[10] The initial area of habitation was a ridge stretching eastwards from the Acropolis to the Agora, but the city rapidly expanded eastwards.[11] The sanctuary of Apollo to the north of the Acropolis, of Demeter to the south, and of Zeus to the east all go back to the seventh or sixth centuries BC. Archaeological evidence shows that several other sites in Cyrenaica, such as Apollonia, Euesperides, and Taucheira (modern Benghazi and Tocra) were settled at the same time as Cyrene.[10]

Archaic period

After its foundation, the city was ruled by a series of monarchs descended from Battus I. Over the course of the sixth century BC, Cyrene grew to become the most powerful city in the region.[12] In the first half of the sixth century BC, Battus II encouraged further Greek settlement in the city, especially from the Peloponnese and Crete. This sparked conflict with the indigenous Libyans, whose king Adicran appealed to Egypt for help around 570 BC. The pharaoh Apries launched a military expedition against Cyrene, but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Irasa.

Arcesilaus II oversees the weighing of silphium for export, on a Laconian kylix, ca. 565-560 BC.

According to Herodotus, conflict with king Arcesilaus II “the Cruel” (ca. 560-550 BC) led his brothers to leave the city and found the city of Barca to the west. Archaeological evidence shows that Greek presence at Barca predates this foundation, going back to the seventh century.[15] Arcesilaus was defeated by the Barcans and Libyans at the Battle of Leuco, killed by his brother and succeeded by his infant son Battus III (ca. 550-530 BC), under whom Cyrene continued to suffer from continued internal conflict.[16] This was resolved through a reform of the city’s laws by Demonax of Mantinea.[17] These reforms appear to have limited the authority of the king to religious matters, vested political power in the Cyrenaean people, and divided the Cyreneans into three tribes. He may also have mediated a peace with Barca and introduced trial by combat.[16]

Battus III’s son Arcesilaus III (ca. 530-515 BC) attempted to revoke Demonax’s constitution and was driven into exile. He returned with an army from Samos and regained control but forced out once more and was assassinated at Barca. His mother Pheretime appealed to the Achaemenid governor of Egypt, Aryandes, who besieged and sacked Barca in 515 BC. According to Herodotus, Aryandes marched his troops through Cyrene and then, regretting that he had not taken the opportunity to conquer Cyrene, attempted to get back in, but was prevented. The story is strange; it may be that the city was actually conquered by the Persians.[17][12][18] Remains of an extramural temple destroyed by the Persians at this time have been found.[19]

Classical period

The Temple of Zeus, Cyrene

In the fifth century BC, perhaps as a consequence of the Persian intervention, Cyrene’s influence over the other Greek cities in Cyrenaica seems to have solidified into institutionalised political control.[12] The city was prosperous and construction of the Temple of Apollo, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Demeter, and structures in the Agora date to this time.[12] Cyrene’s chief local export through much of its early history was the medicinal herb silphium, which may have been used as an abortifacient; the herb was pictured on most Cyrenian coins. Silphium was in such demand that it was harvested to extinction by the end of the first century AD.[20] Cyrene also made money from raising of horses and the transhipment trade between Egypt, the Aegean, and Carthage. It was a landing point for Greeks seeking to visit the oracle of Ammon at Siwah.

Arcesilaus IV won the chariot race at the Pythian Games in 462 BC and at the Olympic Games in 460 BC, in celebration of which Pindar wrote the Fourth and Fifth Pythian Odes. Following this victory, he organised a new wave of Greek settlement at Euesperides. Some time after this however, the Cyreneans monarchy was abolished in obscure circumstances and the tomb of his ancestor Battus I was destroyed.[22][23] In 454 BC, Cyrene gave refuge to the remnants of an Athenian army that had been defeated by the Persians in Egypt.[23] In the following years, Barca seems to have become the dominant city in the region[24] and Cyrene was regularly in conflict with the other Greek cities of Cyrenaica and with the Libyans.[17] In 414 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, Spartan forces travelling to Sicily were driven to Cyrenaica by adverse winds and Cyrene provided them with two triremes and pilots to lead them to Sicily.[25][17]

Towards the end of the fifth century BC, one Ariston took control of the city, put five hundred leading Cyreneans to death and exiled others. It is possible that he attempted to establish a radical democracy on the Athenian model. A group of 3,000 Messenians who had been expelled from Naupactus by the Spartans arrived in Cyrene in 404 BC and joined forces with the exiles, but were almost all killed in a battle, after which the Cyrenean exiles and the followers of Ariston reconciled. The surviving Messenians settled at Euhesperides. There are some signs that civic conflict continued over the following century.

