Cyrene
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How it came to be
According to Herodotus and a 4th-century BC inscription found at the site, settlers from the Aegean island of Thera, prompted by the Delphic oracle, founded Cyrene in 631 BC under Battus I. Pottery from the site confirms Greek settlement in the mid-7th century BC. The Battiad kings grew rich exporting horses and silphium, a medicinal plant pictured on most of the city's coins.
Cyrene passed through Ptolemaic rule and came under Rome in 96 BC. The Jewish revolt of 115 AD destroyed almost all of its buildings, and earthquakes in 262 and on 21 July 365 caused further damage. The city fell to the Arab conquest in 643 and was later abandoned.
Frederick and Richard Beechey made the first plans of the ruins in 1821–22. In 1913 Italian soldiers found the Venus of Cyrene, which prompted large-scale Italian excavations; the statue went to Rome and was returned to Libya in 2008. UNESCO listed Cyrene in 1982 and added it to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2017.
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