Thesaurus

Near modern Shaḥḥāt; ancient Greek colony in Libya, founded ca. 631 BCE by a group of emigrants from the island of Thera in the Aegean. Under Ptolemaic Egypt (from 323 BCE), Cyrene became one of the great intellectual centers of the Classical world; site of the largest ancient Greek city on the continent of Africa. Was original capital of Cyrenaica and a city of Pentapolis; declined in the 3rd century due to attack by tribesmen and earthquake. It was abandoned by the 4th century CE.