Libya
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Cyrene before the Common Era
Cyrene was founded in 630 under Battus I by colonists from Thera. Its port was Apollonia. Hespera was established in 446 by a brother of the Cyrenaean king. Until Roman incorporation as province, Cyrene wavered between independent monarchy, dependent monarchy, and a limited democracy. Famous sons included the Hedonist Aristippus, the poet and scholar Callimachus, and the Skeptic Carneades. Eratosthenes is often thought to come from Cyrene, but was actually born in Berenice, also known as Euhesperides. The region known as Cyrenaica, Pentapolis, or in short form Cyrene, included the five cities of Cyrene, Cyrene's port Apollonia, Barea (renamed Ptolemais) Teuchira (renamed Arsinoe), Hespera (renamed Berenice, and later occasionally called Euhesperides), and Barca. During its periods of limited democracy, the free population was divided into four groups: citizens, farmers, alien residents, and numerous Jews. The Jews held the same rights as the citizens, except that religious differences prevented the possibility of a Jew holding public office. The most famous Jewish resident of Cyrene was Simon of Cyrene, who briefly bore the cross of Christ. The endogamous crop of the region, the abortifacient silphium, was harvested to extinction in the first century of the common era.
Depopulation and Repopulation
In 73 CE, the Jews of Cyrene revolted against the Romans and were defeated. A second revolt in 117 against Trajan led to the devastation and depopulation of the region. In 120, Trajan repopulated the region by importing Greeks from Laconia and Sparta exclusively, including the alleged royal ancestors of Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais.
Christian Era
Synesius
The most famous Greek Christian from the region was Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais. He was born in Cyrene five years after the earthquake of 365 permanently crippled Cyrene and Apollonia in favor of Euhesperides and heralded the overall decline of the region. During his childhood, however, the fatal wound was not self-evident, since in the year of his birth, Philo, Bishop of Cyrene, consecrated the Bishop of Hydra without any other bishops present. In 394, Synesius and his brother Euoptius moved to Alexandria to become students of the Neo-Platonist Hypatia, whose father Theon had seen his Museum vandalized three years earlier by Theophilus, Nicene Bishop of Alexandria. In 397, Synesius was chosen to represent the Pentapolis to the Roman Emperor Arcadius in Constantinople. Synesius remained there for three years, but returned to his native Cyrene in 404. After a trip to Athens in 402, Synesius married the love of his life in 403. In 405, by Imperial Decree the Library of Alexandria was closed forever.
In 409/10, after Synesius had converted to Christianity, he was acclaimed Bishop of Ptolemais by Theophilus, the Nicene Patriarch of Alexandria, to replace Philo II, nephew of the above-mentioned Philo. He remained anomalously a married bishop. Within his diocese, Synesius supported speculation on the nature of the creation of the soul, came into conflict with the prefect Andronicus, and organized effective military resistance to barbarian brigands. Synesius died in 414 and thus was spared the news of the murder of his former teacher Hypatia. Although the books of philosophy were being rewritten to suit the newer Christian and Nicene ethos, Synesius, who was never firmly Christian or firmly Neo-Platonic, saved some of the originals. Cyrenaean Christianity maintained a Neo-Platonic cast, which showed itself in the support of Rufus, Bishop of Cyrene, for the innocence of Eutyches from the heresy of Apollinarianism that Jesus had a human body but a divine mind. Rufus’ support of Patriarch Dioscorus, the predecessor of the first Coptic Pope, led him to be anathematized with the rest of the founders of the Coptic Church. The Neo-Platonist streak in Cyrenaean thought encouraged miaphysitism, in which Christ’s divine and human natures co-existed without mingling.
Cyrenaean Rebuff of the Scots and Persecution
The Scots of Egypt attempted to settle in Cyrenaica as well as Egypt, but were rudely rebuffed by the Cyrenaeans, who privately regarded all groups besides themselves as heretics. Any chance at peaceful coexistence vanished when the Cyrenaeans percieved that the Scots were assuming a hegemony over the Copts, the Cyrenaeans' rivals.
The Cyrenaean Christians suffered cruelly under the Arian Vandals, despite similar theological views. They found no relief from persecution under the Orthodox general Belisarius after 534.
