According to legend, Zeus sent two eagles to find the ends of the Earth: one to the west, the other to the east. After obeying the order, the eagles returned at the same time. It was the place of their return - Delphi, a small town in Phocis (Middle Greece), that the ancient Greeks considered the center of Hellas and the whole world. There, near the famous temple of Apollo, was a symbolic image of the "navel of the Earth" - a domed elevation of white marble between two golden eagles. In this sanctuary, in the part of it that wasn't roofed over, che predicted-

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human destinies and political events Pythia, the prophetic priestess of the Delphic Oracle. Sitting on a tripod over a precipice from which intoxicating fumes rose, she would go into a frenzy and shout out isolated, incoherent, often unintelligible words. The oracle was not directly addressed with questions. First, they were written on tablets that were passed on to priests, prophets, and interpreters of the sacrifices, and then the questioners were invited to meet with the oracle on a certain day. The Pythian's answers also fell first into the hands of the priests, who worked hard on them. They put them in their proper form, gave them the meaning and poetic form of hexameters (Femonoe, the daughter of Apollo and the first priestess of the Delphic Oracle, allegedly spoke in hexameters first).

At Delphi, first nine years later, and then five years later, the Pythian competitions were held in honor of Apollo, where the best men in mind and body of Hellas competed. The city, the most important religious and cultural center of Greece, was famous far beyond its borders. Pilgrims or official ambassadors from Thrace, Italy, and Asia Minor sought the oracle's advice on personal and often important matters of state. The Delphic Pythia "predicted", among other things, the fate of the fabulously rich Lydian king Croesus, who was defeated by the Persians. As early as the fourth century A.D., when the oracle had already lost its former meaning, it was used by the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried to restore the pagan religion.

And the Oracle of Delphi, which was then a great political force and enjoyed universal respect, experienced its heyday in the archaic period of Greek history. Its influence on the legislation and internal order in the polis and on the international life of that time should not be underestimated. Many diplomatic intrigues had their origins in the temple of Apollo of the Pythians at Delphi. The political activity of the oracle, which was backed by the priesthood, was possible only because the latter had accumulated a lot of different knowledge, including the economic and geographical plan, and was aware of all events.

During the period of Greek colonization (VIII - VI centuries BC), the Delphic Oracle strongly promoted the removal of colonies from Hellas to all corners of the Mediterranean Sea.

In the middle of the seventh century BC, the Delphic oracle "ordered" the ruler of the Cycladic island of Phera, King Grinnus, to establish a colony in Libya, called by the poet Pindar "the beautiful garden of Zeus-Ammon", and to build a city there .1 Since the Phereans did not obey, according to Herodotus, for seven years "the deity did not send rain on Phere, so that all the trees withered except one." 2 In order not to feel the wrath of the gods any longer, the inhabitants of the island decided to choose by lot one of every two brothers and send part of the population in search of distant and unknown Libya. For a long time these people traveled to the African coast, making transitions from island to island, and once even returned home, after which the disasters on Fera began again. But when the colonists returned to their native island for the second time, the people who remained at home forcibly prevented them from landing: an example of how the departure of the surplus population was often not voluntary, and sometimes took the form of forced eviction. This, in turn, was an expression of the intensified class struggle in the Greek polis communities.

The foundation of Cyrene dates back to about 632 BC. e. The Phereians, joined by immigrants from Laconia under the leadership of Battus, the first Cyrene king, laid the city about 15 km from the sea. Cyrenians later often recalled the Spartans ' participation in the colonization of Libya. That is why they took their side in the Peloponnesian War and in 415 BC sent two ships to Sicily against the Athenian fleet operating there .3 And in the third century BC, when the links between the individual Greek poleis expanded, all the inhabitants of Phera became citizens of the city that had once been founded by their forefathers. 4 Cyrene was built on two hills separated by a small valley through which the road from the interior of Africa passed. This caravan route, as well as the proximity of the sea, favored the city's trading activities. Communication with the countries of the Mediterranean Sea was established through the Cyrenian port of Apollonia.