During the fourth century BC, Cyrene clashed with Carthage over the Syrtis and the trans-Saharan trade routes that ended there. The border was established at the Altars of the Phileni. Cyrene may also have extended its control eastwards to Catabathmus Magnus. Cyrene constructed a treasury at Delphi between 350 and 325 BC.[27] When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 331 BC and marched west to visit the oracle at Siwah, the Cyreneans sent an embassy to declare their friendship; they did not come under Macedonian control. An inscription records that during a famine in the late 320s, Cyrene sent over 800,000 medimni of grain (ca. 40,000,000 litres) to the cities of Greece and the Macedonian royal family.[

Hellenistic period

The Cyrene bronze head in the British Museum (300 BC).

In 324 BC, a Spartan mercenary leader, Thibron, joined forces with Cyrenean and Barcan exiles on Crete and invaded Cyrenaica, capturing Cyrene’s port and forcing Cyrene to accept his rule.[27] However, one of his officers, Mnasicles, defected to the Cyreneans and helped them to expel Thibron’s troops and recapture the port.[29] Cyrene allied with the Libyans and Carthaginians, but Thibron returned in 322 BC and defeated them. A democratic revolution took place in Cyrene and the exiled aristocrats appealed to Ptolemy I Soter for help. Ptolemy sent his general Ophellas to occupy the city and established a new constitution for the city, which is recorded on a large inscription,[30][31] which was heavily oligarchic and reserved a permanent role for himself in the city’s administration.[32][29] The city was accepted by the other Macedonian leaders as part of the Ptolemaic realm in the Treaty of Triparadisus in 321 BC. Cyrenean rebels attempted to expel the Ptolemaic garrison in 313 BC, but Ptolemy sent reinforcements who suppressed the revolt.[29] In 308 BC, Ophellas led Cyrenaean and Athenian troops west to join Agathocles of Syracuse‘s attack on Carthage and was immediately murdered.

Coin of Magas as king of Cyrene, circa 282/75 to 261 BC.

Cyrene rebelled against Ptolemy again around 305 BC. Control was re-established in 300 BC by Ptolemy’s step-son Magas.[33] After Ptolemy’s death in 282 BC, Magas refused to submit to his half-brother Ptolemy II and had crowned himself king by 276 BC. He married Apama the daughter of the Seleucid king Antiochus I and assisted him in an unsuccessful invasion of Egypt during the First Syrian War.[34][33] Inscribed accounts indicate severe inflation of food prices and a large fundraising campaign, possibly for repairs to the city walls.[33] After his death, Apama invited a Macedonian prince, Demetrius the Fair, to marry her daughter Berenice and take the throne, but he was murdered after a short conflict with Berenice. She married Ptolemy III in 246 BC, bringing Cyrene back under Ptolemaic control.[35] In the process, the city of Euesperides was destroyed and re-founded as Berenice and the cities of Cyrenaica formed a federation, called the Pentapolis, which minted its own coinage.[36] Constitutional reforms by a pair of Arcadians, Ecdelus and Demophanes, may also belong in this period.

Gymnasium of Cyrene.

Cyrene was reduced to subject status, a garrison was installed, and a succession of Ptolemaic courtiers were appointed to the city’s priesthood of Apollo.[ Cyrene was established as a separate kingdom once more for Ptolemy VIII in 163 BC after his siblings expelled him from Egypt.[38][39][40] The city rebelled against him but was defeated. It is possible that he granted Cyrene’s port, Apollonia, independence from Cyrene at this time, as a reward for remaining loyal.Ptolemy engaged in a wide-ranging construction project in the city, including the construction of a monumental gymnasium.[40] He also had a will inscribed, promising Cyrene to the Roman Republic in the event that he died without heirs. However, he regained control of Egypt in 145 BC.] In the dynastic conflicts that followed, Cyrene probably remained under the control of Ptolemy VIII and then of Ptolemy IX.[40] It was apparently given to Ptolemy VIII’s illegitimate son Ptolemy Apion as a separate kingdom ca. 105-101 BC. Apion made a similar will to that of his father and the territory passed to Rome when he died without heirs in 96 BC.

The city became an important Jewish centre during the Hellenistic period. The deuterocanonical book 2 Maccabees, is said by its author to be an abridgment of a five-volume work by a Hellenized Jew by the name of Jason of Cyrene who lived around 100 BC.

Roman period

After 96 BC, the Romans initially ignored the new territory. Plutarch mentions a tyrant of Cyrene, Nicocrates, who was deposed by his wife Aretaphila of Cyrene and succeeded by his brother Learchus, who was murdered in turn.[43][44] Lucullus visited the city in 87 BC, suppressed the tyranny and granted Cyrene a new constitution.[44] But it was only in 74 BC that the Romans first sent a governor, Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus.[36] At some point between 67 and 30 BC, Cyrenaica became part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica. The provincial capital was on Crete, but Cyrene remained the chief city in Cyrenaica and enjoyed a highly prosperous period and much construction dates to the first century AD.[36] In the mid-first century AD, the Roman authorities launched an extensive surveying campaign to reclaim the public land around Cyrene that had slipped into private control and stopped paying dividends to the fisc.[45]

Because of its large Jewish population, Cyrene was an early centre of Christianity. A Cyrenian named Simon carried the cross of Jesus.[46] Acts claims that Jews from Cyrene heard the disciples speaking in their own language in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and later says that Jewish Christians from Cyrene and Cyprus were among those in Antioch who began spreading the gospel among Gentiles.[47] According to the tradition of the Coptic Orthodox Church, its founder, Saint Mark was a native of Cyrene and ordained the first bishop of Cyrene.


