During the second half of the seventh century BCE, a group of Greek islanders set sail for North Africa and founded the city of Cyrene, in present-day Libya. Thanks to both its contacts with local populations and its fertile land, Cyrene was soon to become one of the most prosperous cities in the Greek world. While ancient historians tell us little about the city’s history after the classical period, much information about Cyrene’s history can be recovered through the analysis of local inscriptions. In particular, these documents shed much light on Cyrene’s exploitation of Libyan countryside and its connections with local artistic productions.

Emilio Rosamilia is the Italian Fellow in Ancient Studies at the American Academy in Rome and a scholar at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.

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