1 Herodotus, IV, 150 (see History in Nine Books, vol. I, Moscow, 1888).

2 Ibid., 151.

3 Thucydides, VII, 50, 2 (see "History of the Peloponnesian War in 8 books", Moscow, 1887-1888).

4 S. Ferri. Iscrizioni di Cirene. B. 1926, N2.

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The area of Cyrene (Cyrenaica) was very fertile. All the seasons were represented here, as it were. First, the fruits of the coastal strip ripened; then-the middle, hilly part of the Cyrenian territory; last, the harvest ripened in the highest part of Libya. "The gathering of fruits lasts eight months among the Cyrenians." 5 Cyrene was rich in bread and exported it, and when in 330-326 BC the Greek world was starving due to crop failures, it sent, according to one inscription, a total of 805,600 medimns of bread (one medimn is equal to 52 liters)to different cities6 . After the city fell under the rule of the Ptolemies, the latter took over its grain trade. Bread, which was constantly needed, was then used as a means of bribery. Cyrene was also famous for its cattle. The Delphic Oracle pointed out to the first colonists that" Libya is full of sheep". The Athenian playwright Hermippus, in one of his comedies, specifically mentions the bull skins that the Cyrenians traded in .7 Horse breeding also brought them large incomes .8 Among the Cyrenians, especially among the aristocrats, there were excellent riders and drivers. No wonder their names are found in the lists of winners at the Olympic Games. Herodotus, among other things, reports that the Hellenes learned to ride on four legs from the Libyans.

But the first wealth of the Cyrenians was the sylph plant, which, because of its medicinal properties and rarity, was valued in ancient times by its weight in gold .9 The Korean kings apparently monopolized the silphium trade. A bowl found in Etruria shows King Arcesilaus personally overseeing the loading of the plant's stems. By the end of the fourth century BC, this monopoly had passed into the hands of the Ptolemies .10 A smuggling trade in silphium flourished, which was conducted through the Carthaginian port of Charax, where Cyrenian merchants secretly delivered the plant and the juice squeezed from it. Later, silphius almost disappeared, because the Libyans, out of hostility to Cyrene, destroyed even its roots .11
During the time of the third Cyrenian king Battus the Happy (around the middle of the sixth century BC), the Cyrenians, who were experiencing a shortage of population, invited new immigrants from Greece, promising them land plots. The Delphic Oracle supported this appeal and urged the Hellenes to immediately go to a distant land: "Whoever arrives in a well-loving Libya later, when the land is distributed, I assure you, will soon repent." 12 The expansion of Cyrene and the oppression of neighboring Libyan tribes, who saw their only salvation in an alliance with Egypt, began. But the Egyptian army was defeated...

The population of Cyrene was not uniform: the first colonists from Fera, a new group of immigrants from all regions of Greece, natives of the local population and from Palestine. Especially strong in the city was the element of landowners who were engaged in raising livestock or grain farming. Josephus (I century AD) even places them in a separate group13 . There was also a significant layer of merchants and artisans. The first settlers of Cyrene, who rallied around the reigning house of Battiades, formed primarily a landowning aristocracy. It was opposed by a democratically minded part of the citizens who arrived in the city with the second wave of colonists .14 The antagonism between the two groups (although there were changes in their composition, especially after the overthrow of the royal power around 440 BC) determined the history of Cyrene at that time. During the reign of Arkesilaus II the Terrible, the fourth of the eight Battiades who ruled over Cyrene, dynastic strife began. They led to the fact that part of the population under the leadership of the king's brothers left Cyrene and founded the city of Barca. A military clash ensued. The Cyrenians were defeated. Arkesilai himself was strangled by his own brother. Then the Cyrenians decided to reform the state system and, not without the assistance of the Delphic Oracle, they called Demonact, the most distinguished of the city's citizens, to rule

5 Herodotus, IV, 199.

6 See S. A. Zhebelev. The fertility of Cyrene. "Reports" of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1929, No. 6.

7 "Athenaei Naucratitae Dipnosophistarum". Leipzig. 1887. Bd. 1, NN 27e-28a.

