Français – عربي – ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ – English
During Antiquity, the desert of Sirte was the natural border between Carthaginian Tripolitania and Greek Cyrenaica. According to a legend, in order to determine the exact location of the border, two young men left Carthage and Cyrene on the same day, and traveled on foot along the coast until they met. Their meeting place became the border.
When the emissaries of the two cities met, the Greeks accused the Carthaginians of cheating by leaving early. They agreed to recognize their meeting place as border point on condition that the Carthaginians would be buried alive there. The Carthaginians emissaries, two brothers called the Philaeni, agreed to sacrifice themselves for their country. A monument was built on their tomb, to honor them.
The Roman historian Sallust mentions this legend in his Jugurthine Wars, chapter 79:
Since the affairs of the people of Lepcis have brought us to this region, it seems fitting to relate the noble and memorable act of two Carthaginians; the place calls the event to mind.
At the time when the Carthaginians ruled in the greater part of Africa, the people of Cyrene were also strong and prosperous. Between that city and Carthage lay a sandy plain of monotonous aspect. There was neither river nor hill to mark the frontiers, a circumstance which involved the two peoples in bitter and lasting strife.
After many armies and fleets had been beaten and put to flight on both sides, and the long struggle had somewhat wearied them both, they began to fear that presently a third party might attack victors and vanquished in their weak state. They therefore called a truce and agreed that on a given day envoys should set out from each city and that the place where they met should be regarded as the common frontier of the two peoples. Accordingly, two brothers were sent from Carthage, called Philaeni, and these made haste to complete their journey. Those from Cyrene went more deliberately. Whether this was due to sloth or chance I cannot say, but in those lands a storm often causes no less delay than on the sea; for when the wind rises on those level and barren plains, it sweeps up the sand from the ground and drives it with such violence as to fill the mouth and eyes. Thus one is halted because one cannot see.
Now when the men of Cyrene realized that they were somewhat belated and feared punishment for their failure when they returned, they accused the Carthaginians of having left home ahead of time and refused to abide by the agreement; in fact they were willing to do anything rather than go home defeated. But when the Carthaginians demanded other terms, provided they were fair, the Greeks gave them the choice, either of being buried alive in the place which they claimed as the boundary of their country, or of allowing the Greeks on the same condition to advance as far as they wished. The Philaeni accepted the terms and gave up their lives for their country; so they were buried alive. The Carthaginians consecrated altars on that spot to the Philaeni brothers, and other honors were established for them at home.
The monument on the two brothers’ tomb had already disappeared in the Roman era. This site remained the border between Roman Tripolitania and Roman Cyrenaica, between the Western and Eastern Roman Empire, and, later, between Zirid Tunisia and Fatimid Egypt. During the Italian occupation of Libya, a new monument, the Arc of the Philaeni, was built close to Ras Lanouf. Considered as a colonial symbol, is was demolished in 1973.
