Français – عربي – ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ – English
In 525 BCE, Egypt, the most ancient and prestigious nation of the ancient world, was conquered by the Persian Empire. King Arcesilaus III of Cyrene fait alliance avec les Perses. After his death, the Persians took control of Cyrene: this was the beginning of the Persian domination on Cyrenaica.
Context
Under the reign of Battus III (550-530), the legislator Demonax undertook a series of reforms, to make the society more democratic, by limiting the powers of the king. Battus III accepted those reforms, but his son and successor Arcesilaus III (530-515) tried to reestablish his royal powers. In 518, he claimed the restoration of all the powers Demonax’ reforms had deprived him from, with the support of his mother Pheretima. This caused a rebellion by the people, forcing the king to flee to the island of Samos with his mother.
From Samos, he recruited an army to help him come back to power. He consulted the Delphic oracle, which predicted that he would be successful, but also warned him that if he treated his subjects with cruelty, he wouldn’t reign long on them. He indeed managed to come back to power in Cyrene and to exile his adversaries.
Out of fear of retaliation, the king left Cyrene for the neighboring city of Barca (Marj), leaving his mother behind as regent. Alazir, the governor of Barca, from an Amazigh tribe allied with the Cyreneans, was also the father of the king’s wife. One day, while in the Barca market place, he was recognized by a group of exiled Cyreneans, who killed him, together with Alazir.
The Persian invasion
After Arcesilaus’ death, his mother Pheretima called on the Persian governor of Egypt to avenge him, claiming that he had been killed because of his loyalty to the Persians. The Persian army besieged Barca and deported its population, and then entered Cyrene, on Pheretima’s invitation.
Pheretima soon died, of a skin disease. Battus IV (515-465), the new king of Cyrene, became a client of the Persian Empire, just like his son Arcesilaus IV (465-440). After his death, Cyrene became a Republic, still under Persian sovereignty.
Unlike Egypt, Cyrenaica was never occupied by the Persian army: the Persians exerted their power indirectly, by controlling the local elite.
