Encyclopedia › Places

Cyrene

Greek city in Cyrenaica, Libya, founded from Thera about 630 BCE

In the game: Level 2: The Spear-bearer

Cyrene was the chief Greek city of eastern Libya, a colony of Thera planted in the late seventh century. It lay on the western edge of the Egyptian world. Herodotus says it gave itself up to Cambyses after the conquest of Egypt, and its later story is bound up with Barca and the Persian governor of Egypt.

In the game: The game names Cyrene only in the Chronicle and in event articles, such as the Siege of Memphis entry, which says it sent gifts to Cambyses. It has no mechanic of its own.

Foundation and the Battiad kings

Ancient account

Herodotus tells the founding story in Book 4: settlers from Thera, led by Battus, first occupied an island and then moved to the mainland site of Cyrene. The Battiad dynasty ruled the city for generations. Herodotus links the colony to an oracle from Delphi and gives both a Theran and a Cyrenaean version.

Herodotus 4.150-159

Submission to Cambyses

Ancient account

Herodotus says that after Egypt fell, the Libyans near Egypt and the people of Cyrene and Barca gave themselves up to Cambyses out of fear and sent gifts. He says Cambyses took the Cyrenaean gift, a sum of silver, with little favour, and that the soldiers shared it. No surviving Persian text records the submission.

Herodotus 3.13

Extent of Persian control

Disputed

Historians doubt how far Cambyses' authority reached over Cyrenaica. The gifts may mark a loose recognition of Persian overlordship rather than direct rule. The later Persian action at Barca suggests the governor of Egypt claimed some authority, but its degree is argued.

P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002

Barca, Pheretime and Aryandes

Ancient account

In Herodotus's telling, Arcesilaus III of Cyrene was killed after fleeing to Barca, and his mother Pheretime went to Egypt and asked the satrap Aryandes for an army. Aryandes sent a force that besieged Barca and, after taking it, resettled many of its people in Bactria. Herodotus says the army also reached Euesperides, and he describes Pheretime's death in grim terms.

Herodotus 4.200-205

Cyrenaica in the tribute lists

Disputed

Herodotus's list of Darius's districts names the Libyans, Cyrene and Barca together with Egypt in the sixth district. Whether Cyrene paid a regular share is uncertain, and historians treat his list with caution.

Herodotus 3.91