THE GREEKS IN LIBYA

Michel Austin

Introduction

It was probably inevitable that in their period of expansion the Greeks should be attracted sooner or later to the fertile parts of Libya—the parts that were known to the Romans later as Cyrenaica,1 in modern times the Jabal al Akhdar or ‘Green Mountain’ (see Fig. 1), where the high terraced plateau is fertilised by rainfall more abundant than elsewhere in Libya as well as by numerous springs.2 The eastern part of the Libyan coast is a natural extension of the Aegean world, within easy reach of Crete: it is not a long sea journey between the two (two days and two nights, according to Strabo 10. 4. 5). It was here that, in the account in Herodotus (4. 151), the earliest settlers from Thera fi rst arrived, guided by a Cretan fi sher with local knowledge of the coast.3 With territory that was, by Greek standards, both extensive and fertile, the land had much to offer. It was not, of course, a vacuum waiting to be fi lled, but had long been occupied by a multiplicity of tribes, known chiefl y from their relations with the Egyptians in previous centuries. The Greeks referred to them collectively as ‘Libyans’, a name probably derived by them from Egyptian usage, perhaps indirectly via the Phoenicians.4 The Libyan tribes practised agriculture as well as animal rearing, but they lacked collective organisation and were nomads: both of these would

1 Though frequently used the term Cyrenaica is anachronistic for this period and is avoided here; apart from Diodorus Siculus (40. 4. 1), who cites an inscription set up by Pompey in the late 60s B.C. to celebrate his achievements, it does not appear before the Augustan period (see, for example, Pliny NH 2. 115; 5. 28, 31, 33, 38; 6. 209, 212). Herodotus uses the term Cyrenaea (4. 199. 1) but only to refer to the territory of Cyrene herself. The word is used in a general sense by Greek sources from the 4th century onwards, for example SEG 23. 189 col. I l.16 (see Laronde 1987, 161–2; ca. 330); Aristotle Historia Animalium V 30 p. 556b; Theophrastus Historia Plantarum 4. 3. 1, 4; 5. 3. 7; see further Zimmerman 1999, 1 and n. 2. 2 Johnson 1973, 1–28; Laronde 1987, 15–7 with fi gs. 1–3. 3 It was no accident that the Romans assigned the government of Crete and Cyre- naica to a single proconsul. 4 Zimmerman 1999, 7–21. 188 michel austin 100 km 50 Platea?

100

Irasa? 200 0 Aziris

GILIGAMAI

Apollonia 800

Cyrene 700

Fig. 1. Fig. Libya. Greek

500 600

ASBYSTAI 200

100 m.

300

400

500 300 Barca

Tolmeita

300 AUSCHISES BAKALES Tauchira

NASAMONES Euesperides