Ptolemais (Cyrenaica)
.jpg)
Ptolemais is an ancient city in Cyrenaica in northeast Libya . It is by the sea, next to the modern Tolmeitha .
The city was perhaps already in the 7th or 6th century BC Founded in BC and served as a port for the boat not far inland . The original name of the port is unknown. However, it was completely overbuilt in the Hellenistic period and probably got its name after Ptolemy III. Yours . The 1.4 × 1.5 km² city was divided into 36.5 × 182.5 m (100 × 500 Ptolemaic feet) blocks and was surrounded by a city wall. The agora and the theater date from this period.
In the first century BC Ptolemais became Roman (province of Creta et Cyrene ). At the end of the third century AD it became the provincial capital of Libya superior under Emperor Diocletian . The city was then provided with further public buildings, such as an arch of honor . In 365 it was devastated by an earthquake.
With the rise of Christianity, numerous basilicas were built, some of which are still standing high walls. One of their bishops was the famous philosopher Synesius of Cyrene between 411 and 413/414 , in whose letters an abundance of details of everyday life and his own work is recorded. In 428 the city was destroyed by the vandals and experienced a brief revival in Eastern Roman times under Emperor Justinian I , when a fortified settlement was rebuilt on a noticeably reduced area. After the Islamic conquest, it completely lost its importance. During the Italian occupation of Libya between around 1911 and 1943, the ruins were temporarily used as a retreat by insurgents.
The city has so far been little explored. There have only been isolated excavations, carried out by Polish archaeologists since 2002. The most important building to be seen today is the Palace of the Colonnades , which was probably built around 80 BC. BC, the remains of which today date mainly to late antiquity after the earthquake of 365. You can also see the Villa of the Four Seasons , the so-called Governor's Palace with a peristyle courtyard and a cistern .
See also
literature
- Gennaro Pesce: Il "Palazzo delle Colonne" in Tolemaide di Cirenaica , Rome 1950.
- Carl Hermann Kraeling - Dericksen M. Brinkerhoff - Richard G. Goodchild : Ptolemais: City of the Libyan Pentapolis , Chicago 1962.
- David Nasgowitz: Ptolemais Cyrenaica , Chicago 1980.
- Jerzy Żelazowski: Ptolemais: zaginione miasto w Libii - A Lost City in Libya , Warsaw 2011. ISBN 978-83-61376-76-7 .
- Ders .; Ptolemais in Cyrenaica. Studies in Memory of Tomasz Mikocki , Warsaw 2012. ISBN 978-83-61376-45-3 .
- Ronald B. St John: Libya: Continuity and Change , London 2013. ISBN 9781136824050 .
Web links
Coordinates: 32 ° 42 ′ 0 ″ N , 20 ° 57 ′ 0 ″ E