Cyrene ( Shahhat )

When the Romans took over the Cyranaican Plateau in the First century B. C., they called the area The Pentapolis ( The Five Cities ); Cyrene, Appolonia, Barca, Ptolemais, Bernice, and Teuchira.
Cyrene is situated 200 km to the north east of Benghazi ( Libya's second city),High above sea level through stepped hillsides offering a panoramic view of the Green mountains of Cyrenaica and the virgin shores of the Mediterranean. Cyrene was founded by the Greeks in 631 BC, by some Greek adventurers coming from the island of Thera, known today as Santhorini. It was occupied in later times by the Byzantines. Then the Romans took position of the city in 96 BC. The city then was destroyed during the revolution against the Romans in the year 115. The Arabs Muslims came to the region in 642 - 643 A.D., and the new faith (Islam) has dominated the area since then.
Cyrene was a very prosperous city in which Libyans and Greeks lived together. They built roads, markets, and houses for tens of thousands of its inhabitants during 50 years. When starvation hit the Mediterranean, Cyrene was the food supplier for forty Greek cities including their capital Athens.
When the Greeks became a depleting force exhausted by wars lasting for many centuries, they had to rely on the king of Egypt to send his troops and defend Cyrene. The Egyptians helped the Greeks extend their supremacy in Cyranica until the year 322 BC when their Emperor died and was turned over to the Romans.
The Temples of Apollo and Zeus were houses of worship to the people of Cyrene where they performed religious ceremonies. The Temples and the theatres were rebuilt by the Romans in the first and second century A.D. by the Roman Emperor Tarajan who added baths and Cisterns to the temple but the city reached its peak in the 4th. century B.C. during the the Emperor Augustus rule.One of the oldest Church in North Africa was built in Cyrene by the Byzantines
Among the spectacular ruins of Cyrene are the Temples Of Apollo and Zeus, the Acropolis, The Agora, the Forum, the Stoa of hermes and Hercules, Necropolis tombs, and the sacred Sanctuary of Apollo . A museum which contains many of the collections and masterpieces unearthed in the area is situated at the archaeological site.