Cyrene, Libya

Cyrene (/saɪˈriːni/ sy-REE-nee) or Kyrene (/kaɪˈriːni/ ky-REE-nee; Ancient Greek: Κυρήνη, romanized: Kyrḗnē, Standard Arabic: شحات, romanized: Shaḥāt) was an ancient Greek and later Roman city near present-day Shahhat, Libya. It was the most important of the five Greek cities in the region, known as the pentapolis. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica, which it has retained to modern times.

Cyrene lies on a ridge of the Jebel Akhdar uplands. The city was named after a spring, Cyra, which the Greeks consecrated to Apollo. 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. The city's port was Apollonia (Marsa Sousa), located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) to the north.

The city was founded by Greek colonists, probably from Thera (modern Santorini) in the late seventh century BC and 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 also became an important Jewish centre. 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 115 AD during Kitos War, and slowly rebuilt over the following century. Earthquakes in 262 and 365 AD 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.