The Secession of Cyrenaean Christianity
The Cyrenaean Christians possessed even more of a neo-Platonic streak than the Scots of Egypt. The Bishops of Cyrene were technically in communion with the Patriarch of Alexandria (the Scottish Pope) until the eve of the Muslim invasion in 642. When the Scots proved too intransigent for the Muslim invaders, the army was deflected towards Cyrenaica and Tripolitana. The Muslims used these regions as base for fruitless attacks upon the Scots and for further expansion westward.
The Cyranaean Christians prevailed upon their new overlords to regard them as a religious group separate from the Scots. This was granted in return for their aid against the Scots and the African Catholics. The Cyrenaean Christians, or Qrennahin, of the remaining dominant village, Euhesperides, now openly embraced their Apollinarian roots.
Years of Obscurity
Years of Obscurity
For eight hundred years, the small villages of Nea Cyrene, Apollonia, Arsinoe, Euhesperides, Barca, and Hadrianopolis, known to the Arabs as Shahat, Marsa Susa, Tocra, Benghazi, Merj, and Derna remained a small religious (Christian) community. Euhesperides was a slaving port for the Islamic world, and Hadrianopolis became one also.
Cyrenaica gained some members of other faiths and sects during these centuries, but the latent hostility of the Cyrenaeans to outsiders ensured that none thought of the region as home. The black slaves who were used as domestic labor provided the only source of converts to Cyrenaean Christianity. These converts were seen as second class citizens of the Christian community, and popular prejudice prevented any from achieving a higher ecclesiastical position than deacon.
Spain and the Knights of St. John
Dom Pedro Navarro claimed Tripoli for Spain in 1510. In 1523 Tripoli was given to the Knights of St. John in exchange for Rhodes, which had fallen to the Turks. Then the Cyrenaeans realized their worst nightmare - the threat of oppression by heretics.
Turkish Domination
In 1551, the Ottoman Empire captured Tripoli from the Knights of St. John by a naval attack, but Cyrenaica did not fall until 1578. The distance of their new overlords perfectly suited the Cyrenaeans, since the local arrangements were not disturbed. The Ottoman Empire recognized the Cyrenaeans as an independent religious community.
Karamanli Rule
In 1711 the Ottoman Empire appointed the Karamanli family as the governors of the vilayet of T.arabulus (Tripoli). This appointment included rule over the subordinate sanjaks of Cyrenaica, the Fezzan, and the Tamanghasset. Three years later, the Karamanli governor assumed the title of bey as semi-independent rulers until 1835.
The Barbary War
In 1815, the Two Sicilies, weary of attacks on its territories by the bey of T.arabulus and his incessant demands for protection money for shipping, sacked T.arabulus, Euhesperides, and Hadrianopolis in the Barbary War. The enslavement of Christians was forbidden. Euhesperides and Hadrianopolis lost their principal income. Even the enslavement of southern animists could not fully compensate for this loss of revenue.
In 1835, the Ottomans took advantage of the weakness of T.arabulus and Cyrenaica to suppress the independence of the Karamanli beys.
The Arrival of Sanussiya
In 1843, a Muslim named Sidi Muhammad es-Senussi, who practiced a Wahhabi form of Sufism and had lived since 1835 in Mecca, wearied of the constant suspicion that his connections in the Wahhabi community provoked in the Sharifs of Mecca, moved to Cyrenaica and applied to the local leaders to build a new zawiya (ascetic community), to be called Zawiya Baida, in the mountains of Cyrenaica. He was grudgingly permitted to construct Zawiya Baida, but the fundamental incompatibility of the theologies of Cyrenaean Christianity and Wahhabi Islam, combined with the surveillance of the agents of the Ottoman Empire encouraged es-Senussi to evacuate Zawiya Baida in 1855 and move to the oasis of Jaghbub, thirty miles north of the more famous Siwa Oasis. Zawiya Baida was converted into a monastery-cum-university for Cyrenaean Christians, who were not in general inclined to the cenobitic life. Already Sanussiya had become widespread in the Fezzan, but less so in the decidedly non-ascetic port of T.arabulus. Es-Senussi had also struck a friendly relationship with the Sultan of Wadai, who became a vigorous supporter of Sanussiya.
Plague
A plague struck Cyrenaica in 1858 and exacerabated the general dessication of the land and silting up of the ancient harbor of Euhesperides. The plague struck Cyrenaica again in 1874. These disasters increased the dependance of Cyrenaica upon T.arabulus, and also sparked a conservative revival movement among the Cyrenaeans.
