Читать онлайн "Jews and Greeks in ancient Cyrene" - Эпплбаум Шимон - RuLit

Whatever the case, gold coins appear in Cyrene in the middle of the 5th century, and in the first half of the 4th their distribution area widens.[271] In this period the city coinage bears figures of the palm tree, the prancing horse, and the horse’s head, which appear to reflect Carthaginian influence; from 375 approximately Carthaginian bronze coins are circulating in Cyrenaica, frequently restruck by Euesperitae.[272] It is therefore difficult not to see in these phenomena an expression of commercial contacts with the Syrtic region which lies between Cyrene and Carthage.[273] In 435, as related, Barka and Cyrene formed an alliance, and between 413 and 401 Euesperitae was heavily engaged with the Libyan tribes, and her enemies may be assumed to have been the inhabitants south of the city in the direction of the Syrtic Gulf.[274] In 375 Barka’s importance declines, while Carthaginian coins begin to circulate in the area, and Pseudo-Scylax, writing in the middle of the century, already knew the name of Arae Philaenorum.[275] It was related that the hostile sides (Greeks and Carthaginians) decided that the frontier between them should be set at the point where their emissaries should meet on a given day, each coming from his own city; but those who had gone farthest from their homes should be put to death. The brothers Philaeni who had left Carthage went farthest, and were accordingly buried alive at the meeting-point, known henceforth as Arae Philaenorum. The story bears the stamp of legend, perhaps originating from the placename, but this does not prove that the legend did not preserve the memory of a real war.[276] Such a conflict would explain the sea fight between Barka and Carthage, and also the influence of Syracuse discernible on coins of Cyrene, Barka, and Euesperitae at the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th century, since between 383-378 war was being waged between Dionysius of Syracuse and Carthage, and a rapprochement between Syracuse and Barka would have been natural. It may be, therefore, that about 375 Barka suffered a grave defeat from Carthage — her coin distribution now reveals a decline — the frontier between Cyrene and the Punic Syrtic cities being therefore fixed to the advantage of the latter. If so, evidently the peace agreement brought about an opening of the frontier to the merchants of the Syrtic towns.

The fact of continued hostilities between Cyrene and Carthage finds confirmation in two Cyrenean inscriptions. The first,[277] which belongs to the middle of the 4th century, was found in a treasury in the west part of the Sanctuary of Apollo, and records victories over the Nasamones and the Macae, both tribes of the Syrtic region. The other,[278] deriving from the Temple of Zeus, and of 4th-century date, is a list of soldiers and appears to mention a battle in a place called Isa on the Syrtic coast west of the Altars of the Philaeni.[279] These victories, gained far from home, are hardly credible before Cyrene’s recovery in the years preceding 375, nor could such successes do other than arouse the hostility of Carthage, for both the above tribes lived in the vicinity of the emporia.[280] Cyrene is unlikely to have been without allies in such a campaign; the contacts between Syracuse, Cyrene and Barka have been noted. Syracuse was on a hostile footing with Carthage both at the beginning of the 4th century (398-2, 383-78, 368), and in the second half of the same century (339). Before 368 Cyrene was not in a position to be a partner in such a war, but the Punic War of Timoleon in 339 was an appropriate opportunity, since Syracuse had then restored her democratic regime and the influence of her coinage is again noticeable upon the currency of Euesperitae.[281] One conclusion, at least, may be drawn from the fact of this conflict; it needed the active participation of the Cyrenean cities, meaning their effectual political unification at the time and a relative stabilization of their internal regimes. Further, the war required Greek control of the Libyan tribes in their vicinity, or at least some form of accord with them.

In the last years before the entry of Cyrene into the Empire of Alexander of Macedon, power in the state passed, it would seem, into the hands of an oligarchy. Most scholars today date the city constitution drawn up by Ptolemy Lagos, ruler of Egypt, in the last three decades of the 4th century. This constitution is engraved on a stele recovered from the Sanctuary of Apollo (see below p. 50),[282] and refers to the electorate then superseded, which numbered only a thousand.[283] It is to the introduction of this oligarchy that Aristotle apparently is referring when he writes[284] that the nobles (οἱ γνώριμοι) attacked the extreme Cleisthenic democracy in his time. This must have occurred before 336, when Aristotle completed his Politics. As in 339 Cyrene was, we think, allied with democratic Syracuse, the counterrevolution may have come about between the years 339 and 336, and have arisen from circumstances connected with the war against Carthage. Alexander reached Paraetonium (Gasr Madjad) the gates of Libya, in 331, on his way to the Oasis of Ammon, and a Cyrenean embassy came to welcome the conqueror.[285] In Alexander’s own words,[286] Cyrene passed peacefully under his rule, one Apollonius being appointed governor.[287]

On the King’s death (in 323) civil wars broke out in both Cyrene and Barka,[288] apparently the continuation of the same class-struggles which had brought about the fall of the democratic regime. The aristocratic refugees summoned an ex-officer of Alexander, Thimbron, from Crete to aid them; he came to Cyrenaica with a force of mercenaries. The conflict was prolonged with various vicissitudes, and finally the Cyreneans were forced to summon the Libyan tribes and even the Carthaginians to their aid; during the siege of Cyrene by Thimbron, moreover, the democrats drove out or butchered their aristocrats, whose faction appealed to Ptolemy Lagos, Alexander’s successor in Egypt. Ptolemy despatched to Cyrene his commander Ophelias, thereupon the Cyreneans made common cause with Thimbron against Ophelias, but were defeated by him, Thimbron being captured and put to death. Victory secured, Ptolemy arrived in Cyrene to consolidate his rule throughout the territory.[289] It is more than likely that his active intervention was hastened on the one hand by the attack of the Cyrenean demos on its nobility, an attack which had revealed their determination to carry the social revolution to its final conclusion, and on the other by the alliance which the demos had formed with Carthage.

Ptolemy garrisoned Cyrene,[290] but behaved, it would seem, with moderation towards the defeated inhabitants. But the city did not yield its liberty easily. In 313, when Ptolemy was engaged with Antigonus, it rose and besieged Ophelias and his force in the Acropolis. Ptolemy, returning, sent an expedition under Agis to put down the rising.[291] Even now he did not behave with great rigour, but disarming the Cyreneans, sent the leading rebels to Alexandria. Simultaneously the city’s coins begin to be replaced by issues bearing the inscription Κυρανάων Πτολεμαιῶ, reflecting, apparently, some sort of settlement between Ptolemy and the Cyrenean polis.[292] But before many months had passed, Ophelias, left by Ptolemy as governor, seized power and declared himself king.[293] Several scholars attribute to his reign (321-309) the coins inscribed Κυρανάων δάμω,[294] on the assumption that Ophelias was supported by the broader strata of the Cyrenean demos. He responded, however, to the invitation of Agathocles tyrant of Syracuse to join him in his war against Carthage, and mobilized a large number of Cyreneans as well as 10,000 Athenian volunteers lately deprived of their native citizenship, who had reached Cyrene eager for new lands. With 10,000 troops and an equal number of external elements accompanied by their women and children, Ophelias set out westward, performing in several months, under intense difficulties, the march along the Syrtic shore to Africa. His force reached Agathocles in a state of exhaustion after losing many of its members, so that it was not difficult for Agathocles to put Ophelias to death and to merge the remnant of his force in his own army.[295] After which events, Ptolemy was able to reassert his control over Cyrene through the medium of his natural son Magas.[296]