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Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, also known as Pentapolis ("Five Cities") in Ancient Libya, was part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into Libya Pentapolis and Libya Sicca. During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as Barqa, after the city of Barca.
Cyrenaica became an Italian colony in 1911. After the 1934 formation of Italian Libya, the Cyrenaica province was designated as one of the three primary provinces of the country. During World War II, it fell under British military and civil administration from 1943 until 1951, and finally in the Kingdom of Libya from 1951 until 1963. The region that used to be Cyrenaica officially until 1963 has formed several shabiyah, the administrative divisions of Libya, since 1995. The 2011 Libyan Civil War started in Cyrenaica, which came largely under the control of the National Transitional Council (headquartered in Benghazi) for most of the war. "Endgame in Tripoli". The Economist. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011. In 2012, a body known as the Cyrenaica Transitional Council unilaterally declared Cyrenaica to be an autonomous region of Libya.
This mass is divided into two blocks. The Jebel Akhdar extends parallel to the coast from the Gulf of Sidra to the Gulf of Bomba and reaches an elevation of 882 meters. There is no continuous coastal plain, the longest strip running from the recess of Gulf of Sidra past Benghazi to Tolmeita. Thereafter, except for deltaic patches at Susa and Derna, the shore is all precipitous. A steep escarpment separates the coastal plain from a relatively level plateau, known as the Marj Plain, which lies at about 300 meters elevation. Above the Marj Plain lies a dissected plateau at about 700 meters elevation, which contains the highest peaks in the range.Gimingham, C. H. and K. Walton (1954). "Environment and the Structure of Scrub Communities on the Limestone Plateaux of Northern Cyrenaica." Journal of Ecology, Vol. 42, No. 2, Jul., 1954
The Jebel Akhdar and its adjacent coast are part of the Mediterranean woodlands and forests ecoregion and have a Mediterranean climate of hot, dry summers and relatively mild and rainy winters."Mediterranean woodlands and forests". WWF Scientific Report [2]. Accessed 27 March 2011 The plant communities of this portion of Cyrenaica include forest, woodland, maquis shrubland, garrigue, steppe and oak savanna. Garrigue shrublands occupy the non-agricultural portions coastal plain and coastal escarpments, with Sarcopoterium spinosum, along with Asphodelus ramosus and Artemisia herba-alba, as the predominant species.El-Darier, S. M. and F.M. El-Mogaspi (2009). "Ethnobotany and Relative Importance of Some Endemic Plant Species at El-Jabal El-Akhdar Region (Libya)". World Journal of Agricultural Sciences 5 (3): 353–360, 2009, pp 353–360. Small areas of maquis are found on north-facing slopes near the sea, becoming more extensive on the lower plateau. Juniperus phoenicea, Pistacia lentiscus, Quercus coccifera and Ceratonia siliqua are common tree and large shrub species in the maquis. The upper plateau includes areas of garrigue, two maquis communities, one dominated by Pistacia lentiscus and the other a mixed maquis in which the endemic Arbutus pavarii is prominent, and forests of Cupressus sempervirens, Juniperus phoenicea, Olea europaea, Quercus coccifera, Ceratonia siliqua, and Pinus halepensis.
Areas of red soil are found on the Marj Plain, which has borne abundant crops of wheat and barley from ancient times to the present day. Plenty of springs issue on the highlands. Wild olive trees are abundant, and large areas of oak savanna provide pasture to the flocks and herds of the local ."Cyrenaica", from Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, 1911 Historically large areas of range were covered in forest. The forested area of the Jebel Akhdar has been shrinking in recent decades. A 1996 report to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that the forested area was reduced to 320,000 hectares from 500,000 hectares, mostly cleared to grow crops. The Green Mountain Conservation and Development Authority estimates that the forested area decreased from 500,000 hectares in 1976 to 180,000 hectares in 2007. The Report: Libya 2008, p. 134. Oxford Business Group.
The southward slopes of the Jebel Akhdar are occupied by the Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe, a transitional ecoregion lying between the Mediterranean climate regions of North Africa and the hyper-arid Sahara."North Saharan steppe and woodlands" WWF Scientific Report [3]. Accessed 27 March 2011.
