Ptolemais, Libya, 2010

Abstract

Ptolemais is a Greek-roman city, one of five cities of Cyrenaica known as Pentapolis. Established probably as a port settlement of the Greek colony of Barca in the late 6th c. BC, it flourished under the Ptolemaic dynasty in the 3rd c. BC. In 74 BC Cyrenaica with the city of Ptolemais became a roman province. Ptolemais enjoyed a period of greatest prosperity in the reign of Trajan until the reign of the Severan dynasty. Starting from the mid-4th c. Ad, as a result of heavy earthquakes and invasions of nomad tribes, the city gradually fell into decline. In 643 Ptolemais was occupied by Arab tribes. It was abandoned for good around the 11th c., with only a small fragment of its area being occupied by the modern town of Tolmeita.