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The rock-cut tombs of Cyrene's Northern Necropolis have survived to the present day in a pitifully ruinous state because of the looting that has taken place since antiquity and because of their frequent re-use as dwellings or stables. An important archive of typewritten reports, photographs, sketches, and correspondence pertaining to this necropolis is preserved principally in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and documents the first officially-sanctioned archaeological excavation at Cyrene. This was conducted by an American archaeological mission lead by Richard Norton from October 1910 to the end of April 1911 and was jointly sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The documents, particularly those that chronicle the excavation of four tombs and their associated finds, represent an important resource for our understanding of the history of the exploration of this necropolis. They not only offer information on individual monuments, but they also illustrate the typological range of artefacts selected for funerary ritual from the late Classical period into the second century AD, but principally during the Hellenistic period. Additionally, the documents reveal particular funerary practices, such as the successive re-use of tombs that took place at least from the late Hellenistic period onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated on the westernmost corner of the Southern Necropolis, Tomb S181 is an important rock-cut monument, unlike any other thus far known in Cyrene. The presence of a Doric false peristyle running all around the chamber is unique in the context of the Cyrenean funerary culture, as it seems to elaborate and modify the model of the Internal Doric Frieze (seen in famous tombs of the near-by Western Necropolis) in a new, previously unpublished solution. Tomb S181 casts further light on the complicated relationship with the Alexandrian funerary world. This paper describes the tomb and considers it from multiple and different points of view: traditional art-historical comparisons are sought in order to cast light on the chronology but, on the other hand, the display strategies are also analyzed to reconstruct the importance of this monument for the Cyrenean monumental funerary tradition. Tomb S181 is certainly a hybrid entity, the product of a local culture accepting but also deeply modifying Alexandrian influences in terms of architecture and, possibly, also of funerary ritual behaviours. Tomb S181 clearly attests the vitality of rock-cut funerary architecture in Cyrene during the Hellenistic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction έν + accusative is a ghost in the dialect of Cyrene. The local inscriptions overwhelmingly attest to ές + accusative. A few alleged occurrences of this feature must be discarded. The only valid example, έν στάλ[αν] λυγδίναν in the 'Pact of the first settlers' (SEG 9.3, 16-7, 4th c. BCE), remains an anomaly that calls for a justification. The paper tries to demonstrate that the co-occurrence of άναγράφω/καταγράφω ές + accusative and άναγράφω/καταγράφω έν + dative resulted in an unintentional blending of both constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ancient landscapes surrounding Cyrene, which have been incredibly well preserved for centuries, have suffered more destructions in the past 7 or 8 years than in the whole of the last millennium. Urban encroachment, strong demographic pressure, unsustainable exploitation of resources and unplanned growth of infrastructures and services are threatening the archaeological heritage of this splendid site. The Department of Antiquities (DoA) has always struggled against these phenomena, but today the destructions are so great that the DoA is often powerless to act. This paper continues previous works on the damage to the Cyrenean necropoleis after 2011(Abdulkariem and Bennett, 2014; Al Raeid et al. 2016; Menozzi, Di Valerio et al. 2017; Menozzi, Tamburrino et al. 2017) and proposes strategies to help, on the basis of a preliminary report organised by the Mission of the University of Chieti in collaboration with the Departments of Antiquities of Cyrene and Tripoli, as requested by UNESCO. This preliminary step towards further improvements and needs to be discussed with other institutions and missions. The first part presents a proposal for controlling the core and buffer zones around Cyrene; the second part is an update on the recent damages to the necropoleis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her work on the Cyrenaean dialect, C. Dobias-Lalou concluded that the dialect of Cyrene had in the fourth century BC a dissymmetric system of long vowels, with one /:/ but /ε:/ and /e:/. This new theory is motivated by some anomalous forms with instead of expected from e + e contraction. In this paper I firstly bring arguments against D.-L.'s interpretation in order to prove that the Cyrenaean of the fourth century had only one /e:/. Secondly I try to explain otherwise the anomalous forms with for . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legumes seem to have been cultivated and to have formed an essential part of the human diet during the Greek and Roman periods. This paper examines the cultivation of pulses in Cyrenaica during the Hellenistic era. It considers the regional production capacity for legumes to meet local needs and argues the involvement of different kinds of pulses in interregional commerce alongside cereals and other dry grains. This study has been implemented via investigating Hellenistic epigraphic evidence from Cyrene. It has traced the cost of pulses mentioned in inscriptions of the fourth and third/second centuries BC and compared them with that of wheat and barley. Pulses and cereal costs indicated by Diocletian's 'Edict on Maximum Prices of AD 301' have also been investigated to assess the general trend of their prices over time. The examination demonstrates that varieties of pulses were produced in Cyrenaica during the Hellenistic era and were likely as significant as wheat and barley. It also indicates that they were probably traded from the region alongside other dry commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The four cemeteries of Cyrene were a living archaeological landscape whose life continued far beyond antiquity. The habit of using monumental tombs was a long-lasting one in Cyrene, starting in the Archaic period and continuing until Roman times. The concept of 'reuse' is in itself a problematic one since, from a semantic point of view, it implies the presence of a clear-cut division between an original 'phase of use' and of a later 'phase of reuse'. This approach could have sense when a clear hiatus is present, for example when speaking of modern reuse of ancient Greek tombs. However, the main problem is the use of the term 'reuse' when describing two ancient phases, such as a Hellenistic phase and a Roman phase of the same tomb, implying a clear hiatus between them even if one often lacks the elements for identifying the existence of such a hiatus. In particular, the Southern and Northern Necropolises have been analysed here to investigate this subject, basing the hypotheses on data coming from field research and previous studies. However, the topic of reuse for the tombs of Cyrene would need far more space than this paper, so this work should be considered an introduction to a matter that needs a far deeper and a far wider analysis. Given these limits, an 'anthological' approach is here proposed, with a sequence of various subjects connected to the 'reuse' topic and some new data coming from recent research (such as the surveys in the Northern and Southern Necropolises and the excavation of Tomb S1 by the Chieti University team, and of a tomb in the Northern Necropolis by a team of colleagues from the local Department of Antiquities). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core area of Cyrene, despite recent upheavals, benefits from well-managed controls and fences that so far seem to have stopped the looting, although not the vandalism. These fences act mainly as a psychological barrier; for the local people, everything inside the fences is seen as ‘more important’ than what is outside. However, it is impossible to enclose all the monumental tombs, rock-cut sanctuaries and ancient farms and fortifications. The first type of damage we see is due to looting, which is increasing, and acts of vandalism. The lack of regulation and police control as well as increased urbanisation have caused a lot of uncontrolled building, causing the further destruction of large sections of the necropolis. A second type of damage is due to the lack of maintenance. In order to help restore the sites, the Universities of Urbino, Chieti, Roma 3, Naples 2 and the Mission of the MIBACT at Giarabub, in collaboration with the DoA, have organised courses on ‘Rescue restoration in emergency’. Despite the growing number of inspectors and technicians in Cyrene, there are still not enough archaeologists, guards or restorers. This paper explains these general issues and, as a case study, the remote but important area of Giarabub. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyrene offers one of the largest and most spectacular necropoleis of the Mediterranean basin and, owing especially to its vastness, it is particularly difficult to control and protect. It reveals an extraordinary patrimony of rock-cut architecture, monumentally built around the ancient site, and also represents a zone at major risk of damage and destruction as a result of continuous looting, uncontrolled urbanisation and vandalism. Recent studies by Jim and Dorothy Thorn have presented a preliminary view and gazetteer of the architectonic monumentality, especially of the rocky chamber tombs, showing the need for survey projects in the area. A joint team of Libyan and Italian archaeologists, geologists, topographers and technicians of the local Department of Antiquities and Chieti University started in 1999 a project of surveying and mapping the southern and eastern parts of the necropolis, giving birth to a GIS using differential GPS and Robotic total station for the positioning and recording of the tombs, as well as multispectral