of art of the highest interest, as throwing light on the re ligion and mythology of the inhabitants which appear to have always presented a singular mixture of the Hellenic and Oriental elements as well as displaying a peculiar style of art, in some degree intermediate between that of Assyria and continental Asia on the one hand and the early Greek sculptures on the other. Unfortunately these collections have been removed to New York, while no detailed description of them has yet been published. It is, however, announced that General de Cesnola is engaged in a compre hensive work giving an account of his researches and their results, which will doubtless throw much light on the
ancient geography and history of Cyprus.[1]CYRENAICA, or Pentapolis, in ancient geography, a district of Africa, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, lying exactly opposite to Greece, at the distance of about 250 miles. It received the name of Cyrenaica from Cyrene, its chief city ;. and that of Pentapolis from the fact of its containing five principal cities, Berenice or Hesperus, Barce, Cyrene, Apol Ionia, and Arsinoe or Teucheira, now identified respectively with Benghazi, El Merdj, Grennah or Shahat, Marsoe, Sousah, and Tocra. The district extended inland about 80 miles, and included that portion of the African continent which stretched from the frontier of Egypt on the east to the borders of Africa Propria on the west which were marked by the tumuli of Aros Philae- norum. On its southern frontier Cyrenaica is protected from the scorching winds of the Sahara by a range of lofty moun tains which descend in gradual slopes to the sea, and pro duce within a small compass a great variety of climate and temperature. Its vegetable products consequently comprised all the more important species to be found in the tropical and temperate zones ; and, as its position was admirably adapted for commerce, nothing was wanting but an enter- prizing population to make it one of the most valuable countries in the world. The people of Thera, under Battus, a native of that island, were the first to colonize Cyrenaica. After a slight opposition from the native tribes, they estab lished themselves in the country, and founded Cyrene in 631 B.C. There soon sprang up in advantageous situations other cities which, while acknowledging Cyrene as the capital of the country, were really independent, and at length threw off its yoke altogether. After the invasion of Cambyses the regal form of government was entirely abolished, and the republican substituted in its room. Under the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt (with which country Cyrenaica was incorporated in 321 B.C.), Cyrenaica rose into great importance from the extent and value of its commerce. In 96 B.C. it was bequeathed by will to the Romans by Apion, the last lineal representative of the Ptolemies. Soon afterwards, but at what date is not absolutely fixed, it became a Roman province, and along with the island of Crete was governed by a Roman proconsul. The commer cial prosperity of Cyrenaica, however, continued unimpaired till the revolt of the Jews in the province during the reign of Trajan. This revolt was quelled only after the most bloody atrocities had been perpetrated on both sides ; and the population was so much diminished in the contest, that the native tribes recommenced their incursions, and overran the province up to the walls of the principal cities. In the middle of the 7th century the whole country passed into the hands of the Saracens. From that time till the present the country has been occupied by tribes of wandering Arabs, nominally subject to the pasha of Tripoli.
See Tlirige, llistoria Cyrense, 1819 ; in which all tlie pas sages of the ancient writers about Cyrene are brought together ; Gottschick, Geschichte der Griindung und Blute des lldlen. Staats in Cyrene, 1858; Falbe and Lindberg s Numismatique de I Ancienne Afriqiie ; and Grote s History of Greece, vol. iv.
CYRENAICS, a Greek school of philosophers, so called from Cyrene, the birth-place of their founder Aristippus, who was a disciple of Socrates. They held that the one aim in life is to enjoy as many moments of as intense pleasure as possible. The pleasures of sense are to be pre ferred as the most intense, for duration and intensity are the only qualities in which pleasures really differ. For the wise choice of pleasures intellectual cultivation is needed ; and there must also be self-control and power of resisting desire. According to Aristippus, what each is to seek is his own present pleasure, though he modified this teaching by his doctrine of self-control. But his follower Theodorus held, like the Epicureans, that permanent tranquillity and cheerfulness are to be sought rather than passing pleasures. The position of Hegesias, the advocate of suicide, who is counted among the Cyrenaics, is far apart from that of Aristippus ; with him avoidance of trouble is the highest attainable good. Anniceris the younger differed from Aristippus in declaring that selfish pleasures are to be some times sacrificed to sympathetic. Other members of the school were Arete the daughter of Aristippus, Aristippus her son, Bio, and Euhemerus.
See, besides the histories of philosophy, and works on the various members of the school separately, Diog. Laert. ; Wendt, De Philo- sophia Cyrenaica; H. v. Stein, De Philosophia Cyrenaica; Mullach, Fragmcnta Phil. Graze., vol. ii.
CYRENE, the capital of Cyrenaica, was situated on the northern slope of a lofty table-land nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea, from which it was ten miles distant. It was the first town of Cyrenaica founded by Battus and his Therian followers (see Cyrenaica), and very soon rose into great importance as a commercial mart. The policy of Battus led him to conciliate the aboriginal tribes of Libya, with whom his subjects began at an early period to form matrimonial alliances. The natives, however, as in all colonies formed on the principles of Spartan policy, were scrupulously excluded from any participation in the government of the state. For eight generations, as had been foretold by the Delphic oracle, Cyrene continued to be governed by the original dynasty, whose kings ruled under the names of Battus and Arcesilaus alternately ; and it maintained its prosperity till the time of the Ptolemies, who, carrying out their usual policy, fostered Apollonia, the port, to such an extent that the inland city soon fell into decay.
life of its inhabitants. Its medical school was famous, and it numbered among its celebrities Callimachus the
poet, Carneades, the founder of the New Academy at
- ↑ In 1868 Mr R. IT. Lang discovered the site of a temple at Idalium (1 >ali), containing a large number of statues in calcareous stone, of which a selection was acquired by the British Museum along with a bilingual inscription in Phoenician and Cypriote .found there also. From this inscription Mr George Smith obtained the key to the Cypriote language, which had not previously been deciphered, and which now proves to be a dialect of Greek written in a local character. With this key Dr Birch has published a reading of the Due de Luynes tablet, known as the " tablet of Dali " in the Transactions of the Hoc. of Bib. Archeology, vol. i. pt. ii. 1872. Dr Brandisin the Mon- atsbericht of the Berlin Academy, 1873, has given a full list of all the words of Cypriote that are now fairly made out, and since then a collection of Cypriote inscriptions (Sammlung Kyprischer Inschriften, Jena, 1876) has been published by Moritz Schmidt. An account of Mr Lang s excavations, and the sculptures discovered by him, will <>e found in the Transactions of the Eoy. Soc. Lit., 2d ser. xi. pt. i. At the same time excavations were being carried on at the various ancient sites of Cyprus by the American consul, General de Cesnola, and were coiitinued up to 1876, the result being the discovery of an enormous quantity of sculpture, inscriptions, pottery, gold ornaments, gems, and other articles of treasure stored up in temples or In tombs. Those antiquities have been acquired by the Museum of New York. The most interesting part of his discovery was the treasure from the underground chamber of a temple at Curium, includ ing a pair of solid gold armlets inscribed in Cypriote with the name of a King Eteandros, whose date is assigned to about 668 B.C. The engraved Greek gems and gold ornaments are of great beauty.