According to tradition, the Oracle at Delphi oracle prepared, with which prompted Greek Santorini look at North Africa new residence. So in 631 BC They founded Cyrene. Over the years they followed other Greeks, of course, including Peloponnesians and Cretans.
Especially when he was king in this region the BATT B joined the Evdemon extra Greeks from all parts of central Greece.
Hence the city Berenice, we will see below, possibly named for Macedonians, who had a special idiom to pronounce the letter “F” to “B”.
So the place name Berenice comes from the then known name in ancient Greece “Fereniki” (the one that carries the victory “Niki”).
By Berenice came and verinikion Hellenistic common, the current ie varnish.
Within a hundred years, and founded other cities in the region.
Among them the boat (pt. Al Marj), the Efsperides (later Berenice pt. Benghazi), the Bayda, the Tocra (later Arsinoe pt. Tokra) and Apollonia (pt. Susah), the port of Cyrene.
Together with Cyrene, they were known as the Pentapolis.
Years after the cities were included in the Roman territory, but retaining their Greek character. The emperor Diocletian divided the Empire and Cyrene granted in the State of the East and in 455 AD held invasion Western Powers held vandalism in the area until they were expelled by Justinian in 533 AD
In the coming years the country went through the hands of Arabs, Turks and Italians until self declared independent state after the end of WW2.
The Greeks took the lead in the political and cultural life of the region, making reforms (from democracy reign replacement), building temples, theaters, libraries and extending the borders of the country in which they were now installed.
Ancient Greek theater in Libya

The most populous city of Greek population was Cyrene, which was built on a promontory. There are several theories about how the name originated.
According to Hesiod and Pindaros, the Thessalian nymph Cyrene, daughter of the King of the Lapiths, was swept up by Apollo, when he fell in love while killing unarmed a lion. After the then grabbed, carried her in libya, where the welcomed Venus. He became “queen” of the country and gave birth to her son, Aristea.
On the other hand, according to Callimachus, Cyrene, sister Larissa, while he was in Libya killed a lion that roamed the country. The prize for the achievement of took the governance of the region.
The Cyrene, known in Libya, illustrated a large number of monuments, pediments and statues. Many have even come to light after excavations British, Americans and Italians primarily in the area.
Karneios Temple of Apollo, the ancient city of Cyrene, the Kings tombs are some of the most famous monuments in the area, located at the British Museum. It has been discovered even theater intact his orchestra arcade with length 118m., Which was decorated with 56 statues of Hercules and Hermes, a temple dedicated to Zeus Lykaio, the baths of Justinian and Hadrian statue Venus statue of Athena in 100 copies around. The original statue was a gift of philhellene Egyptian King Amasis.
Many of the monuments bear Greek inscriptions while the country abounds equally Greek wall paintings and rock engravings.
The Cyrene but is not the only city that certifies the Greek presence in Libya. yet there is Apollonia, homeland Mathematician and astronomer Eratosthenes, the Efsperides, who took their name from the Garden of the Hesperides, which we know from the labors of Hercules, Great Leptis (it was called Magna Leptis for Romans to distinguish it from another city with the same name) with 250 marble columns, the Savrata with mosaics and countless ancient Greek temples, etc.
But during the Ottoman period many Greek -christianoi had taken refuge in the Libyan region and especially in the capital, Tripoli.
(Leptis)Today he continues to live in a part of the then Hellenes, as their descendants can not be lost. Some of them may have exislamistei and ignore their roots. But this does not change their origin.
Characteristic is the fact that there Greeks do not stop to honor historical anniversaries of the Greeks, as they did recently on October 28.
Libya therefore represents another station in the endless journey of the Greeks around the world. Certainly North Africa in general strongly possessed by the Greek element, which is easy to determine whether throw a look to the ancient buildings of the regions, such as Tunisia Morocco, Algeria, etc..
Many try today, using every means to perform all this ancient wealth, characterized by the Apollonian Greek aesthetics, the Romans!
We will formulate the following question on it; because the Romans built theaters, libraries, high schools, etc., and in Central Europe or Britain, which had equally?
The answer is simple. Why the Romans, they claimed themselves, only they came into contact with the Greeks, pierced such awe about their culture, who adopted the fullest. Even when their rule, used the Mediterranean ellinogeneis populations was established to rule their vast empire. So the Greeks continued to thrive in the Roman period.
As much as some try to destroy the Greek element or else the Greek if not dimiourgia- contribution to world culture, the stones are there, ready to “tell” their story to anyone who is willing to listen …

Tragedies

Comedies

SOURCE: WIKYPEDIA