8 Strabo, XVII, 3, 21 (see "Geography in Seventeen Books", L. 1964).

9 For sylphs, see F. Chamoux, Cyrene sous la monarchie des Battiades. P 1953, pp. 247 - 263.

10 U. Wilcken. Alexander der Grosse. B. 1931, S. 68.

11 Strabo, XVII, 3, 20-22.

12 Herodotus, IV, 159.

13 Flavius, XIV, 7, 2 (see " On the Antiquity of the Jewish People. Against the Anion", St. Petersburg, 1898).

14 L. Malten. Kyrene. "Philologische Untersuchungen". 1911. Hf. 20, S. 98.

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Mantinei (in Arcadia). The king's power was limited. He retained, however, land holdings and priestly positions. The former political rights of the tsar became the national property .15
Arkesilaus III's attempt to restore the former royal power was futile. He was killed in Barca by several Cyrenian exiles. His wife appealed for protection to the Persian governor in Egypt, for Arcesilaus III was considered a tributary of Cambyses. So Cyrene came under Persian rule. After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, Cyrene entered into an alliance with him. He favored the Cyrenian aristocrats, who were now particularly eager to oppress the supporters of the moderate democracy established in the middle of the fifth century BC. e.And after the death of the Macedonian king, the political struggle reached a new intensity. At this moment, the adventurer and mercenary leader Fibron, a typical condottiero of the time, appeared at the walls of Cyrene. Initially flirting with both political groups, he finally won the support of the democratically-minded part of the citizens and killed many of his former supporters from the ranks of the aristocracy. The survivors fled to Egypt, to Ptolemy 16, to whom these political feuds gave the desired reason for active intervention in the internal affairs of the city. Dreaming of political unification within the framework of a large Hellenistic state of the entire North African coast of the Mediterranean Sea , 17 Ptolemy Lagid did not accidentally turn his eyes to Cyrene, the closest center of Greek culture to it. From here, Greek education and philosophical thought, literature and architecture could enter the land of the Pharaohs. Indeed, the share of the Cyrenians in the Hellenization of Egypt during the reign of the first Ptolemies was quite large .18 They were also attracted by the agricultural wealth of Cyrenaica, the possibility of entering into closer contact with Carthage and participating in trade with Western countries. In 322, after a brief siege, Cyrene fell and was incorporated into the Ptolemaic state. The city was dominated by an extreme oligarchy, all power was concentrated in the hands of the families of the ruling elite.

Nine years later, the Cyrenians rose in revolt to regain their former independence, 19 but their resistance was broken in 312 BC. In August 310 BC, when the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles, who was at enmity with Carthage, landed on the African coast, he hoped to win a victory over Syracuse's hated enemy Carthage. Ophel, the governor of Cyrene, with the idea of creating his own state, rejected Ptolemy and concluded an alliance with Agathocles .20 The unusual combination of the palm tree (symbol of Carthage) and the sylphium (symbol of Cyrene) on some Cyrenian coins indicates Ophel's planned unification of Cyrene with Carthage. However, the allied rivalry turned violent, and Ophel was killed in 309 BC. e. In Cyrene, the democratic group again triumphed. Inscriptions on several coins of that time attest to the independence of the city. But already in 308 - 307 BC, Egypt again conquered Cyrene . From this time, a document known as the "Constitution of Cyrene"has come down to us .22 This is a large inscription in ancient Greek, extracted in the 20s by Italian archaeologists from the Libyan sands and testifies to the intervention of the royal authorities in the internal political struggle. Ptolemy appointed himself strategos of Cyrene for life, and the College of Gerontii, among the 101, an obedient instrument in his hands, became the controlling authority of the city government.

Around 300, Magas, the half-brother of the future Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who was left governor of Cyrene, left the Egyptian guardianship, and in 275 BC, after declaring himself king, moved his army to Egypt. But then news of the Libyan revolt was received, and Magas was eventually forced to accept Ptolemaic sovereignty again .23
15 Herodotus, IV, 160-161.

16 Diodori Siculi "Bibliothecae historiae" (Lipsiae. 1888 - 1906), XVIII, 21.

17 W. Giesecke. Das Ptolemaergeld. Leipzig-B. 1930, S. 6.

18 F. Heichelheim. Die auswartige Bevolkerung im Ptolemaerreiche. "Klio", Bd. XVIII, 1925, S. 43.

19 Diod., XIX, 79.

20 Yustin. Epitome of the work of Pompey Trog. "Bulletin of Ancient History", 1954, N 2-4; 1955, N 1 (XXII, 7, 4).

21 Pausanias. Description of Hellas, Moscow, 1938, I, 6, 8.

22 "Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum". Vol. IX, fasc. I. Lugduni Batayorurn. 1938, N 1.

