KYRENE AND BARKA. — HESPERIDES.
It has been already mentioned, in a former chapter, that Psammetichus
king of Egypt, about the middle of the seventh century B. C., first
removed those prohibitions which had excluded Grecian commerce from
his country. In his reign, Grecian mercenaries were first established
in Egypt, and Grecian traders admitted, under certain regulations,
into the Nile. The opening of this new market emboldened them to
traverse the direct sea which separates Krête from Egypt,—a dangerous
voyage with vessels which rarely ventured to lose sight of land,—and
seems to have first made them acquainted with the neighboring coast
of Libya, between the Nile and the gulf called the Great Syrtis.
Hence arose the foundation of the important colony called Kyrênê.
As in the case of most other Grecian colonies, so in that of Kyrênê,
both the foundation and the early history are very imperfectly
known. The date of the event, as far as can be made out amidst much
contradiction of statement, was about 630 B. C.:[57] Thêra was the
mother-city, herself a colony from Lacedæmon; and the settlements
formed in Libya became no inconsiderable ornaments to the Dorian name
in Hellas.
[57] See the discussion of the era of Kyrênê in Thrige, Historia
Cyrênês, chs. 22, 23, 24, where the different statements are
noticed and compared.
According to the account of a lost historian, Meneklês,[58]—political
dissension among the inhabitants of Thêra led to that emigration
which founded Kyrênê; and the more ample legendary details which
Herodotus collected, partly from Theræan, partly from Kyrenæan
informants, are not positively inconsistent with this statement,
though they indicate more particularly bad seasons, distress, and
over-population. Both of them dwell emphatically on the Delphian
oracle as the instigator as well as the director of the first
emigrants, whose apprehensions of a dangerous voyage and an unknown
country were very difficult to overcome. Both of them affirmed that
the original œkist Battus was selected and consecrated to the work
by the divine command: both called Battus the son of Polymnêstus,
of the mythical breed called Minyæ. But on other points there was
complete divergence between the two stories, and the Kyrenæans
themselves, whose town was partly peopled by emigrants from Krête,
described the mother of Battus as daughter of Etearchus, prince of
the Kretan town of Axus.[59] Battus had an impediment in his speech,
and it was on his intreating from the Delphian oracle a cure for this
infirmity that he received directions to go as “a cattle-breeding
œkist to Libya.” The suffering Theræans were directed to assist him,
but neither he nor they knew where Libya was, nor could they find
any resident in Krête who had ever visited it. Such was the limited
reach of Grecian navigation to the south of the Ægean sea, even a
century after the foundation of Syracuse. At length, by prolonged
inquiry, they discovered a man employed in catching the purple
shellfish, named Korôbius,—who said that he had been once forced by
stress of weather to the island of Platea, close to the shores of
Libya, and on the side not far removed from the western limit of
Egypt. Some Theræans being sent along with Korôbius to inspect this
island, left him there with a stock of provisions, and returned to
Thêra to conduct the emigrants. From the seven districts into which
Thêra was divided, emigrants were drafted for the colony, one brother
being singled out by lot from the different numerous families. But
so long was their return to Platea deferred, that the provisions
of Korôbius were exhausted, and he was only saved from starvation
by the accidental arrival of a Samian ship, driven by contrary
winds out of her course on the voyage to Egypt. Kôlæus, the master
of this ship (whose immense profits made by the first voyage to
Tartêssus have been noticed in a former chapter), supplied him with
provisions for a year,—an act of kindness, which is said to have laid
the first foundation of the alliance and good feeling afterwards
prevalent between Thêra, Kyrênê, and Samos. At length the expected
emigrants reached the island, having found the voyage so perilous
and difficult, that they once returned in despair to Thêra, where
they were only prevented by force from relanding. The band which
accompanied Battus was all conveyed in two pentekonters,—armed ships,
with fifty rowers each. Thus humble was the start of the mighty
Kyrênê, which, in the days of Herodotus, covered a city-area equal to
the entire island of Platea.[60]
[58] Schol. ad Pindar. Pyth. iv.
[59] Herodot. iv, 150-154.
[60] Herodot. iv, 155.
That island, however, though near to Libya, and supposed by the
colonists to be Libya, was not so in reality: the commands of the
oracle had not been literally fulfilled. Accordingly, the settlement
carried with it nothing but hardship for the space of two years, and
Battus returned with his companions to Delphi, to complain that the
promised land had proved a bitter disappointment. The god, through
his priestess, returned for answer, “If you, who have never visited
the cattle-breeding Libya, know it better than I, who _have_, I
greatly admire your cleverness.” Again the inexorable mandate forced
them to return; and this time they planted themselves on the actual
continent of Libya, nearly over against the island of Platea, in
a district called Aziris, surrounded on both sides by fine woods,
and with a running stream adjoining. After six years of residence
in this spot, they were persuaded by some of the indigenous Libyans
to abandon it, under the promise that they should be conducted to a
better situation: and their guides now brought them to the actual
site of Kyrênê, saying, “Here, men of Hellas, is the place for you to
dwell, for here the sky is perforated.”[61] The road through which
they passed had led through the tempting region of Irasa with its
fountain Thestê, and their guides took the precaution to carry them
through it by night, in order that they might remain ignorant of its
beauties.
[61] Herodot. iv, 158. ἐνθαῦτα γὰρ ὁ οὐρανὸς τέτρηται. Compare
the jest ascribed to the Byzantian envoys, on occasion of the
vaunts of Lysimachus (Plutarch, De Fortunâ Alexandr. Magn. c. 3,
p. 338).