The lower Jebel el-Akabah lies to the south and east of the Jebel Akhdar. The two highlands are separated by a depression. This eastern region, known in ancient times as Marmarica, is much drier than the Jebel Akhdar and here the Sahara extends to the coast. Historically, salt-collecting and sponge fishing were more important than agriculture. Bomba and Tobruk have good harbors.
South of the coastal highlands of Cyrenaica is a large east–west running depression, extending eastward from the Gulf of Sidra into Egypt. This region of the Sahara is known as the Libyan Desert, and includes the Great Sand Sea and the Calanshio Sand Sea. The Libyan Desert is home to a few oasis, including Awjila and Jaghbub.
The eastern portion of the province, with no major population centers, was called Marmarica; the more important western portion was known as the Pentapolis, as it comprised five cities: Cyrene (near the modern village of Shahat) with its port of Apollonia (Marsa Susa), Arsinoe or Taucheira (Tocra), Euesperides or Berenice (near modern Benghazi), Balagrae (Bayda) and Barce (Marj) – of which the chief was the eponymous Cyrene. The term "Pentapolis" continued to be used as a synonym for Cyrenaica. In the south, the Pentapolis faded into the Saharan tribal areas, including the pharaonic oracle of Siwa Oasis.
The region produced barley, wheat, olive oil, wine, figs, apples, wool, sheep, cattle, and silphium, a herb that grew only in Cyrenaica and was regarded as a medicinal cure and aphrodisiac.Ring, Trudy, Robert M. Salkin and Sharon La Boda (1996). "Cyrene (Gebel Akhdar, Libya)" in International Dictionary of Historic Places, Volume 4: Middle East and Africa. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago and London.
Cyrene became one of the greatest intellectual and artistic centers of the Greek world, famous for its medical school, learned academies and architecture, which included some of the finest examples of the Hellenistic art. The Cyrenaics, a school of thinkers who expounded a doctrine of moral cheerfulness that defined happiness as the sum of human pleasures, were founded by Aristippus of Cyrene."Cyrenaica and the Greeks" from The Library of Congress Country Studies: Libya. 2001. [5]. Accessed 27 March 2011. Other notable natives of Cyrene were the poet Callimachus and the mathematicians Theodorus and Eratosthenes.
Diocletian's Tetrarchy reforms of 293 altered Cyrenaica's administrative structure. It was split into two provinces: Libya Superior or Libya Pentapolis, comprising the above-mentioned Pentapolis, with Cyrene as its capital, and Libya Inferior or Libya Sicca, comprising Marmarica, with the important port city of Paraetonium as its capital. Each came under a governor holding the modest rank of praeses. Both belonged to the Diocese of the Orient, with its capital at Antioch in Syria, and from 370, to the Diocese of Egypt, within the Praetorian prefecture of Oriens. Its western neighbor Tripolitania, the largest split-off from Africa proconsularis, became part of the Diocese of Africa, subordinate to the prefecture of Italia et Africa. Following the Crete earthquake of 365, the capital was moved to Ptolemais. After the Empire's division, Cyrenaica became part of the East Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), bordering Tripolitania. It was briefly part of the Vandal Kingdom to the west, until its Vandalic War in 533.
