La città dei re di Cirene

Abstract

AbstractIt is becoming increasingly clear that, beginning from the Late Bronze age, links between the Aegean world and the North African coast remained unbroken except perhaps for a brief interlude immediately after the foundation of the Phoenician colonies in the area between the Gulf of Syrte and what is now Tunisia. The example of Cyrene, which has not received the attention it merits outside the narrow circle of Libyan experts, is one of the most clear-cut and eloquent. Even though the paucity of finds and their provenance from infill call for caution, reanalysis of the archaeological record—which has recently gained an important new component—sheds fresh light on the Phoenician colonial process as a whole. The reanalysis, whatever one's point of view, should not be restricted by conventional chronology, and should encourage us to reconsider other accepted ideas about the growth of the original settlement and the links between the Battiad royal family and other members of the Cyrenaican community.