Such were the preliminary steps, divine and human, which brought
Battus and his colonists to Kyrênê. In the time of Herodotus, Irasa
was an outlying portion of the eastern territory of this powerful
city. But we trace in the story just related an opinion prevalent
among his Kyrenæan informants, that Irasa with its fountain Thestê
was a more inviting position than Kyrênê with its fountain of
Apollo, and ought in prudence to have been originally chosen; out of
which opinion, according to the general habit of the Greek mind, an
anecdote is engendered and accredited, explaining how the supposed
mistake was committed. What may have been the recommendations of
Irasa, we are not permitted to know: but descriptions of modern
travellers, no less than the subsequent history of Kyrênê, go
far to justify the choice actually made. The city was placed at
the distance of about ten miles from the sea, having a sheltered
port called Apollonia, itself afterwards a considerable town,—it
was about twenty miles from the promontory Phykus, which forms
the northernmost projection of the African coast, nearly in the
longitude of the Peloponnesian Cape Tænarus (Matapan). Kyrênê
was situated about eighteen hundred feet above the level of the
Mediterranean, of which it commanded a fine view, and from which it
was conspicuously visible, on the edge of a range of hills which
slope by successive terraces down to the port. The soil immediately
around, partly calcareous, partly sandy, is described by Captain
Beechey to present a vigorous vegetation and remarkable fertility,
though the ancients considered it inferior in this respect both
to Barka[62] and Hesperides, and still more inferior to the more
westerly region near Kinyps. But the abundant periodical rains,
attracted by the lofty heights around, and justifying the expression
of the “perforated sky,” were even of greater importance, under an
African sun, than extraordinary richness of soil.[63] The maritime
regions near Kyrênê and Barka, and Hesperides, produced oil and
wine as well as corn, while the extensive district between these
towns, composed of alternate mountain, wood, and plain, was eminently
suited for pasture and cattle-breeding; and the ports were secure,
presenting conveniences for the intercourse of the Greek trader
with Northern Africa, such as were not to be found along all the
coasts of the Great Syrtis westward of Hesperides. Abundance of
applicable land,—great diversity both of climate and of productive
season, between the sea-side, the low hill, and the upper mountain,
within a small space, so that harvest was continually going on,
and fresh produce coming in from the earth, during eight months of
the year,—together with the monopoly of the valuable plant called
the Silphium, which grew nowhere except in the Kyrenaic region,
and the juice of which was extensively demanded throughout Greece
and Italy,—led to the rapid growth of Kyrênê, in spite of serious
and renewed political troubles. And even now, the immense remains
which still mark its desolate site, the evidences of past labor and
solicitude at the Fountain of Apollo, and elsewhere, together with
the profusion of excavated and ornamented tombs,—attest sufficiently
what the grandeur of the place must have been in the days of
Herodotus and Pindar. So much did the Kyrenæans pride themselves
on the Silphium, found wild in their back country, from the island
of Platea on the east to the inner recess of the Great Syrtis
westward,—the leaves of which were highly salubrious for cattle, and
the stalk for man, while the root furnished the peculiar juice for
export,—that they maintained it to have first appeared seven years
prior to the arrival of the first Grecian colonists in their city.[64]
[62] Herodot. iv, 198.
[63] See, about the productive powers of Kyrênê and its
surrounding region, Herodot. iv, 199; Kallimachus (himself a
Kyrenæan), Hymn. ad Apoll. 65, with the note of Spanheim; Pindar,
Pyth. iv, with the Scholia _passim_; Diodor. iii, 49; Arrian,
Indica, xliii, 13. Strabo (xvii, p. 837) saw Kyrênê from the sea
in sailing by, and was struck with the view: he does not appear
to have landed.
The results of modern observation in that country are given in
the Viaggio of Della Cella and in the exploring expedition of
Captain Beechey; see an interesting summary in the History of
the Barbary States, by Dr. Russell (Edinburgh, 1835), ch. v, pp.
160-171. The chapter on this subject (c. 6) in Thrige’s Historia
Cyrênês is defective, as the author seems never to have seen
the careful and valuable observations of Captain Beechey, and
proceeds chiefly on the statements of Della Cella.
I refer briefly to a few among the many interesting notices
of Captain Beechey. For the site of the ancient Hesperides
(Bengazi), and the “beautiful fertile plain near it, extending
to the foot of a long chain of mountains about fourteen miles
distant to the south-eastward,”—see Beechey, Expedition, ch. xi,
pp. 287-315; “a great many datepalm-trees in the neighborhood,”
(ch. xii, pp. 340-345.)
The distance between Bengazi (Hesperides) and Ptolemeta
(Ptolemais, the port of Barka) is fifty-seven geographical
miles, along a fertile and beautiful plain, stretching from the
mountains to the sea. Between these two was situated the ancient
Teucheira (_ib._ ch. xii, p. 347), about thirty-eight miles from
Hesperides (p. 349), in a country highly productive wherever it
is cultivated (pp. 350-355). Exuberant vegetation exists near
the deserted Ptolemeta, or Ptolemais, after the winter rains (p.
364). The circuit of Ptolemais, as measured by the ruins of its
walls, was about three and a half English miles (p. 380).
The road from Barka to Kyrênê presents continued marks of ancient
chariot-wheels (ch. xiv, p. 406); after passing the plain of
Mergê, it becomes hilly and woody, “but on approaching Grenna
(Kyrênê) it becomes more clear of wood; the valleys produce fine
crops of barley, and the hills excellent pasturage for cattle,”
(p. 409.) Luxuriant vegetation after the winter rains in the
vicinity of Kyrênê (ch. xv, p. 465).
[64] Theophrast. Hist. Pl. vi, 3, 3; ix, 1, 7; Skylax, c. 107.
