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Apollonia (Marsa Susa), to the North of Cyrene, was founded as the port of Cyrene. Later on, it became an important city in its own right, succeeding Cyrene and Ptolemais as the capital of Cyrenaica.
Apollonia was probably the landing place of the first Greek colonists in Libya, in the 7th Century BCE. This site offers ships a safe anchorage, thanks to its two creeks.
In its early history, the port of Apollonia was not a city, but just a dependence of Cyrene, made of the port and several scaled habitations along the coast, without efficient military defenses as the enemies of Cyrene came from the continent rather than from the sea. Even the name Apollonia is mentioned only lately, in the 1st Century, by the Roman geographer Strabo. This seems to indicate that the port of Cyrene didn’t have its own name for a long time.
The oldest archaeological remains that were found in Apollonia date back to the 6th Century: a vase and two ceramics from Corinth and Rhodes.
In 332, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, where he founded his new capital: Alexandria. The Cyrenaican Greeks, happy to see a Greek King who aspired to unite all Greeks, submitted to him. After the death of Alexander the Great, Thibron, a mercenary from Sparta, tried to conquer Cyrenaica. He started by taking control of Apollonia (the sources only mention the port of Cyrene, without a name), thanks to the lack of defensive structures. After his defeat, Thibron was crucified in Apollonia.
Cyrenaica then became part of the Ptolemaic Empire. To defend Apollonia, the Ptolemy built a protective wall around its port. A carved head of King Ptolemy III Euergetes has been found in Apollonia.
Pieces of ceramics and potteries that were discovered in Apollonia inform us about the economic exchanges between the port of Cyrene and the rest of the Mediterranean world in the 3rd and 2nd Centuries: around half of the fragments come from Greek cities on the Aegean Sea, especially amphorae from the island of Rhodes; a quarter were made in Cyrenaica; and a sixth come from Magna Graecia (Sicily and Southern Italy), mostly imported Italian wine. However, while Cyrenaica was under Egyptian sovereignty, there are very few remains from Naucratis, the ancient Greek colony in Egypt.
Apollonia became an autonomous city by the end of the Hellenistic era. According to the French archaeologist André Laronde, based on a passage by the Greek-Roman author Plutarch, the city became independent from Cyrene following a Roman intervention, around 85, during the civil war between Sulla and Marius.
Cyrenaica became part of the Roman Empire in 74. Apollonia, like the other Greek cities of Cyrenaica, underwent a time of prosperity in the beginning of the Roman era, with the development of public buildings. The city dedicated a statue of Roman Emperor Hadrian, in Athens, and another statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, in Eleusis.
In the Roman era, Barca and Balagrae‘s importance dwindled, while Apollonia and Ptolemais‘ importance grew. The Pentapolis was now made of Cyrene, Berenice (Benghazi), Taucheira (Tocra), Ptolemais (Tolmeita) and Apollonia.
Cyrenaica was the first region in North Africa to be reached by Christianity, and now has some of the best-preserved ruins of ancient Christian churches in North Africa. Apollonia became an important Christian center. The first known bishop of Apollonia was Euphranor, who received a letter from the bishop of Alexandria around 260. The main church of Cyrene was located in Apollonia.
At some point in the 4th Century, Apollonia already briefly became the capital of Roman Cyrenaica. After the 365 earthquake, which devastated Cyrene and Apollonia, Ptolemais, relatively spared, became the provincial capital again.
In 411, Ptolemais was devastated by an attack of Amazigh tribes. Shortly after the attack, Apollonia succeeded Ptolemais as provincial capital. At the same time, the city received a new name: its ancient Greek name, which referred to the pagan god Apollo, an unacceptable reference in an Empire that was now Christian, was replaced by Sôzousa, the “city of the Savior”.
The future Byzantine Empress Theodora stayed in Sôzousa in her youth, as the lover of Hecebolus, the Byzantine governor of Cyrenaica. This was her first time in North Africa, a region that would remain very dear to her. In 539, Theodora ordered the rebuilding of Olbia (Qasr Libya), an ancient city of Cyrenaica that had been destroyed by the Vandals. The new city was named Theodorias, in honor of its founder. A church in the city contains around fifty mosaics, considered as among the most beautiful in the world.