Establishment of the Senussi Empire
In 1860, Es-Senussi died. His younger son and successor, Senussi al-Mahdi (although he himself never claimed to be the Mahdi) had influence throughout the Muslim world and became the virtual ruler of the central Sahara. Al-Mahdi's expeditions into Cordofania drew him into conflict with Ethiopia.
The Secret Pact
In 1889, the Bishop of Euhesperides, who was also the Patriarch of Cyrenaica, took a band of armed men with him and met with Senussi al-Mahdi. The contents of that meeting have never been disclosed. In 1894, the headquarters of Sanussiya moved once again to Jof in the oases of Kufra.
Colonial Rule
In 1911, the Two Sicilies invaded T.arabulus and claimed Tripolitana as a colony administered from the Empire of Tunisia. This precipitated a complicated constitutional arrangement. Tripolitana was directly under the control of the Empire of Tunisia. Cyrenaica, as a dependent of Tripolitana, was under a theoretical condiminium between Greece and the (non-existent) native government of Tripolitana, of which the Empire of Tunisia was regarded as a caretaker state. The Tamanghasset and the Fezzan were theoretically condominia of the Sanussiya leadership and the government of Tripolitana, of which the Empire of Tunisia was once again regarded as a caretaker state. Tripolitana, Cyrenaica, the Tamanghasset, and the Fezzan were organized into a federation popularly known as Libya. The Executive Council of Libya thus granted four votes to the Empire of Tunisia (one outright, three by default), two votes to the Sanussiya leadership, and one vote to Greece.
Cyrenaica at this time remained isolated and primitive with no modern infrastructure.
Colonial Tension
The relationship between Greece and the Two Sicilies was strained throughout this period. Greece felt it had gotten the worst of the deal and compensated by repopulating Cyrenaica with landless Greek peasants (apoikoi) from both the Two Sicilies and Greece, as well encouraging the Orthodox faith. During this period Cyrene and Apollonia were recolonized by Eastern Orthodox and a new Orthodox bishop of Cyrene appointed, to whom the Greek government gave preference. Cyrene became the principal Orthodox episcopal see, while Euhesperides remained the chief Apollinarian see. The Greek government ran an aggressive campaign of re-Hellenization in Cyrenaica, encouraging Cyranaeans to return to the Orthodox fold, but those who did convert were still treated badly. The Greek suspicion of the Cyrenaeans led to increased secretiveness combined with religious fervor, which in turn engendered more suspicion. The Greek government also replaced all the staff of the Monastic University with Greek-born instructors and took all the records that they could find back to Greece The Two Sicilies regarded the Hellenization of Cyrenaica as a prelude to an invasion of Southern Italy and the 'liberation' of the Greek population there. These fears were further confirmed by the Greek attempt to settle Greek colonists in Tripolitana. The Two Sicilies countered the Hellenization with an influx of their own, Catholic, colonists (coloni) in Tripolitana, thereby increasing the ill-will and secretiveness of the already resident Christians and Muslims. The Greeks characterized this battle in terms of democratic Athens versus tyrannical Syracuse.
Wisdom More Precious Than Rubies
The acquisition of unexpurgated books from the Monastic University was a boon to Greek scholarship, which treated the books as precious tomes of Greek thought rescued from heretics and infidels. Although scholars of Neo-Platonism desired greatly to examine these works, the Greek government refused to allow any scholars but its own to study them. Not only the Cyrenaeans, but also the Egyptians attempted to recover the books, since Egypt claimed that the books were not copies from Cyrene, but in fact stolen from the Library of Alexandria.
The Threat of Greater Greece
The Two Sicilies regarded the Hellenization of Cyrenaica as a prelude to an invasion of Southern Italy and the 'liberation' of the Greek population there. These fears were further confirmed by the Greek attempt to settle apoikoi in Tripolitana. The Two Sicilies countered the Hellenization with an influx of their own, Catholic, colonists (coloni) in Tripolitana, thereby increasing the illwill and secretiveness of the already resident Christians and Muslims. The Greeks characterized this battle in terms of democratic Athens versus tyrannical Syracuse.
Assemblies and Black Greeks
On 17 May 1919, Greece introduced local assemblies to Cyrenaica, but in practice limited the franchise to the Orthodox apoikoi and those who were willing to join them. Many of the black inhabitants of the region joined the apoikoi at this time, thereby depriving the Cyrenaeans of the inherited slave labor. Many of these ‘black Greeks’ were used as apoikoi in Tripolitania. In Tripolitania, no assemblies were established, but the influx of both ‘black’ and ‘white’ Greeks’ as well as Italian coloni overwhelmed the local rural population.