The Tabula Peutingeriana shows Pentapolites to the east of Syrtes Maiores, indicating the cities of Bernice, Hadrianopolis, Taucheira, Ptolomaide, Callis, Cenopolis, Balagrae and Cyrene.Agricole Joseph F.X.P.E.S.P.A. Fortia d'Urban (marq. de), Bénigne Emmanuel C. Miller, Recueil des itinéraires anciens, comprenant l'itinéraire d'Antonin, la table de Peutinger, et un choix des périples grecs, 1845, p. 286
According to one tradition, Mark the Evangelist was born in the Pentapolis, and later returned after preaching with Paul the Apostle in Colosse (Col 4:10) and Rome (Phil 24; 2 Tim 4:11); from Pentapolis he made his way to Alexandria. "St. Mark the Apostle, the Founder of the Coptic Church", Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, accessed 19 May 2009
Early Christianity spread to Pentapolis from Egypt; Synesius of Cyrene (370–414), bishop of Ptolemais, received his instruction at Alexandria in both the Catechetical School and the Mouseion, and he entertained a great deal of reverence and affection for Hypatia, the last pagan Neoplatonism, whose classes he had attended. Synesius was raised to the episcopate by Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, in 410. Since the First Council of Nicaea in 325, Cyrenaica had been recognized as an ecclesiastical province of the See of Alexandria, per the ruling of the Nicaean Fathers.The patriarch of the Coptic Church to this day includes the Pentapolis in his title as an area within his jurisdiction. "Atiya, Aziz S. "The Copts and Christian Civilization Coptic.net
The Eparchy of the Western Pentapolis was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church, as the Pope of Alexandria was the Pope of Africa. The most senior position in The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church after the Pope was the Metropolitan of Western Pentapolis, although, since its demise as a major Archiepiscopal Metropolis in the days of Pope John VI of Alexandria, it was held as a Titular See attached to another Diocese.
After being repeatedly destroyed and restored during the Roman period Pentapolis became a mere borough, but was nevertheless the site of a diocese. Its bishop, Zopyrus, was present at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. The subscriptions at Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) give the names of two other bishops, Zenobius and Theodorus.
Although it retained the title "Pentapolis", the ecclesiastic province actually included all of the Cyrenaica, not just the five cities. Pentapolis is still included in the title of Popes of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
In the middle of the 11th century, several Arab tribes, including the Bedouin Banu Hilal confederation devastated the North African coast under Zirid control. Barqa was ravaged by the Hilalian invasion and left to be settled by the Banu Sulaym while the Banu Hilal marched westwards. The invasion contributed to the decline of the port cities and maritime trade.
Up to 200,000 Hilalian families migrated into Cyrenaica from Egypt. As a result of the migration by Arab tribes, Cyrenaica became more Arab than any place in the Arab world except for the interior of Arabia. The Ayyubid emir Qaraqush marched into the Maghreb and according to al-Maqrizi had taken control of Cyrenaica on orders of Saladin who wanted to use the province as an agricultural base. The Mamluks were seemingly unable to exert any significant control and had to ally with the resident Bedouins to accept their suzerainty indirectly while paying taxes. The Ottoman Empire later claimed suzerainty of Cyrenaica based on the Mamluk claim of suzerainty through alliance with the tribes. Cyrenaica was subsumed into Ottoman Libya.In 1879, Cyrenaica became a wilayah of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1888, it became a mutasarrıfiyya under a mutasarrif and was further divided into five qadaas. The wali of Ottoman Tripolitania, however, looked after the military and judicial affairs. The bureaucratic setup was similar to the one in Tripoli. The mutasarrifate existed until the Italian invasion.
The Italian fascists constructed the Marble Arch as a form of an imperial triumphal arch at the border between Cyrenaica and Tripolitani near the coast.
There was heavy fighting in Cyrenaica during World War II on the part of the Allies against the Italian Army and the Nazi German Afrika Korps. In late 1942, Allied forces liberated Cyrenaica from Axis occupation and the United Kingdom administered most of Libya through 1951, when the Kingdom of Libya was established and granted independence.Stewart, John (1996) "Cyrenaica" The British Empire: An Encyclopedia of the Crown's Holdings, 1493 through 1995 McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, p. 125,
In 2007, the Green Mountain Conservation and Development Authority, headed by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, announced a regional plan for Cyrenaica, developed by the firm Foster and Partners. The plan, known as The Cyrene Declaration, aimed to revive Cyrenaica's agriculture, create a national park and develop the region as a Cultural tourism and eco-tourism destination. The announced pilot projects included plans for three hotels, including the Cyrene Grand Hotel near the ruins of Cyrene.Rose, Steve. "Gadafy's green vision". The Guardian 12 September 2007. Accessed 2 April 2011.[9]
Since 2017, all of eastern Libya has been controlled by the Libyan National Army, led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who has governed the region as a military dictator.
For the ancient sees of Libya Inferior, see Marmarica.
For those of Creta, see Byzantine Crete.
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