Jews and Greeks in ancient Cyrene

CHAPTER ONE THE LAND OF THE CYRENES

The peculiar geographical characteristic of Cyrenaica is its relative isolation from other centres of ancient culture: it is in effect a desert oasis cut off on the east and south by desert tracts, and on the north and west, by the sea.[2] The country differs geologically from the surrounding areas, resembling as it does mainland Greece in its landscape and character. Because of its geographical situation, Cyrene’s entry into the sphere of ancient culture depended on the development of sea-routes, yet even this development did not lead immediately to settlement, since the Phoenicians, did not lead immediately to settlement, since the Phoenicians, for example, in their quest for lands with abundant natural resources, Greeks reached Libya comparatively late in their period of overseas colonization, evidently on account of population growth in their home-country, and settled Cyrene because the coasts to east and west had been long occupied by other peoples, or were hardly worth settling. Unlike the Phoenicians, the Greeks settled in their new country primarily to earn their living by agriculture, and turned to commerce only subsequently.[3]

Cyrene’s isolation from the continent, and the prevailing Mediterranean winds, destined her to be a point d’appuie for European civilization in Africa, although the same isolation impressed upon her certain cultural features of her own and determined her distinctive development. Thus, for a long time the country was more closely connected with Crete and Greece than with the remaining regions of Africa, and her links with Egypt, made permanent by the conquests of Alexander the Great, only became really stable under Roman rule. Rome recognized the situation for what it was when she united Cyrene administratively, not with Tripolitania or with Egypt, but with Crete, a striking testimony to Cyrene’s position on the part of a power so skilled in the creation and maintenance of communications. Only under Diocletian was Cyrene attached to Egypt.[4]

The difficulties facing Cyrene’s links with Europe, nevertheless, should not be exaggerated. Till recently the country was thought to lack good harbours, since her coast is rocky but not strongly indented. The scarp of the Jebel al-Ahdar, indeed, closes upon the shore and renders difficult access to the interior, and the only large port on the west, Bengazi, is exposed to the northern gales. Recent surveys, however,[5] have shown that the central sector of the coast possesses several small but viable bays suitable for the light vessels of ancient times (Phycus, Ausigda, and Naustathmos) in addition to the more important harbours of Ptolemais and Apollonia. The Greek colonists settled near the coast, and there generally remained; their two most ancient and notable inland settlements, Cyrene and Barka, ultimately lost their importance, which passed to their daughter-harbours, Apollonia and Ptolemais. This was caused, not only by the Greek reluctance to live far from the sea, but also by the country’s dependance on maritime communications and by the growing pressure of the native nomadic tribes. Even more decisive was the climatic factor, since only near the coast was rainfall sufficient for permanent agriculture without the use of water stored by means of dams and cisterns. Thus a certain contradiction was produced by a shortage of natural harbours and the necessity of sea communications, and this may explain why Cyrene never became a seapower comparable to Athens, Carthage or Rome.

