List of Kings of Cyrene
Cyrene was a Greek colony on the North African coast, in what is now northeastern
Libya, founded by settlers from
Thera in the 7th Century BC. The early dates are largely conjectural, as are the individuals whose reigns they purport to indicate.
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Battus I c. 632-c. 600 BC
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Arcesilaus I c. 600-c. 583 BC
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Battus II c. 583-c. 560 BC
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Arcesilaus II c. 560-c. 550 BC
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Battus III c. 550-c. 530 BC
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Arcesilaus III c. 530-c. 515 BC
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Battus IV c. 515-c. 465 BC
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Arcesilaus IV c. 465-c. 440 BC
C. 440 BC, Cyrene became a Republic, under Persian suzerainty (as had been the latter kings from Arcesilaus III). It was conquered by
Alexander the Great in
331 BC, and fell to the portion of
Ptolemy I in the division of Alexander's Empire. In 276 BC, it reasserted its independence.
*
Magas 276-250 BC
*
Demetrius the Handsome 250-249 BC
In 249 Cyrene again became a republic, but was restored to Ptolemaic control in 246 BC. From 163, Cyrene occasionally had its own rulers from the Ptolemaic dynasty. It fell to Rome in 75 BC.
*
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes 163-145 BC
to Egypt 145-100 BC
*
Ptolemy Apion 100-96 BC
Republic 96-75 BC
In 75, the city became part of a Roman province, but it was restored to the Ptolemies by
Mark Antony in
37 BC. In 34 BC,
Cleopatra and Antony's daughter,
Cleopatra Selene, was made Queen of Cyrene, but the city returned to Rome following
Augustus's conquest of Egypt in
30 BC.