But it was not only the properties of the soil which promoted the
prosperity of Kyrênê. Isokratês[65] praises the well-chosen site
of that colony because it was planted in the midst of indigenous
natives apt for subjection, and far distant from any formidable
enemies. That the native Libyan tribes were made conducive in an
eminent degree to the growth of the Greco-Libyan cities, admits of
no doubt; and in reviewing the history of these cities, we must bear
in mind that their population was not pure Greek, but more or less
mixed, like that of the colonies in Italy, Sicily, or Ionia. Though
our information is very imperfect, we see enough to prove that the
small force brought over by Battus the Stammerer was enabled first
to fraternize with the indigenous Libyans,—next, reinforced by
additional colonists and availing themselves of the power of native
chiefs, to overawe and subjugate them. Kyrênê—combined with Barka
and Hesperides, both of them sprung from her root[66]—exercised over
the Libyan tribes between the borders of Egypt and the inner recess
of the Great Syrtis, for a space of three degrees of longitude,
an ascendency similar to that which Carthage possessed over the
more westerly Libyans near the Lesser Syrtis. Within these Kyrenæan
limits, and further westward along the shores of the Great Syrtis,
the Libyan tribes were of pastoral habits; westward, beyond the Lake
Tritônis and the Lesser Syrtis,[67] they began to be agricultural.
Immediately westward of Egypt were the Adyrmachidæ, bordering upon
Apis and Marea, the Egyptian frontier towns;[68] they were subject
to the Egyptians, and had adopted some of the minute ritual and
religious observances which characterized the region of the Nile.
Proceeding westward from the Adyrmachidæ were found the Giligammæ,
the Asbystæ, the Auschisæ, the Kabales, and the Nasamônes,—the latter
of whom occupied the south-eastern corner of the Great Syrtis;—next,
the Makæ, Gindânes, Lotophagi, Machlyes, as far as a certain river
and lake called Tritôn and Tritônis, which seems to have been near
the Lesser Syrtis. These last-mentioned tribes were not dependent
either on Kyrênê or on Carthage, at the time of Herodotus, nor
probably during the proper period of free Grecian history, (600-300
B. C.) In the third century B. C., the Ptolemaic governors of Kyrênê
extended their dominion westward, while Carthage pushed her colonies
and castles eastward, so that the two powers embraced between them
the whole line of coast between the Greater and Lesser Syrtis,
meeting at the spot called the Altars of the Brothers Philæni,—so
celebrated for its commemorative legend.[69] But even in the sixth
century B. C., Carthage was jealous of the extension of Grecian
colonies along this coast, and aided the Libyan Makæ (about 510 B.
C.) to expel the Spartan prince Dorieus from his settlement near the
river Kinyps. Near that spot was afterwards planted, by Phenician or
Carthaginian exiles, the town of Leptis Magna[70] (now Lebida), which
does not seem to have existed in the time of Herodotus. Nor does the
latter historian notice the Marmaridæ, who appear as the principal
Libyan tribe near the west of Egypt, between the age of Skylax and
the third century of the Christian era. Some migration or revolution
subsequent to the time of Herodotus must have brought this name into
predominance.[71]
[65] Isokratês, Or. v, ad Philipp. p. 84, (p. 107, ed. Bek.)
Thêra being a colony of Lacedæmon, and Kyrênê of Thêra, Isokratês
speaks of Kyrênê as a colony of Lacedæmon.
[66] Pindar, Pyth. iv, 26. Κυρήνην—ἀστέων ῥίζαν. In the time of
Herodotus these three cities may possibly have been spoken of
as a Tripolis; but no one before Alexander the Great would have
understood the expression Pentapolis, used under the Romans to
denote Kyrênê, Apollonia, Ptolemais, Teucheira, and Berenikê, or
Hesperides.
Ptolemais, originally the port of Barka, had become autonomous,
and of greater importance than the latter.
[67] The accounts respecting the lake called in ancient times
Tritônis are, however, very uncertain: see Dr. Shaw’s Travels in
Barbary, p. 127. Strabo mentions a lake so called near Hesperides
(xvii, p. 836); Pherekydês talks of it as near Irasa (Pherekyd.
Fragm. 33 _d._ ed. Didot).
[68] Eratosthenês, born at Kyrênê and resident at Alexandria,
estimated the land-journey between the two at five hundred and
twenty-five Roman miles (Pliny, H. N. v, 6).
[69] Sallust, Bell. Jugurth. c. 75; Valerius Maximus, v, 6.
Thrige (Histor. Cyr. c. 49) places this division of the Syrtis
between Kyrênê and Carthage at some period between 400-330 B. C.,
anterior to the loss of the independence of Kyrênê; but I cannot
think that it was earlier than the Ptolemies: compare Strabo,
xvii, p. 836.
[70] The Carthaginian establishment Neapolis is mentioned by
Skylax (c. 109), and Strabo states that Leptis was another name
for the same place (xvii, p. 835).
[71] Skylax, c. 107; Vopiscus, Vit. Prob. c. 9; Strabo, xvii,
p. 838; Pliny, H. N. v, 5. From the Libyan tribe Marmaridæ was
derived the name Marmarika, applied to that region.
The interior country, stretching westward from Egypt along the
thirtieth and thirty-first parallel of latitude, to the Great
Syrtis, and then along the southern shore of that gulf, is to a
great degree low and sandy, and quite destitute of trees; yet
affording in many parts water, herbage, and a fertile soil.[72] But
the maritime region north of this, constituting the projecting
bosom of the African coast from the island of Platea (Gulf of
Bomba) on the east to Hesperides (Bengazi) on the west, is of a
totally different character; covered with mountains of considerable
elevation, which reach their highest point near Kyrênê, interspersed
with productive plain and valley, broken by frequent ravines which
carry off the winter torrents into the sea, and never at any time
of the year destitute of water. It is this latter advantage that
causes them to be now visited every summer by the Bedouin Arabs,
who flock to the inexhaustible Fountain of Apollo and to other
parts of the mountainous region from Kyrênê to Hesperides, when
their supply of water and herbage fails in the interior:[73] and
the same circumstance must have operated in ancient times to hold
the nomadic Libyans in a sort of dependence on Kyrênê and Barka.