HD satellite images, previously orthorectified and georeferred, combined with old maps and RADAR data for a highly detailed topographic base, up to DEM and DTM. From 2004, the survey and the GIS have been extended to the western and northern parts of the necropolis, at the moment counting more than 2,000 mapped and recorded tombs. An important step in the last two years has been the use of remote-sensing and photo-interpretation analysis in order to map the damages of urbanisation and modern construction in the areas of the necropolis. Using images covering the development of the situation every two to three months, mainly shots coming from Google Earth archives, in combination with further satellite images specifically bought for a more complete view of the last two to three years, it has been possible to start drawing a map of the areas under threat from building works and urbanisation. The aim of this paper is to present the main problems of this huge necropolis, which is at the moment one of the most threatened areas of Cyrene, every day at risk from the destruction of its monumental buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The project of mapping the chora of Cyrene, for the team of Chieti University, started between 1999 and 2001 as a layer of a ‘macro-GIS’ of the area to the east of Cyrene, that is, the transect between Cyrene and El-Gubba/Qubbah. Because of the large scale of the area and the monumentality of the sites, the team is composed of several research units based around a large number of scholars and technicians. The project employs a suite of traditional methodologies for the study of landscape archaeology (surveys, GIS mapping, differential GPS, excavations), in combination with technologies integrating the knowledge of the territory (remote sensing on HD satellite photos, geomorphological reconstruction, laser scanning, archaeometric analysis, non-invasive geophysical prospection and infrared diagnostic analysis). The large quantity of data coming from this wide approach has been organised into a flexible and multilayer GIS. A joint team of Libyan and Italian archaeologists and technicians is testing a common protocol for monitoring the monuments and sites in the territory, using surveys and remote sensing analysis, which has intensified during these problematic periods, and regularly analysing satellite sets over the past four years.The project aims to map and document as much as possible in this territory, to identify the location of the region's so-called ‘minor sites’, which are numerous and almost unknown. They were, from the Late Classical to the Islamic periods, vital sites for the management of the local economy. This paper presents the main issues relating to settlements and sites in Late Antiquity, concentrating mainly on fortifications along the limes and basilicas within the area of the transect. Moreover, in the presentation of the data, the GIS approach has been integrated here with data coming both from the remote sensing and from more traditional research approaches, such as planimetrical and typological analysis of the buildings, study of the sources and detailed mapping of the building techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the deep transformation of the monumental funerary, culture of Cyrene during the Roman period. For the first time the problem is analysed in its complex entirety identifying elements of Roman tombs and looking for possible dating clues. The quantitative data from a survey in the Southern Necropolis are used for a statistical analysis, looking for the relationship between portrait-busts/niches and other burial features. A chronological view of this period in the necropolis is attempted, together with a discussion of the evolution and the cultural significance of tomb-types. The picture is also contextualised within what we know of the socio-historical framework from other sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief paper has been prepared to shed light on four qsur located in close proximity to one another on three different sites overlooking an important Haj and caravan route between Soluq in northwestern Cyrenaica and Tamimi to the east, on the Gulf of Bomba. Massively built in mudbrick and faced with stone, each qasr was positioned to dominate an adjacent cultivated wadi crossed by the caravan route. The qsur, with many constructional details in common but in various states of dilapidation, were built on the site of previous settlements and have yet to be conclusively dated. Two possible construction dates are suggested. The buildings may have been constructed in the later Roman period to form part of a system of defence similar to the limes Tripolitanus in that they were built not only to protect the settlements and roadway that they undoubtedly served but as frontier outposts (and defence 'in depth') for the cities of the Pentapolis on the south side of the Gebel Akhdar. It is equally possible that the qsur may be of post-Roman date, being built not only for a local defensive purpose, but to provide security and hospitality for those travelling the most direct route between Soluq