The country can be divided into three zones, differing from one another in soil, climate and natural features. These are the plateau on the north (the Jebel al-Ahdar), the steppe, and, southernmost, the stony wastes that fade into the Sahara desert. The Jebel, the most prominent feature of the country, is a karst massif of miocene limestone, occupying the centre and greater part of the country, bordering closely with the coast, and falling gradually on the south through the steppe to the desert. It ends abruptly on the north, where it is highest, and falls seaward by three scarps which create two parallel terraces. The first and lowest, is a narrow strip not exceeding eight kilometres in width as far as Teucheira (Tocra) on the west; it is known as es-Sahal. It stretches from Bomba on the east to the Gulf of Syrtis on the west. On the west the escarpment swings away from the coast, forming the plains of Tocra and Bengazi between itself and the shore. The second terrace, known as al-Lusaita (“the middle”) is broader, narrowing as it goes eastward, but continuing broad to westward to become the fertile Plain of Barka, today the granary of Cyrenaica. The western Lusaita terrace curves south parallel with the Syrtic shore and disappears near es-Sulidema. Its eastern termination is at the cape of Ras-al-Tin. The Lusaita is cut by wadis, broken by bosses, and covered by red soil washed from the stream beds. Along it runs the Tariq al-Arqub, which may be compared with the ridgeways of the south of England, and constituted without a doubt the most ancient and fundamental route in the country. The third and uppermost terrace occupies the plateau summit, the Sidi el-Hamrin, the Jebel’s broadest massif, that falls gradually towards the south; its highest point is 800 m. above sea-level, and its scarp stretches from Derna on the east to Barka on the west, though not continuous throughout the central Jebel. The central plateau is rocky and cut by stream beds; part is undulating plainland, and there are also enclosed dales of limited size. Near Cyrene, Messa, Barka and al-Abbiar, there stretch considerable areas of fertile plainland. The plateau is further penetrated from the south by numerous narrow ravines, the most important being Wadi al-Kuf, which enters from the south-west and ends in the heart of the Jebel to west of Messa. This long deep ravine constitutes a hidden corridor of penetration into the country’s vitals, creating a grave problem in ancient times for the defence of permanent settlement against the raids of desert-dwellers.

Southward the green plateau fades into steppe, and on its desert fringe shallow depressions filled with eroded silt (Arabic:baltet) are to be found, divided from one another by low ridges. Finally the landscape becomes completely desert, with stretches of flint “hamadah” that form the approaches of the Saharah.

Cyrenaica is composed chiefly of Eocene and Oligocene limestones of marine origin;[6] the surface is covered chiefly by rocks of the Middle Miocene phase, permeable, fragmentated and honeycombed with numerous caves; the mountains of the Jebel are thus characterized by those features known geologically as Karst. It is these that determine the country’s water supply, which will be discussed at a later stage. In the western coastal sector, between Tocra and Bengazi, much sea water penetrates inland below ground-level, so forming saltwater lagoons which dry up in summer and furnish natural salt to the inhabitants.

The country’s internal communications present no great difficulty, and run generally from east to west. The main difficulty is constituted by the ascent of the coastal terraces, and also of the plateau at its east and west ends, at Derna and Tocra respectively. The Tarik el-Arkub and routes along the upper ridge of the Plateau serve east-west traffic, while the southern foot of the Jebel is skirted from east to west by the ancient Tarik al-’Azizah, which links Bengazi with Derna. Despite the penetration of convenient stream beds into the Jebel from the south, there appears to be no evidence that Cyrene was directly linked in ancient times with any route traversing the Saharah from north to south; these southern approaches, indeed were barred by the Calanshu Sand Sea and by the wastes of the Jebel Zelten.[7]

The climate of Cyrenaica, which is subject to the influence both of the Mediterranean and the desert, resembles in many ways that of the south of Israel, but is rather cooler. From January to March temperatures of 12-14 degrees are usual, while in July and August 28-29 degrees are reached on the plateau. The fluctuations in the coastal belt are less extreme, and at the highest point of the Jebel and along its watershed there are sharp differences between day and night temperatures caused by the proximity of the desert. Winter rains mixed with sleet sometimes fall on the plateau, which occasionally also experiences frost. The Plateau summer temperatures are generally lower than those of the lower areas to west and south, but a hot wind, the Jibli, blows from the south in the autumn and spring and is apt to parch the field crops in their period of vital growth.

The country’s precipitation is restricted to the winter, between October and May, and varies in quantity from area to area. The highest rainfall is about Cyrene near the summit of the Jebel, where the annual average is 600 mm, but may reach 1000 mm in good years. On the desert fringes and on the southern slopes of the Jebel, on the other hand, precipitation averages only 100 mm. Rainfall decreases from west to east and from north to south, averaging 200-300 mm at Bengazi, 400 mm along the north coast. The west coast, south of Bengazi, however, receives no more than 150-200 mm., and the same applies to the country’s coast east of Martuba. But against these averages must be set the common view of the inhabitants, that drought is apt to recur every fourth year.