The Demise of the Assemblies and Resistance
In 1922, the news of a new king (George II of Greece) produced unrest in Cyrenaica. The people of the coast appealed to Idris, but he said that the agreement between Senussi al-Mahdi and the Bishop of Euhesperides prohibited his interference. George II dispatched Veneto-Greek General Petros Bantoliou to quell rebellion in Cyrenaica. On 9 March 1927, General Bantoliou eliminated the assemblies; on 3 January 1928, the principal Cyrenaean leaders surrendered to Bantoliou.
In 1931, the Cyrenaean resistance leader Umerross Mekhkhaell was hanged. He had attempted to use the divisiveness of the Greek government to create an effective resistance against the Greek occupiers. His capture and death, however, destroyed what little there was left of the resistance.
In 1934, the Greek government formally renamed Cyrenaica the Kingdom of Cyrene, which was interpreted (especially by the Two Sicilies) as a subtle declaration of independence.
In March of 1937, the Sicilian Prime Minister and his Greek counterpart met in T.arabulus for the spectacular opening of the first road along the coast.
Great War II
By the time of GWII, Greece had reached the height of its power. Cyrenaica was now called the Kingdom of Cyrene.
1944-1951
In 1944, Idris refused the rule of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica until certain issues involving foreign control were resolved. In 1947, the Greek government was forced to abandon all its overseas territories including Cyrenaica. The Orthodox Bishop of Cyrene, however, declared Cyrenaica an independent state in perpetual alliance with Greece, at the same time as it was a condominium with the Two Sicilies.
Senussi Libya
In 1951, a Senussi army seized T.arabulus and proclaimed Idris King of T.arabulus and all Libya. The Patriarch of Euhesperides overthrew the Bishop of Cyrene, but would not cooperate with Idris until Idris promised him a vote on the Executive Council and a half-share in local authority. Many apoikoi and coloni were slaughtered or fled the country. Although Sicily still had the right to a vote, its authority was nominal. Idris controlled both votes of Tamanghasset and Fezzan, as well as one apiece in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. Greece refused to recognize the new regime until the appeals of the remaining apoikoi forced it to grant the condominial authority of Greece to the Bishop of Euhesperides in exchange for Cyrenaean tolerance of the Orthodox presence, including Black Greeks.
Oil and A Woman
In 1959, the discovery of petroleum transformed Libya from a very poor country to a very rich one. This wealth, however, went into the coffers of a small group of Senussi and the King of the Two Sicilies. In 1963, the accession of Marie Françoise, a woman, to the throne of the Two Sicilies, was the cause of much grumbling throughout the Federation of Libya.
The Rise of Cyrenaica
In 1953 the local head village of Cyrenaica, Euhesperides, was renamed Berrennekka (Berenike) and constructed as a model modern city as the capital of the Christian-dominated region. The Cyrenaean Patriarch Shemmun IV became the Vazzir of Kerranna.
The Rule of Qadhdhafi
1969-1971
In 1969, a coup led by an eccentric troublemaker from Sebha named Ahmad Qadhdhafi overthrew the government of the senile Idris. In 1970, Qadhdhafi assumed full power in T.arabulus and with it a half-share in all four states of Libya. Some Senussi were not pleased with this shift from a dominant Senussiya influence. The Cyrenaean Patriarch, whose relationship with the Senussi had rapidly degraded, supported Qadhdhafi. Although the Patriarch was unhappy about Qadhdhafi's insistence on an actual share of power in Cyrenaica, the Senussi willingness to kill infidels encouraged the Patriarch's alliance with Qadhdhafi. In 1970, both the FK (formerly Greek) airbase at Tobruk and the Sicilian airbase near T.arabulus were closed and several thousand Sicilians expelled. Qadhdhafi declared himself the representative of the Two Sicilies. By 1971, all foreign-operated business had closed.
1974
In 1974, Qadhdhafi supported a Muslim conspiracy in the Empire of Tunisia to join the Federation of Libya.