and Tamimi, south of the Gebel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the Southern Necropolis of Cyrene as a source of information about Cyrenean society and its evolution through time. The vitality of the aristocratic class produced, already by the sixth century BC, a tradition of monumental tombs using both, conventional, or foreign models according to the identity that each Cyrenean wanted to show. Tombs defined land holdings and the Southern Necropolis is an optimal setting to study their relationships with sanctuaries, roads and quarries. The continuing prosperity of the city increased the number and elaboration of tombs, especially in Classical/Hellenistic times when the Archaic territorial divisions became invisible in a landscape overcrowded by sepulchres. A tradition particularly focused on external faqades was developed, possibly underlying a focus on funerary rituals held outside the tombs. After the Ptolemaic and Roman conquests this tradition was challenged by external models and Cyreneans tried to adapt foreign customs into their ancient ritual systems, for example through portrait-busts. With time the foreign models prevailed and the tombs displayed elements shared with a wider Roman cultural elite, nevertheless, already from the third century AD onwards, the regional crises sign the end of the monumental necropolis' phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work in the Wadi bel Gadir in the southern chora region of Cyrene, in particular the discovery of two temple precincts by the Italian Mission (Missione Archeologica a Cirene della Università degli Studi di Urbino) as well as an intensive topographic survey by the newly reconstituted University of Pennsylvania Expedition (now the Cyrenaica Archaeological Project) is providing important information about urban development to the west and southwest of the city of Cyrene. This paper offers an overview of the previous work in the area and some thoughts on the potential implications of the recent discoveries by the Italian Mission led by Professor Mario Luni and the Cyrenaican Archaeological Project (CAP) directed by Professor Susan Kane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the prefatory material in 2 Maccabees (2:19-32; 15:38-39) in order to reveal the motivation and attitude of the epitomator of 2 Maccabees toward the text he is adapting. The article argues that the concept of auxiliary texts, recognized in Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic texts by classicist Markus Dubischar, is the lens through which to properly understand the preface and therefore the scribe's motivation for textual adaptation. The article further employs these conclusions to question whether other texts from the Judean milieu might also be best understood in this category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological heritage of Libya is at serious risk from uncontrolled development. The reasons for the situation are discussed, and the attendant difficulties in preventing encroachment on the archaeological zone. The case of Cyrene is not alone, but while the focus here is its particular problems, guidelines for safeguarding Libya's heritage are proposed, while acknowledging current efforts to counteract the state of play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Garden Tomb is a remarkable funerary complex in the Southern Necropolis of Cyrene, consisting of two burial chambers set within a courtyard with a monumental Doric façade. The architectural arrangement of the main tomb, most likely dating back to the fourth century BC, shows at least three phases of re-use and alterations of the original interior, in use until the Late Imperial period. Three sculptures belonging to the tomb and the decorative features of the exterior (entrance door kymation) and interior (red, blue and ochre wall paint in the main burial) of the monument are noteworthy. The epigraphic apparatus, drawn in charcoal on the walls of the main burial, is significant both in terms of the form of the letters and its content: one of the two inscriptions appears to give the price of loculi for sale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The myth of Antaios and Herakies emerged from the encounter between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean. This article explores two parallel courses of the myth's progressive development. One is geographical, with the myth travelling from east to west (from Kyrenaika, through Tunisia, to Tangier). The other unfolds within the plot itself: at first Herakies stands for the Greeks (and later the Romans), while Antaios embodies the indigenous Libyans. However, shifting political circumstances also allow for the (conjectural) identification of Greeks with the figure of Antaios, and a (certain) equation of Libyans with Herakies. On the whole, the history of the myth from the seventh to the first centuries BCE reflects the development of a politically and culturally coherent Mediterranean over the same period, from the first Greek settlers in Libya to the Mediterranean empire of Augustus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]