The rainy season coincides with the season of maximum coolness, which restricts evaporation; but the permeable character of the country’s rocks causes the loss of much water by infiltration to deep strata, in so far as the runoff does not flow to waste in the wadis. On the other hand the Jebel’s relatively high rainfall has caused the formation over certain areas of layers of terra rossa, the residues of limestones in dissolution; this is a fertile water-retaining soil which possesses most of the elements required for the successful growing of cereals. These soils are distributed along the plateau between al-Gubba on the east and al-Abbiar on the west. The Plateau further possesses scattered tracts of loam, sand and chalk.

Permanently-flowing streams are rare in the country owing to the permeable character of its rock. Such, nevertheless, are Wadi Derna, which springs west of ‛Ein Mara, and the Lethe near Bengazi, which flows entirely underground. Springs which break out from the rocks of the Jebel are few, as a result of the relative scarcity of water-tables formed by impermeable strata. Where such exist, they are marl strata situated principally in the eastern Jebel, the most plentiful springs being concentrated between Derna in the east and ‛Ein Targuna on the west. Further westward, springs are rare, and centre in the Tecnis region. An isolated area of wells is to be found in the Martuba district, east of Derna. South of the Tecnis-Marawa-Slonta-Derna line, and east of the coastal belt south of Bengazi (Gemines, Solluk), the only available sources of water are cisterns and wells, and the southern limit of the area of cisterns is marked by the line through Sauno, Mesus and el-Mekhili.

Despite the shortage of water prevailing over a considerable part of the country, the plateau’s height above sea-level over most of its area ensures a heavy dew-precipitation even in the summer months. This applies especially to the coastal belt, where summer disparities between night and day temperatures produce dew-precipitating mists.[8] Thanks to these summer dews and to winter rains, the Plateau possesses a rich plant covering, in the form of woodland and shrubs, which in the hot months become coveted pasture for the flock-owning population of the desert fringes. Thus considerable remnants of woodland survive between Messa and Mameli, chiefly cypress, while the plateau is further clothed by the juniper, lentisk, olive, ilex, arbutus, laurel, lotus and wild fig. The plateau flora also includes bushes such as poterium spinosum, the sunrose, thyme, sage, the giant fennel and the drias. Esparto grass flourishes in the Bengazi area, and along the north-western shores, between Bengazi and Tocra, the date palm. Forest ceases with the steppe, where rainfall is inadequate to support it; here low scrubs, such as wormwood, saltwort, spurge, flax, and various worts, upon which flocks can pasture, grow in the rainy season. On the steppe, springs are replaced by wells, and trees such as the thorn, lotus, and rus oxyacantha are restricted to the depressions.

Thus one of the country’s most outstanding phenomena is created — the seasonal transhumance of flocks to the plateau in summer for pasture and water, and their return southward to the fringes of the plateau and to the steppe when autumn comes. With the return of summer the nomadic shepherd re-ascends the plateau and there sojourns till the autumn, sowing corn immediately after the first rains. He then reverts to the steppelands of the south to enjoy the renewed winter pastures. In harmony with this natural division between plateau and steppe, cattle and goats are at home on the Jebel, while the steppe is the home of the sheep and the camel; sheep drink little, and in the winter, hardly at all, camels at long intervals. This seasonal movement between the cultivated and steppeland areas exists in various forms in most countries of the Mediterranean and north Africa, but in few of them is the phenomenon so pronounced as in Cyrenaica, where it is such as to create an antagonism between the nomadic tribes and the settled agricultural population, when such should appear in the form of colonists from without. We shall see that this antagonism furnishes the key to an understanding of the ancient history of Cyrene.

The contrasting characteristics of the country’s two main zones — the plateau and the steppe, may be summarized in the words of Professor Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard: “In Cyrenaica stand always contrasted the mountain and the plain, the forest and the steppe, the red soils and the white, the country of springs and the country of wells, the arable country and the grazing grounds, the region of goats and cows and the region of sheep and camels, settled life and nomadism...”[9]