Kyrênê appropriated the maritime portion of the territory of the
Libyan Asbystæ;[74] the Auschisæ occupied the region south of Barka,
touching the sea near Hesperides,—the Kabales near Teucheira in the
territory of Barka. Over the interior spaces these Libyan Nomads,
with their cattle and twisted tents, wandered unrestrained, amply fed
upon meat and milk,[75] clothed in goatskins, and enjoying better
health than any people known to Herodotus. Their breed of horses
was excellent, and their chariots or wagons with four horses could
perform feats admired even by Greeks: it was to these horses that the
princes[76] and magnates of Kyrênê and Barka often owed the success
of their chariots in the games of Greece. The Libyan Nasamônes,
leaving their cattle near the sea, were in the habit of making an
annual journey up the country to the Oasis of Augila, for the purpose
of gathering the date-harvest,[77] or of purchasing dates,—a journey
which the Bedouin Arabs from Bengazi still make annually, carrying
up their wheat and barley, for the same purpose. Each of the Libyan
tribes was distinguished by a distinct mode of cutting the hair, and
by some peculiarities of religious worship, though generally all
worshipped the Sun and the Moon.[78] But in the neighborhood of the
Lake Tritônis (seemingly the western extremity of Grecian coasting
trade in the time of Herodotus, who knows little beyond, and begins
to appeal to Carthaginian authorities), the Grecian deities Poseidôn
and Athênê, together with the legend of Jason and the Argonauts, had
been localized. There were, moreover, current prophecies announcing
that one hundred Hellenic cities were destined one day to be founded
round the lake,—and that one city in the island Phla, surrounded
by the lake, was to be planted by the Lacedæmonians.[79] These,
indeed, were among the many unfulfilled prophecies which from every
side cheated the Grecian ear,—proceeding in this case probably from
Kyrenæan or Theræan traders, who thought the spot advantageous for
settlement, and circulated their own hopes under the form of divine
assurances. It was about the year 510 B. C.[80] that some of these
Theræans conducted the Spartan prince Dorieus to found a colony in
the fertile region of Kinyps, belonging to the Libyan Makæ. But
Carthage, interested in preventing the extension of Greek settlements
westward, aided the Libyans in driving him out.
[72] ταπεινή τε καὶ ψαμμώδης (Herodot. iv, 191); Sallust, Bell.
Jugurthin. c. 17.
Captain Beechey points out the mistaken conceptions which have
been entertained of this region:—
“It is not only in the works of early writers that we find the
nature of the Syrtis misunderstood; for the whole of the space
between Mesurata (_i. e._ the cape which forms the western
extremity of the Great Syrtis) and Alexandria is described
by Leo Africanus, under the title of Barka, as a wild and
desert country, where there is neither water nor land capable
of cultivation. He tells us that the most powerful among the
Mohammedan invaders possessed themselves of the fertile parts of
the coast, leaving the others only the desert for their abode,
exposed to all the miseries and privations attendant upon it; for
this desert (he continues) is far removed from any habitations,
and nothing is produced there whatever. So that if these poor
people would have a supply of grain, or of any other articles
necessary to their existence, they are obliged to pledge their
children to the Sicilians who visit the coast; who, on providing
them with these things, carry off the children they have
received....
“It appears to be chiefly from Leo Africanus that modern
historians have derived their idea of what they term the
district and desert of Barka. Yet the whole of the Cyrenaica is
comprehended within the limits which they assign to it; and the
authority of Herodotus, without citing any other, would be amply
sufficient to prove that this tract of country not only was no
desert, but was at all times remarkable for its fertility....
The impression left upon our minds, after reading the account of
Herodotus, would be much more consistent with the appearance and
peculiarities of both, in their actual state, than that which
would result from the description of any succeeding writer....
The district of Barka, including all the country between Mesurata
and Alexandria, neither is, nor ever was, so destitute and barren
as has been represented: the part of it which constitutes the
Cyrenaica is capable of the highest degree of cultivation, and
many parts of the Syrtis afford excellent pasturage, while some
of it is not only adapted to cultivation, but does actually
produce good crops of barley and dhurra.” (Captain Beechey,
Expedition to Northern Coast of Africa, ch. x, pp. 263, 265, 267,
269: comp. ch. xi, p. 321.)
[73] Justin, xiii, 7. “Amœnitatem loci et fontium ubertatem.”
Captain Beechey notices this annual migration of the Bedouin
Arabs:—
“Teucheira (on the coast between Hesperides and Barka) abounds
in wells of excellent water, which are reserved by the Arabs for
their summer consumption, and only resorted to when the more
inland supplies are exhausted: at other times it is uninhabited.
Many of the excavated tombs are occupied as dwelling-houses by
the Arabs during their summer visits to that part of the coast.”
(Beechey, Exp. to North. Afric. ch. xii, p. 354.)
And about the wide mountain plain, or table-land of Mergê,
the site of the ancient Barka, “The water from the mountains
inclosing the plain settles in pools and lakes in different parts
of this spacious valley; and affords a constant supply during the
summer months, to the Arabs who frequent it.” (ch. xiii, p. 390.)
The red earth which Captain Beechey observed in this plain is
noticed by Herodotus in regard to Libya (ii, 12). Stephan. Byz.
notices also the bricks used in building (v. Βάρκη). Derna, too,
to the eastward of Cyrene on the sea-coast, is amply provided
with water (ch. xvi, p. 471).
About Kyrênê itself, Captain Beechey states: “During the time,
about a fortnight, of our absence from Kyrene, the changes
which had taken place in the appearance of the country about it
were remarkable. We found the hills on our return covered with
Arabs, their camels, flocks, and herds; the scarcity of water
in the interior at this time having driven the Bedouins to the
mountains, and particularly to Kyrene, where the springs afford
at all times an abundant supply. The corn was all cut, and the
high grass and luxuriant vegetation, which we had found it so
difficult to wade through on former occasions, had been eaten
down to the roots by the cattle.” (ch. xviii, pp. 517-520.)
