Editing Cyrene, Libya (section)

===Hellenistic period===
[[File:British Museum (15326027445).jpg|right|thumb|The Cyrene bronze head in the British Museum (300 BC).]]
In 324 BC, a Spartan mercenary leader, [[Thibron (mercenary commander, died 322 BC)|Thibron]], joined forces with Cyrenean and Barcan exiles on Crete and invaded Cyrenaica, capturing Cyrene's port and forcing Cyrene to accept his rule.{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=25}} However, one of his officers, Mnasicles, defected to the Cyreneans and helped them to expel Thibron's troops and recapture the port.{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=26}} Cyrene allied with the Libyans and Carthaginians, but Thibron returned in 322 BC and defeated them. A democratic revolution took place in Cyrene and the exiled aristocrats appealed to [[Ptolemy I Soter]] for help. Ptolemy sent his general [[Ophellas]] to occupy the city and established a new constitution for the city, which is recorded on a large inscription,<ref>{{cite web |title=Diagramma of Ptolemy I |website=Inscriptions of Greek Cyrenaica |url=https://igcyr.unibo.it/igcyr010800 |access-date=13 September 2023}}</ref><ref>Pfeiffer, Stefan: ''Griechische und lateinische Inschriften zum Ptolemäerreich und zur römischen Provinz Aegyptus.'' Münster: Lit, 2015, pp. 26–33.</ref> which was heavily oligarchic and reserved a permanent role for himself in the city's administration.<ref name="AGA">{{cite book |last1=de Lisle |first1=Christopher Mark |title=Agathokles of Syracuse: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198861720 |pages=265–267}}</ref>{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=26}} The city was accepted by the other Macedonian leaders as part of the [[Ptolemaic kingdom|Ptolemaic realm]] in the [[Treaty of Triparadisus]] in 321 BC. Cyrenean rebels attempted to expel the Ptolemaic garrison in 313 BC, but Ptolemy sent reinforcements who suppressed the revolt.{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=26}} In 308 BC, Ophellas led Cyrenaean and Athenian troops west to join [[Agathocles of Syracuse]]'s attack on Carthage and was immediately murdered.<ref name="AGA"/>

[[File:Magas as king of Kyrene, circa 282 or 275 to 261 BC.jpg|thumb|left|Coin of [[Magas of Cyrene|Magas]] as king of Cyrene, circa 282/75 to 261 BC.]]
Cyrene rebelled against Ptolemy again around 305 BC. Control was re-established in 300 BC by Ptolemy's step-son [[Magas of Cyrene|Magas]].{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=27}} After Ptolemy's death in 282 BC, Magas refused to submit to his half-brother [[Ptolemy II]] and had crowned himself king by 276 BC. He married [[Apama II|Apama]] the daughter of the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus I]] and assisted him in an unsuccessful invasion of Egypt during the [[First Syrian War]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Bennett |first=Christopher |url=https://www.instonebrewer.com/TyndaleSites/Egypt/ptolemies/magas_i_fr.htm |website=Egyptian Royal Genealogy |title=Magas king of Cyrene |access-date=13 September 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=27}} Inscribed accounts indicate severe [[inflation]] of food prices and a large fundraising campaign, possibly for repairs to the city walls.{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=27}} After his death, Apama invited a Macedonian prince, [[Demetrius the Fair]], to marry her daughter [[Berenice II of Egypt|Berenice]] and take the throne, but he was murdered after a short conflict with Berenice. She married [[Ptolemy III]] in 246 BC, bringing Cyrene back under Ptolemaic control.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bennett |first=Christopher |website=Egyptian Royal Genealogy |url=https://www.instonebrewer.com/TyndaleSites/Egypt/ptolemies/berenice_ii_fr.htm |title=Berenice II |access-date=13 September 2023}}</ref> In the process, the city of Euesperides was destroyed and re-founded as Berenice and the cities of Cyrenaica formed a federation, called the Pentapolis, which minted its own coinage.{{sfn|Kenrick|2013|p=5}} Constitutional reforms by a pair of [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]]ns, Ecdelus and Demophanes, may also belong in this period.{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=28}} 
[[File:Cyrene (45) (8288433101).jpg|thumb|[[Caesareum, Cyrene|Gymnasium]] of Cyrene.]]
Cyrene was reduced to subject status, a garrison was installed, and a succession of Ptolemaic courtiers were appointed to the city's [[Priest of Apollo (Cyrene)|priesthood of Apollo]].{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=28}} Cyrene was established as a separate kingdom once more for [[Ptolemy VIII]] in 163 BC after his siblings expelled him from Egypt.{{sfn|Grainger|2010|pp=325 & 327}}{{sfn|Hölbl|2001|pp=185–186}}{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=29}} The city rebelled against him but was defeated. It is possible that he granted Cyrene's port, Apollonia, independence from Cyrene at this time, as a reward for remaining loyal.{{sfn|Kenrick|2013|p=259}} Ptolemy engaged in a wide-ranging construction project in the city, including the construction of a monumental [[Caesareum, Cyrene|gymnasium]].{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=29}} He also had a will inscribed, promising Cyrene to the [[Roman Republic]] in the event that he died without heirs. However, he regained control of Egypt in 145 BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=Will of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II |website=Inscriptions of Greek Cyrenaica |url=https://igcyr.unibo.it/igcyr011200 |access-date=13 September 2023}}</ref> In the dynastic conflicts that followed, Cyrene probably remained under the control of Ptolemy VIII and then of [[Ptolemy IX]].{{sfn|Rosamilia|2023|p=29}} It was apparently given to Ptolemy VIII's illegitimate son [[Ptolemy Apion]] as a separate kingdom ca. 105-101 BC. Apion made a similar will to that of his father and the territory passed to Rome when he died without heirs in 96 BC.{{sfn|Kenrick|2013|p=5}}

The city became an important Jewish centre during the Hellenistic period. The [[Deuterocanonical books|deuterocanonical]] book [[2 Maccabees]], is said by its author to be an abridgment of a five-volume work by a Hellenized Jew by the name of [[Jason of Cyrene]] who lived around 100 BC.