Cyrene of Magna Graecia
One of the delights of the recent tour of Greece and Italy was the excursion to Magna Graecia, the Greek settlements in southern Italy and Sicily. Although on the tour we barely skimmed the surface of this region, we were left spellbound by the riches on display - the magnificent temples of Agrigento and Selinunte and the yet-to-be-revealed magnificence of Sybaris. Nevertheless, our visit to Magna Graecia was a reminder that Greek influence extended west as well as east and Greek colonists founded many of the cities that later became known as Roman centres.
Despite the fact that the Carthaginians were the major power in north Africa, the Greeks were not hesitant about establishing their own colonies there as well. One of the most famous of these was Cyrene, now in eastern Libya, a city so prosperous that it could send ships full of grain back to the motherland when Greece was threatened by famine.
When the Romans took over north Africa, Cyrene was incorporated into their empire and its citizens continued to carry on their trade all over the ancient world. However it is probable that it was religion rather than trade which took Simon of Cyrene to Jerusalem in time to carry Jesus' cross in the sad procession to Calvary: like most cities in the Roman world, Cyrene had a population of Jews.
The city's history came to an abrupt end, however, in AD 365 when a devastating earthquake struck, destroying most of the buildings and killing hundreds of citizens. Already reeling from the earthquake of AD 262, Cyrene had neither the wealth nor the will to rebuild and the city was abandoned. It was forgotten about until the 18th century when travellers located the site and sporadic digging was undertaken in search of antiquities.
In that respect the city proved to be a gold-mine, and dozens of beautiful statues and other pieces of art were recovered and taken to adorn the museums of Britain, Italy and other places. Before you rush to decry this "vandalism", remember that at the time Libya was not only poor and backward but the local inhabitants had as much aesthetic appreciation as the Taliban of Afghanistan. In a very real sense these were "rescue digs" and the objects recovered were preserved from almost certain destruction.
Among the objects recovered was a statue of Bacchus found in what we now know was the Caesareum, portrait heads of Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius - along with 54 other statues now in the British Museum - and a 2nd century copy of Praxiteles famous Aphrodite. Interestingly, the latter object has been returned to Libya by the Italian government, on the basis that it was looted during the Italian occupation of what they called Cyrenacia.
Since 1957 the Italian Archaeological Mission has been working at Cyrene and in 2006/7 the head of the mission, Professor Mario Luni from the University of Urbino, announced the discovery and reconstruction of the temple of Demeter.
The temple, which was founded in the 7th century BC, continued in use during the whole of Cyrene's history. Together with the nearby temples of Zeus and Apollo it formed part of a sacred precinct that covered nearly 100,000 square feet just outside the southern gate of the city. It was only abandoned when a landslide, possibly triggered by one of the two earthquakes, covered it with a deep layer of earth. Although not as kind as the soft falls of ash that so perfectly preserved Pompeii, the landslide did have the effect of preserving the temple of Demeter.
One result of this is that the excavators were able to confirm many of the details of the sacred procession described by the poet Callimachus, who lived in the 3rd century BC. According to a hymn which he wrote in honour of Demeter, the Thesmophoria festival in the autumn began at a small round shrine in the centre of the Agora. This has been found by the Italians.
Women then walked in procession along the Skyrota, following a chariot drawn by four white horses and filled with grain. Obviously it would be too much to expect that either the chariot or the horses would be found, but the Skyrota has been uncovered along its length and visitors who are so minded can follow the footsteps of the procession.
The procession ended at the statue of Demeter where a sacrifice of piglets was offered on the altar of the temple along with quantities of sacred grain. The statue, the altar, bones of young pigs and a quantity of grain has been found. Unfortunately the statue is without its head, probably because it was felled from its position of honour by the falling columns of the temple, though Professor Luni hopes that further excavations around the temple may discover the missing head. The grain is presently being analysed by a paleobotanist, though whether that is because the precise species of the grain is unclear or because he is in search of the numinous quality that made it "sacred" we are not told.
The festival of Demeter lasted for three days and three nights, which may explain the cache of 100 oil lamps discovered buried in the temple courtyard. In addition, the excavators found 75 marble statues in the area south of the gymnasium, many of which depict the goddess Cybele sitting on a throne flanked by lions.
Also in the gymnasium was an object which emphasised that Cyrene was part of the Greek world: a Panathenaic amphora - a large, specially decorated pottery vessel containing a talent of olive oil, awarded as a prize to victors in the Panathenaic Games in Athens. Presumably someone who had trained in the gymnasium had gone to Athens, competed in the games which were held every four years, and won. He brought his prize back home and put one of the jars on display in his gymnasium.
The temple was first identified in the year 2000 but no public announcement was made because the danger of looters arriving to steal those 75 statues was too great. Instead Projessor Luni kept quiet about his great discovery until the whole area had been excavated, what could be restored on site had been restored, and the smaller objects - such as the statues - removed to a museum for safekeeping.
Except to the eye of love - such as Professor Mario Luni's - there is little enough to show for all his work. The site consists of a maze of walls standing one or two courses high, with five columns, three of them with capitals, standing in a row. It is hard to think that this was once one of the most important shrines in one of the most important cities in one of the most important areas of Magna Graecia.
O tempore, O mores!
© Kendall K. Down 2009