The winter rains are also abundant, between January and March, at
Bengazi (the ancient Hesperides): sweet springs of water near the
town (ch. xi, pp. 282, 315, 327). About Ptolemeta, or Ptolemais,
the port of the ancient Barka, _ib._ ch. xii, p. 363.
[74] Herodot. iv, 170-171. παραλία σφόδρα εὐδαίμων. Strabo, ii,
p. 131. πολυμήλου καὶ πολυκαρποτάτας χθονὸς, Pindar. Pyth. ix, 7.
[75] Herodot. iv, 186, 187, 189, 190. Νομάδες κρεοφάγοι καὶ
γαλακτοπόται. Pindar, Pyth. ix, 127, ἱππευταὶ Νομάδες. Pompon.
Mela, i, 8.
[76] See the fourth, fifth, and ninth Pythian Odes of Pindar. In
the description given by Sophoklês (Electra, 695) of the Pythian
contests, in which pretence is made that Orestês has perished,
ten contending chariots are supposed, of which two are Libyan,
from Barka: of the remaining eight, one only comes from each
place named.
[77] Herodot. iv, 172-182. Compare Hornemann’s Travels in Africa,
p. 48, and Heeren, Verkehr und Handel der Alten Welt, Th. ii,
Abth. 1, Abschnitt vi, p. 226.
[78] Herodot. iv, 175-188.
[79] Herodot. iv, 178, 179, 195, 196.
[80] Herodot. iv, 42.
The Libyans in the immediate neighborhood of Kyrênê were materially
changed by the establishment of that town, and constituted a large
part—at first, probably, far the largest part—of its constituent
population. Not possessing that fierce tenacity of habits which the
Mohammedan religion has impressed upon the Arabs of the present
day, they were open to the mingled influence of constraint and
seduction applied by Grecian settlers; so that in the time of
Herodotus, the Kabales and the Asbystæ of the interior had come
to copy Kyrenæan tastes and customs.[81] The Theræan colonists,
having obtained not merely the consent but even the guidance of the
natives to their occupation of Kyrênê, constituted themselves like
privileged Spartan citizens in the midst of Libyan Periœki.[82] They
seem to have married Libyan wives, whence Herodotus describes the
women of Kyrênê and Barka as following, even in his time, religious
observances indigenous and not Hellenic.[83] Even the descendants
of the primitive œkist Battus were semi-Libyan. For Herodotus gives
us the curious information that Battus was the Libyan word for a
king, deducing from it the just inference, that the name Battus was
not originally personal to the œkist, but acquired in Libya first
as a title,[84]—and that it afterwards passed to his descendants
as a proper name. For eight generations the reigning princes were
called Battus and Arkesilaus, the Libyan denomination alternating
with the Greek, until the family was finally deprived of its power.
Moreover, we find the chief of Barka, kinsman of Arkesilaus of Kyrênê
bearing the name of Alazir; a name certainly not Hellenic, and
probably Libyan.[85] We are, therefore, to conceive the first Theræan
colonists as established in their lofty fortified post Kyrênê, in the
centre of Libyan Periœki, till then strangers to walls, to arts, and
perhaps even to cultivated land. Probably these Periœki were always
subject and tributary, in a greater or less degree, though they
continued for half a century to retain their own king.
[81] Herodot. iv, 170. νόμους δὲ τοὺς πλείστους μιμέεσθαι
ἐπιτηδεύουσι τοὺς Κυρηναίων.
[82] Herodot. iv, 161. Θηραίων καὶ τῶν περιοίκων, etc.
[83] Herodot. iv, 186-189. Compare, also, the story in Pindar.
Pyth. ix, 109-126, about Alexidamus, the ancestor of Telesikratês
the Kyrenæan; how the former won, by his swiftness in running,
a Libyan maiden, daughter of Antæus of Irasa,—and Kallimachus,
Hymn. Apoll. 86.
[84] Herodot. iv, 155.
[85] Herodot. iv, 164.
To these rude men the Theræans communicated the elements of Hellenism
and civilization, not without receiving themselves much that was
non-Hellenic in return; and perhaps the reactionary influence of
the Libyan element against the Hellenic might have proved the
stronger of the two, had they not been reinforced by new-comers
from Greece. After forty years of Battus the œkist (about 630-590
B. C.), and sixteen years of his son Arkesilaus (about 590-574 B.
C.), a second Battus[86] succeeded, called Battus the Prosperous,
to mark the extraordinary increase of Kyrênê during his presidency.
The Kyrenæans under him took pains to invite new settlers from all
parts of Greece without distinction,—a circumstance deserving notice
in Grecian colonization, which usually manifested a preference for
certain races, if it did not positively exclude the rest. To every
new-comer was promised a lot of land, and the Delphian priestess
strenuously seconded the wishes of the Kyrenæans, proclaiming that
“whosoever should reach the place too late for the land-division,
would have reason to repent it.” Such promise of new land, as well
as the sanction of the oracle, were doubtless made public at all the
games and meetings of Greeks, and a large number of new colonists
embarked for Kyrênê. The exact number is not mentioned, but we must
conceive it to have been very great, when we are told that during the
succeeding generation, not less than seven thousand Grecian hoplites
of Kyrênê perished by the hands of the revolted Libyans,—yet leaving
both the city itself and its neighbor Barka still powerful. The loss
of so great a number as seven thousand Grecian hoplites has very
few parallels throughout the whole history of Greece. In fact, this
second migration, during the government of Battus the Prosperous,
which must have taken place between 574-554 B. C., ought to be looked
upon as the moment of real and effective colonization for Kyrênê. It
was on this occasion, probably, that the port of Apollonia, which
afterwards came to equal the city itself in importance, was first
occupied and fortified,—for this second swarm of emigrants came by
sea direct, while the original colonists had reached Kyrênê by land
from the island of Platea through Irasa. The fresh emigrants came
from Peloponnesus, Krete, and some other islands of the Ægean.