23 Justin, XXVI, 3. 2.

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In the following years, Cyrene's democratic tendencies intensified. The Arcadian philosophers Ekdem and Demophanes were invited, who gave "a beautiful structure to their city and ensured their freedom"24 . In 248 - 247 BC, Cyrene was finally annexed to Hellenistic Egypt. In 96, it was bequeathed to Rome by Ptolemy Apion. Later Cyrene belonged to the Byzantine Empire, and in the VIII century AD it was conquered by the Arabs.

The Theban poet Pyandar (521-441 BC) called Cyrene "the city of happiness". It was indeed a rich city. But wealth was created by the labor of slaves and dependent Libyans. Rumor about the treasures of Cyrene spread throughout the ancient world. Eupolides of Athens (fifth century BC), in his comedy The Debauchee, claimed "that even a modest Cyrenian wears rings worth ten minas." 25 Temples and public buildings were built according to the drawings of skilled architects. A stone road through the city led to the palace of the kings. In the market square was the grave of the legendary Battus, the founder of Cyrene. Behind the city wall was the sanctuary of Aphrodite. The streets and squares of Cyrene were decorated with many sculptural monuments. Statues were erected on various occasions. One was dedicated to Apollo, another praised a man who had served the civil community, and the third depicted the winner of sports competitions.

To this day, the names of many well-known Cyrenians in antiquity still live. Aristippus (435-355 BC), a disciple of Socrates, after the death of his famous teacher, established his own school of philosophy, called Cyrenaica. Its representatives saw the highest goal of life in pleasures, which a person, however, should enjoy moderately, intelligently and with taste, while preserving the freedom of the soul. Aristippus was the first of Socrates ' students to take money for teaching philosophical views, thus emphasizing their practical orientation. Another native of Cyrene, the poet Callimachus (310-240 BC), was considered a master of idylls. He was opposed to large literary works and considered a large book to be a great evil. He also introduced the elegiac verse into fashion. Although the hymns of Callimachus, unlike the epigrams written by his hand, indicate his learning rather than his poetic gift, they were highly appreciated by Quintilius, the famous Roman rhetorician of the first century AD.e. The flourishing of Callimachus ' work coincided with the years of his activity in the Library of Alexandria, where he was invited by Ptolemy Philadelphus. Outstanding geographer of the third century BC. Eratosthenes was also born in Cyrene and, like Callimachus, worked for many years in the Alexandrian Museum. He brought into the system the geographical knowledge of his era. He has a number of brilliant anticipations. Eratosthenes considered the earth as a sphere, and all the oceans, in his opinion, form one ocean. Based on these assumptions, he concluded that it was possible to sail from Spain around Africa to India or reach it through the ocean lying to the west of Africa, which Eratosthenes soberly imagined divided by some land. Apparently, this is what allowed Seneca to predict the existence of"another continent" 26 , discovered later by Columbus. Eratosthenes was a very versatile scientist. In addition to geography, he studied mathematics, astronomy, history and philosophy. He also wrote poetry. All this earned him the honorary nickname "Beta", which means that Eratosthenes was "Second" in all fields of science in their entirety.

A close connection existed between Cyrene and the oracle of Ammon in the Siwa oasis, where many of its inhabitants turned, seeing in Ammon not an alien Egyptian god, but Zeus. This identification did not arise without the influence of the Greeks of Cyrenaica. Alexander the Great made a journey to this oracle, where the high priest of Ammon met him as "the son of Zeus" 27, after which his deification began. The" children "of Zeus, the Greeks who settled in Cyrenaica and built their cities there, firmly "fastened" the flap of Greece to the African continent.

24 Polybius, X, 22 (see Universal History, Moscow, 1890).

25 Adrian. Motley Stories, Moscow, 1964.

26 See V. Tarn. Hellenistic Civilization, Moscow, 1949, p. 275.

27 Ph. Derchain. Der Hellenismus und der Aufstieg Roms. "Fischer-Weltgeschichte". Bd. 6. Frankfurt a/M. 1965, S. 324.

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