This book is the second in a series about archaeological sites in Libya. The first volume, Tripolitania, about the western part of the country, was published in 2009. This volume - Cyrenaica - about the eastern part of the country appeared in May 2013. A third and final volume will cover Fezzan, the southern part of the country.
Philip Kenrick, the author of the first two
volumens, is a classical archaeologist, who has worked extensively in Libya,
both on excavations and on field surveys.
His book comes highly recommended: on the flap
of the back cover there is a statement by Andrew Wilson, Professor of the
Archaeology of the Roman Empire, University of Oxford. His statement concludes
with these words:
“This is an
indispensable guide for any visitor to Libya, and also an impressive and highly
readable work of scholarship which any student of Cyrenaica’s extraordinary archaeological
heritage must have.”
Can the book live up to this praise? If you
ask me, the answer is yes. The material is well-organised, and the text is
written by an author who knows his topic very well. The section about Tokra (Teuchira)
is written by Ahmed Buzaian, who has been involved in excavations there.
The book begins with an introduction, that
provides the historical background, and concludes with a glossary, a
chronological table, a bibliography and an index.
The main part of the book (the gazetteer) is
divided into nine chapters, which cover more than sixty ancient sites or
monuments.
There are 222 illustrations including colour
photos and drawings, i.e. maps and plans, which show the layout of an ancient
town or of an ancient building.
The large and famous sites – such as Cyrene
and Apollonia (Sousa) - are easy to find. Smaller and less famous sites – such
as Suluntah (Slonta) - may be more difficult to find. Perhaps they are located in
a remote area. Perhaps there is not a good road leading to the entrance. For
these cases, the author gives detailed driving instructions. In addition, he
gives the GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude). You cannot be more precise
than that.
Kenrick uses a star-system to rate the sites
and - within larger sites - the individual monuments and museums (the highest:
3 stars; the lowest: no stars). This is a good idea. Most travellers do not
have the time or indeed the desire to see everything. They just want to see the
most important attractions.
Some sites get more space than others. In
order to illustrate this point I will mention eight examples. I will use a
sliding scale, beginning with a small and not so famous site (Sulunta / Slonta)
and ending with the largest and most famous site (Cyrene):
* Sulunta (Slonta) gets 3 pages (137-140), including 3 illustrations
* Ajdabiya
gets 4 pages (21-25), including 4 illustrations
* Qasr Libya (Olbia) gets 6 pages (129-136), including 5 illustrations
*
Euesperides (Berenice) gets 10 pages (38-47), including 6 illustrations
* Tokra
(Teuchira) gets 15 pages (49-63), including 9 illustrations
* Apollonia
(Sousa) gets 30 pages (255-285), including 14 illustrations
* Ptolemais
(Tolmeita) gets 40 pages (66-106), including 35 illustrations
* Cyrene gets 106 pages (148-254), including
65 illustrations. The chapter about this ancient town is divided into seven
sections, which cover six geographical areas plus the local museum.
[To put
this into perspective: in Lonely Planet's guidebook to Libya (second edition, 2007) Cyrene gets only seven pages including two
illustrations!]
Philip
Kenrick and Ahmed Buzaian are careful with the details. If they wish you to notice
a specific detail, they will tell you where you can find it. To illustrate this
point I will mention a few examples:
** In the
section about Tokra (Teuchira), item # 11, the Gymnasium: the author mentions
some Greek inscriptions on the wall (pp. 58-59).
** In
chapter 3 about Ptolemais (Tolmeita), the section about the local museum: the
author mentions three polychrome mosaics discovered in the town: item # 24 the
head of Medusa; item # 28 the mosaic of the four seasons; item # 55 the mosaic
of Orpheus (pp. 103-105).
** In
chapter 6 about Cyrene, item # 30, the House of Hesychios: the author discusses the identity
of this person. Is it a friend of Synesius and one of his correspondents? Is it
the father of Synesius? Or a third person, who just happens to have the same
name as the other two? (pp. 167-168).
** In
chapter 7 about Apollonia (Sousa), the section about the local museum: item # 6
fragments of an edict issued by emperor Anastasius (491-518). A copy of this
edict was also discovered in Ptolemais (Tolmeita) (page 285).
The volume about Cyrenaica is longer than the
volume about Tripolitania (353 against 232 pages) and has more illustrations
(222 against 113). Volume 1 has some minor flaws, as mentioned in my review. Perhaps
the proof reader was less than perfect. Fortunately, I did not notice similar
flaws in volume 2. This time, it seems, the proofreader was more efficient.
Research
for this book was carried out in November 2010 and in April 2012, i.e. shortly
before and shortly after the downfall of Muammar Qadhafi. As Kenrick explains in
his preface:
“During the
compilation of this work, Libya has passed through [a difficult]
upheaval and, at the time of writing, the future is still far from clear. It is
greatly to be hoped however, that a new stability will lend itself to a return
to tourism and to greater opportunities for both Libyans and foreign visitors
to appreciate the cultural heritage which belongs to everyone.”
As mentioned above, this book is recommended
by Professor Andrew Wilson. I am happy to confirm his recommendation. I wish
this book had been available, when I was in Libya in 2004.
* * *
Philip Kenrick,
With a contribution by Ahmed Buzaian,
Libya Archaeological Guides: Cyrenaica,
Silphium Press, 2013, 353 pages
* * *
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