[86] Respecting the chronology of the Battiad princes, see
Boeckh, ad Pindar. Pyth. iv, p. 265, and Thirge, Histor. Cyrenes,
p. 127, _seq._
To furnish so many new lots of land, it was either necessary, or it
was deemed expedient, to dispossess many of the Libyan Periœki, who
found their situation in other respects also greatly changed for the
worse. The Libyan king Adikran, himself among the sufferers, implored
aid from Apriês king of Egypt, then in the height of his power;
sending to declare himself and his people Egyptian subjects, like
their neighbors the Adyrmachidæ. The Egyptian prince, accepting the
offer, despatched a large military force of the native soldier-caste,
who were constantly in station at the western frontier-town Marea,
by the route along shore to attack Kyrênê. They were met at Irasa by
the Greeks of Kyrênê, and, being totally ignorant of Grecian arms and
tactics, experienced a defeat so complete that few of them reached
home.[87] The consequences of this disaster in Egypt, where it caused
the transfer of the throne from Apriês to Amasis, have been noticed
in a former chapter.
[87] Herodot. iv, 159.
Of course the Libyan Periœki were put down, and the redivision of
lands near Kyrênê among the Greek settlers accomplished, to the
great increase of the power of the city. And the reign of Battus
the Prosperous marks a flourishing era in the town, and a large
acquisition of land-dominion, antecedent to years of dissension and
distress. The Kyrenæans came into intimate alliance with Amasis king
of Egypt, who encouraged Grecian connection in every way, and who
even took to wife Ladikê, a woman of the Battiad family at Kyrênê, so
that the Libyan Periœki lost all chance of Egyptian aid against the
Greeks.[88]
[88] Herodot. ii, 180-181.
New prospects, however, were opened to them during the reign of
Arkesilaus the Second, son of Battus the Prosperous, (about 554-544
B. C.). The behavior of this prince incensed and alienated his own
brothers, who raised a revolt against him, seceded with a portion
of the citizens, and induced a number of the Libyan Periœki to take
part with them. They founded the Greco-Libyan city of Barka, in the
territory of the Libyan Auschisæ, about twelve miles from the coast,
distant from Kyrênê by sea about seventy miles to the westward. The
space between the two, and even beyond Barka, as far as the more
westerly Grecian colony called Hesperides, was in the days of Skylax
provided with commodious ports for refuge or landing:[89] at what
time Hesperides was founded we do not know, but it existed about
510 B. C.[90] Whether Arkesilaus obstructed the foundation of Barka
is not certain; but he marched the Kyrenæan forces against those
revolted Libyans who had joined it. Unable to resist, the latter
fled for refuge to their more easterly brethren near the borders of
Egypt, and Arkesilaus pursued them. At length, in a district called
Leukôn, the fugitives found an opportunity of attacking him at such
prodigious advantage, that they almost destroyed the Kyrenæan army,
seven thousand hoplites (as has been before intimated) being left
dead on the field. Arkesilaus did not long survive this disaster. He
was strangled during sickness by his brother Learchus, who aspired to
the throne; but Eryxô, widow of the deceased prince,[91] avenged the
crime, by causing Learchus to be assassinated.
[89] Herodot. iv, 160; Skylax, c. 107; Hekatæus, Fragm. 300, ed.
Klausen.
[90] Herodot. iv, 204.
[91] Herodot. iv, 160. Plutarch (De Virtutibus Mulier. p. 261)
and Polyænus (viii, 41) give various details of this stratagem
on the part of Eryxô; Learchus being in love with her. Plutarch
also states that Learchus maintained himself as despot for some
time by the aid of Egyptian troops from Amasis, and committed
great cruelties. His story has too much the air of a romance to
be transcribed into the text, nor do I know from what authority
it is taken.
That the credit of the Battiad princes was impaired by such a series
of disasters and enormities, we can readily believe. But it received
a still greater shock from the circumstance, that Battus the Third,
son and successor of Arkesilaus, was lame and deformed in his feet.
To be governed by a man thus personally disabled, was in the minds
of the Kyrenæans an indignity not to be borne, as well as an excuse
for preëxisting discontents; and the resolution was taken to send to
the Delphian oracle for advice. They were directed by the priestess
to invite from Mantineia, a moderator, empowered to close discussions
and provide a scheme of government,—the Mantineans selecting Demônax,
one of the wisest of their citizens, to solve the same problem which
had been committed to Solon at Athens. By his arrangement, the regal
prerogative of the Battiad line was terminated, and a republican
government established seemingly about 543 B. C.; the dispossessed
prince retaining both the landed domains[92] and the various
sacerdotal functions which had belonged to his predecessors.
[92] Herodot. iv, 161. Τῷ βασιλέϊ Βάττῳ τεμένεα ἐξελὼν καὶ
ἱρωσύνας, τὰ ἄλλα πάντα τὰ πρότερον εἶχον οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐς μέσον τῷ
δήμῳ ἔθηκε.
I construe the word τεμένεα as meaning all the domains, doubtless
large, which had belonged to the Battiad princes; contrary
to Thrige (Historia Cyrênês, ch. 38, p. 150), who restricts
the expression to revenues derived from sacred property. The
reference of Wesseling to Hesych.—Βάττου σίλφιον—is of no avail
for illustrating this passage.
The supposition of O. Müller, that the preceding king had made
himself despotic by means of Egyptian soldiers, appears to me
neither probable in itself, nor admissible upon the simple
authority of Plutarch’s romantic story, when we take into
consideration the silence of Herodotus. Nor is Müller correct in
affirming that Demônax “restored the supremacy of the community:”
that legislator superseded the old kingly political privileges,
and framed a new constitution (see O. Müller, History of Dorians,
b. iii, ch. 9. s. 13.)