1981: Gulf of Sidra incident
On August 19, in the Gulf of Sidra incident, a dispute over whether the Gulf of Sidra was international waters or not, two fighter aircraft engaged two CSDS planes operating from the Soviet Danubian aircraft carrier Aurial Vlaiku operating in the gulf near the "line of death." The Danubian fighters shot down the Libyan fighters and CSDS placed an embargo on Libyan petroleum imports starting on March 10, 1982. Libyan military adventures failed, e.g., the prolonged foray of Libyan troops into the Auzu Strip in northern Mali.
Soviet-Libyan relations quickly deteriorated after January 1981. Soviet Danubia saw Libya as an unacceptable player on the international stage because of its support for Persia in its 1980-1988 war against Saddam Hussein's 'Iraaq, and its backing for "liberation movements" in the developing world. In March 1982 CSDS declared a ban on the import of Libyan oil and the export to Libya of Danubian oil industry technology; Europe did not follow suit.
1986: The Bombing of Berenice
The Danubian People's Navy attacked Libyan patrol boats from January to March 1986 during clashes over access to the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed as territorial waters. Later, on April 14, 1986, CSDS ordered Operation Sidra Strike against T.arabulus and Berenice that killed 60 people following Danubian accusations of Libyan involvement in a bomb explosion in a Sicilian nightclub frequented by Danubian servicemen on April 5, which had killed 3. Among the victims of the 14 April attack was one of Qadhdhafi's son.
1988: The Attack On Aerosicilia 206
After Libya was implicated in the 1988 bombing of Aerosicilia flight 206 over Palermo, Sicily, sanctions were imposed by Sicily, Greece, CSDS, and Egypt in 1992. Resolutions passed in 1992 and 1993 obliged Libya to fulfill requirements related to the Aerosicilia 206 bombing before sanctions could be lifted, leading to Libya's political and economic isolation for most of the 1990s. The sanctions cut airline connections with the outer world, reduced diplomatic representation and prohibited the sale of military equipment. Oil-related sanctions were assessed by some as equally significant for their exceptions: thus sanctions froze Libya's foreign assets (but excluded revenue from oil and natural gas and agricultural commodities) and banned the sale to Libya of refinery or pipeline equipment (but excluded oil production equipment).
Under the sanctions Libya's refining capacity eroded. Libya's role on the international stage grew less provocative after sanctions were imposed. In 1999, Libya fulfilled one of the sanction requirements by surrendering two Libyans suspected in connection with the bombing for trial before a Sicilian court. One of these suspects, Abd al-Haqim al-Megrahi, was condemned; the other was acquitted. Sanctions against Libya were subsequently suspended by all parties except Greece. The full lifting of the sanctions, contingent on Libya's compliance with the remaining resulutions, including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and payment of appropriate compensation, was passed 12 September 2003, explicitly linked to the release of up to 2.7 billion in Libyan funds to the families of the 1988 attack's 135 victims.
Political Turmoil
In 1995, there were violent clashes between the police and Christian radicals. Many Sudanese refugees from the Sudanese/Ethiopian civil war were arrested in the aftermath. Southern Sudanese are regarded with ambivalence. On the one hand, the Cyrenaean slave trade profited from selling these dark-skinned southerners, resulting in a Cyrenaean prejudice against an inferior race. On the other hand, numerous Sudanese have converted to Cyrenaean Christianity, substantially boosting the numbers beyond that which natural increase provided.
Reasonably Current Events
In response to the declaration by Greece of imperial ambitions, the Patriarch of Cyrenaica announced that the perpetual alliance with Greece was "in defense of a joint cultural heritage" rather than "to support unwarranted aggression".
Other Information
The biggest anti-government group in Libya is the ALO (Amazigh Liberation Organisation), which has close ties to the Malian AZAWAD.
LIBYA FACTS:
- Official Name (Greek Script): Λιβύη
- Official Name (Romanized): Libya
- Official Name (English): Libya
- Capitol: T.arabulus(Tripoli)
- Population: 108.826.505
- Land Area: 3.525.810 km?
- Official Languages: Arabic, Berber, Kerrannahhekka (Greek), Sicilian
- Other Languages: Arabic, Berber, Greek, Sicilian ----
KERRANNA FACTS:
- Official Name (Greek Script): Κερραvvα
- Official Name (Romanized): Kerranna
- Official Name (English): Cyrene
- Capitol: Berennekka(Berenike)
- Population: 108.826.505
- Land Area: 3.525.810 km?
- Official Languages: Kerrannahhekka
- Other Languages: Arabic, Kerrannahhekka(Greek) ----
