THE 4th CENTURY B.C. HISTORY of CYRENAICA

 Under development as new information comes in.
As best we know the North African city of Cyrene was founded about 631 BC by Greek settlers who arrived from Thera to establish a new homeland. No doubt their 200-250 mile voyage was not one undertaken without a precedent. Just a few decades earlier Greeks had arrived in the Nile Delta region on the invitation of Seti the Great/Psammetichus. Cyrene, however, was ca. 500 miles more to the west at the foot of the highlands of Barka and closer to Greek shores. We are interested mostly in its history during the 4th century BC, a history rarely mentioned and devoid of any details in most modern books on ancient history. But during this time important events unfolded in the region and we shall endeavour to account for this period of time from the viewpoint of revised chronology. The remains in the area of the 4th century BC are scant indeed and largely overshadowed by later period artifacts.

Greek historians do not cover the events in this century for the north African coast and more modern excavations have not searched the sites for particulars from this period. By about 430 BC four more cities were founded in the region. These were
1. Barce also known as Al Marj and Barka;
2. Euhesperides (Hesperides), later known as Berenice and today as Benghazi;
3. Teuchira, later known as Arsinoe and today as Tukrah;
4. Apollonia or Susah, the port of Cyrene

In Roman times the region became known as the Pentapolis, 5 cities.
Cyrenaica Map The close of the 5th century saw the rise of a Greek military force which became known as the hoplites. These were closely knit army units whose weaponry included their bronze body armor, a shield, sword and spear. Forming rows soldiers stood close together and acted in unison depending on the commands of their leader. Their impact on enemy units was devastating because it was very difficult to penetrate their ranks.

At first the settlers seemed to live a tolerable life among the native population, even intermarrying with their neighbors women. In time, however, competition for `Lebensraum (living space)' became keen in the border region of the great Sahara Desert on one side and the salty Mediterranean Sea on the other. Raids, war actions and encroachments of territory kept peace at bay for a lenghty period of time. Family relations and general unrest was the cause for unusual alliances and ups and downs in battles. The fair colored Greeks fought with and against their Libyan neighbors and Egyptian troops in close and far away locations from their home towns. The Libyan/Tehenu units are seen at some point in time accompanied by cattle and family members - a situation which led to the theory that famine was the driving force as the cause for migrations on the scenes from the monuments of the successors of Ramses III/Nectanebo I. We believe periods of these wars are illustrated at Medinet Habu showing Greek soldiers with horned helmets fighting in support of Egyptian troops against Libyan invaders.

At Amarah West a hieratic stela was discovered containing no royal name but "tentatively attributed by several scholars to Ramses IV, due to the occurrence of the rare West Semitic loan word, `grt' which is used to describe a type of ox-drawn wagon or cart. This loan word occurs only once again in any New Kingdom text - that of the great Hammamat stela of Year 3 of Ramses IV. Obviously caution should be exercised before ascribing this shattered ruin to a particular king simply on the basis of one foreign loan word. But considering its rarety the premise might not be entirely misjudged. Equally problematic is determining which theatre of war the text describes. Its location would naturally suggest a Nubian campaign of sorts; but if a naval battle formed part of the conflict then the possibility of a war centered on the Delta lands (and against the Sea Peoples?) is perhaps more likely." [A.J.Peden, `The Reign of Ramses IV', 1994, p. 23]
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