Respecting the government, as newly framed, however, Herodotus
unfortunately gives us hardly any particulars. Demônax classified
the inhabitants of Kyrênê into three tribes; composed of: 1.
Theræans with their Libyan Periœki; 2. Greeks who had come from
Peloponnesus and Krete; 3. Such Greeks as had come from all other
islands in the Ægean. It appears, too, that a senate was constituted,
taken doubtless from these three tribes, and we may presume, in
equal proportion. It seems probable that there had been before no
constitutional classification, nor political privilege, except what
was vested in the Theræans,—that these latter, the descendants of
the original colonists were the only persons hitherto _known to the
constitution_,—and that the remaining Greeks, though free landed
proprietors and hoplites, were not permitted to act as an integral
part of the body politic, nor distributed in tribes at all.[93] The
whole powers of government,—up to this time vested in the Battiad
princes, subject only to such check, how effective we know not, which
the citizens of Theræan origin might be able to interpose,—were
now transferred from the prince to the people; that is, to certain
individuals or assemblies chosen somehow from among all the citizens.
There existed at Kyrênê, as at Thêra and Sparta, a board of Ephors,
and a band of three hundred armed police,[94] analogous to those
who were called the Hippeis, or Horsemen, at Sparta: whether these
were instituted by Demônax, we do not know, nor does the identity of
titular office, in different states, afford safe ground for inferring
identity of power. This is particularly to be remarked with regard
to the Periœki at Kyrênê, who were perhaps more analogous to the
Helots than to the Periœki of Sparta. The fact that the Periœki were
considered in the new constitution as belonging specially to the
Theræan branch of citizens, shows that these latter still continued a
privileged order, like the Patricians with their Clients at Rome in
relation to the Plebs.
[93] Both O. Müller (Dor. b. iii, 4, 5), and Thrige (Hist. Cyren.
c. 38, p. 148), speak of Demônax as having abolished the old
tribes and created new ones. I do not conceive the change in this
manner. Demônax did not _abolish_ any tribes, but distributed
for the first time the inhabitants into tribes. It is possible
indeed that, before his time, the Theræans of Kyrênê may have
been divided among themselves into distinct tribes; but the other
inhabitants, having emigrated from a great number of different
places, had never before been thrown into tribes at all. Some
formal enactment or regulation was necessary for this purpose,
to define and sanction that religious, social, and political
communion, which went to make up the idea of the Tribe. It is not
to be assumed, as a matter of course, that there must necessarily
have been tribes anterior to Demônax, among a population so
miscellaneous in its origin.
[94] Hesychius, Τριακάτιοι; Eustath. ad Hom. Odyss. p. 303;
Herakleidês Pontic. De Polit. c. 4.
That the rearrangement introduced by Demônax was wise, consonant to
the general current of Greek feeling, and calculated to work well,
there is good reason to believe: and no discontent within would have
subverted it without the aid of extraneous force. Battus the Lame
acquiesced in it peaceably during his life; but his widow and his
son, Pheretimê and Arkesilaus, raised a revolt after his death, and
tried to regain by force the kingly privileges of the family. They
were worsted and obliged to flee,—the mother to Cyprus, the son to
Samos,—where both employed themselves in procuring foreign arms to
invade and conquer Kyrênê. Though Pheretimê could obtain no effective
aid from Euelthôn prince of Salamis in Cyprus, her son was more
successful in Samos, by inviting new Greek settlers to Kyrênê, under
promise of a redistribution of the land. A large body of emigrants
joined him on this promise; the period seemingly being favorable to
it, since the Ionian cities had not long before become subject to
Persia, and were discontented with the yoke. But before he conducted
this numerous band against his native city, he thought proper to
ask the advice of the Delphian oracle. Success in the undertaking
was promised to him, but moderation and mercy after success was
emphatically enjoined, on pain of losing his life; and the Battiad
race was declared by the god to be destined to rule at Kyrênê for
eight generations, but no longer,—as far as four princes named Battus
and four named Arkesilaus.[95] “More than such eight generations
(said the Pythia), Apollo forbids the Battiads even to aim at.” This
oracle was doubtless told to Herodotus by Kyrenæan informants when he
visited their city after the final deposition of the Battiad princes,
which took place in the person of the fourth Arkesilaus, between
460-450 B. C.; the invasion of Kyrênê by Arkesilaus the Third, sixth
prince of the Battiad race, to which the oracle professed to refer,
having occurred about 530 B. C. The words placed in the mouth of
the priestess doubtless date from the later of these two periods,
and afford a specimen of the way in which pretended prophecies are
not only made up by antedating after-knowledge, but are also so
contrived as to serve a present purpose. For the distinct prohibition
of the god, “not even to aim at a longer lineage than eight Battiad
princes,” seems plainly intended to deter the partisans of the
dethroned family from endeavoring to reinstate them.
[95] Herodot. iv, 163. Ἐπὶ μὲν τέσσερας Βάττους, καὶ Ἀρκεσιλέως
τέσσερας, διδοῖ ὑμῖν Λοξίης βασιλεύειν Κυρήνης· πλέον μέντοι
τούτου οὐδὲ πειρᾶσθαι παραινέει.
Arkesilaus the Third, to whom this prophecy purports to have been
addressed, returned with his mother Pheretimê and his army of new
colonists to Kyrênê. He was strong enough to carry all before him,—to
expel some of his chief opponents and seize upon others, whom he
sent to Cyprus to be destroyed; though the vessels were driven out
of their course by storms to the peninsula of Knidus, where the
inhabitants rescued the prisoners and sent them to Thêra. Other
Kyrenæans, opposed to the Battiads, took refuge in a lofty private
tower, the property of Aglômachus, wherein Arkesilaus caused them
all to be burned, heaping wood around and setting it on fire. But
after this career of triumph and revenge, he became conscious that
he had departed from the mildness enjoined to him by the oracle, and
sought to avoid the punishment which it had threatened by retiring
from Kyrênê. At any rate, he departed from Kyrênê to Barka, to the
residence of the Barkæan prince, his kinsman Alazir, whose daughter
he had married. But he found in Barka some of the unfortunate men
who had fled from Kyrênê to escape him: these exiles, aided by a
few Barkæans, watched for a suitable moment to assail him in the
market-place, and slew him, together with his kinsman the prince
Alazir.[96]
[96] Herodot. iv, 163-164.
The victory of Arkesilaus at Kyrênê, and his assassination at Barka,
are doubtless real facts; but they seem to have been compressed
together and incorrectly colored, in order to give to the death of
the Kyrenæan prince the appearance of a divine judgment. For the
reign of Arkesilaus cannot have been very short, since events of the
utmost importance occurred within it. The Persians under Kambysês
conquered Egypt, and both the Kyrenæan and the Barkæan prince sent to
Memphis to make their submission to the conqueror,—offering presents
and imposing upon themselves an annual tribute. The presents of the
Kyrenæans, five hundred minæ of silver, were considered by Kambysês
so contemptibly small, that he took hold of them at once and threw
them among his soldiers. And at the moment when Arkesilaus died,
Aryandes, the Persian satrap after the death of Kambysês, is found
established in Egypt.[97]
[97] Herodot. iii, 13; iv, 165-166.
During the absence of Arkesilaus at Barka, his mother Pheretimê had
acted as regent, taking her place at the discussions in the senate;
but when his death took place, and the feeling against the Battiads
manifested itself strongly at Barka, she did not feel powerful enough
to put it down, and went to Egypt to solicit aid from Aryandes. The
satrap, being made to believe that Arkesilaus had met his death in
consequence of steady devotion to the Persians, sent a herald to
Barka to demand the men who had slain him. The Barkæans assumed the
collective responsibility of the act, saying that he had done them
injuries both numerous and severe,—a farther proof that his reign
cannot have been very short. On receiving this reply, the satrap
immediately despatched a powerful Persian armament, land-force as
well as sea-force, in fulfilment of the designs of Pheretimê against
Barka. They besieged the town for nine months, trying to storm, to
batter, and to undermine the walls;[98] but their efforts were vain,
and it was taken at last only by an act of the grossest perfidy.
Pretending to relinquish the attempt in despair, the Persian general
concluded a treaty with the Barkæans, wherein it was stipulated that
the latter should continue to pay tribute to the Great King, but that
the army should retire without farther hostilities: “I swear it (said
the Persian general), and my oath shall hold good, as long as this
earth shall keep its place.” But the spot on which the oaths were
exchanged had been fraudulently prepared: a ditch had been excavated
and covered with hurdles, upon which again a surface of earth had
been laid. The Barkæans, confiding in the oath, and overjoyed at
their liberation, immediately opened their gates and relaxed their
guard; while the Persians, breaking down the hurdles and letting fall
the superimposed earth, so that they might comply with the letter of
their oath, assaulted the city and took it without difficulty.
[98] Polyænus (Strateg. vii, 28) gives a narrative in many
respects different from this of Herodotus.
Miserable was the fate which Pheretimê had in reserve for these
entrapped prisoners. She crucified the chief opponents of herself and
her late son around the walls, on which were also affixed the breasts
of their wives: then, with the exception of such of the inhabitants
as were Battiads, and noway concerned in the death of Arkesilaus,
she consigned the rest to slavery in Persia. They were carried away
captive into the Persian empire, where Darius assigned to them a
village in Baktria as their place of abode, which still bore the name
of Barka, even in the days of Herodotus.
During the course of this expedition, it appears, the Persian army
advanced as far as Hesperides, and reduced many of the Libyan tribes
to subjection: these, together with Kyrênê and Barka, figure among
the tributaries and auxiliaries of Xerxês in his expedition against
Greece. And when the army returned to Egypt, by order of Aryandês,
they were half inclined to seize Kyrênê itself in their way, though
the opportunity was missed and the purpose left unaccomplished.[99]
[99] Herodot. iv, 203-204.
Pheretimê accompanied the retreating army to Egypt, where she died
shortly of a loathsome disease, consumed by worms; thus showing, says
Herodotus,[100] that “excessive cruelty in revenge brings down upon
men the displeasure of the gods.” It will be recollected that in the
veins of this savage woman the Libyan blood was intermixed with the
Grecian. Political enmity in Greece proper kills, but seldom if ever
mutilates or sheds the blood, of women.
[100] Herodot. iv, 205.
We thus leave Kyrênê and Barka again subject to Battiad princes, at
the same time that they are tributaries of Persia. Another Battus
and another Arkesilaus have to intervene before the glass of this
worthless dynasty is run out, between 460-450 B. C. I shall not at
present carry the reader’s attention to this last Arkesilaus, who
stands honored by two chariot victories in Greece, and two fine odes
of Pindar.
The victory of the third Arkesilaus, and the restoration of the
Battiads, broke up the equitable constitution established by
Demônax. His triple classification into tribes must have been
completely remodelled, though we do not know how. For the number
of new colonists whom Arkesilaus introduced must have necessitated
a fresh distribution of land, and it is extremely doubtful whether
the relation of the Theræan class of citizens with their Periœki, as
established by Demônax, still continued to subsist. It is necessary
to notice this fact, because the arrangements of Demônax are spoken
of by some authors as if they formed the permanent constitution of
Kyrênê; whereas they cannot have outlived the restoration of the
Battiads, nor can they even have been revived after that dynasty was
finally expelled, since the number of new citizens and the large
change of property, introduced by Arkesilaus the Third, would render
them inapplicable to the subsequent city.