Anthropologies of Revolution

Self Cite

The four cemeteries of Cyrene were a living archaeological landscape whose life continued far beyond antiquity. The habit of using monumental tombs was a long-lasting one in Cyrene, starting in the Archaic period and continuing until Roman times. The concept of ‘reuse’ is in itself a problematic one since, from a semantic point of view, it implies the presence of a clear-cut division between an original ‘phase of use’ and of a later ‘phase of reuse’. This approach could have sense when a clear hiatus is present, for example when speaking of modern reuse of ancient Greek tombs. However, the main problem is the use of the term ‘reuse’ when describing two ancient phases, such as a Hellenistic phase and a Roman phase of the same tomb, implying a clear hiatus between them even if one often lacks the elements for identifying the existence of such a hiatus. In particular, the Southern and Northern Necropolises have been analysed here to investigate this subject, basing the hypotheses on data coming from field research and previous studies. However, the topic of reuse for the tombs of Cyrene would need far more space than this paper, so this work should be considered an introduction to a matter that needs a far deeper and a far wider analysis. Given these limits, an ‘anthological’ approach is here proposed, with a sequence of various subjects connected to the ‘reuse’ topic and some new data coming from recent research (such as the surveys in the Northern and Southern Necropolises and the excavation of Tomb S1 by the Chieti University team, and of a tomb in the Northern Necropolis by a team of colleagues from the local Department of Antiquities).

Section: Approaching Reuse In Cyrene: Past Scholarship and Problems Omentioning

confidence: 98%

A ‘living’ necropolis: change and reuse in the cemeteries of Cyrene

Cherstich¹,

Menozzi

Antonelli

et al. 2018

Self Cite

“…The eclectic artistic culture, typical of the Roman world, meets the local Greco-Libyan substratus (Menozzi 2014). The busts are, at this point, located on the façades of the tombs, without any architectural relationship with the symmetric arrangement of the façades (although there are also scholars who stress elements of continuity with previous practices and display strategies, as stressed in Cherstich 2011; Cherstich and Cherstich 2008). The second century AD in Cyrenaica is characterized by new influences coming from Roman architecture: the reuse of earlier graves and tombs, through the enlargement of loculi and the cutting of niches for portrait-busts; and the construction of new tombs, mainly devoted to the elite.…”

Section: The Roman Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Western Necropolis of Cyrene: the Wadi Belghadir road

Valerio

2019

The Western Necropolis represents one of the most monumental and spectacular sections of the Cyrene cemeteries, with rock-cut monuments, still quite well preserved, along a funerary road. The earliest examples of monumental tombs in this context date to the second half of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth centuries BC, with tombs displaying rock-cut porticos in Doric, Aeolic or Ionic styles, and with the slightly later tombs having architectonic facades characterized by false ‘contracted’ porticos and overhanging lintels ending with two acroteria, mainly dating to the fifth century. The fourth century and the Hellenistic age, in this section of the necropolis, is attested by rock-cut chamber tombs, often with painted Doric friezes, and loculi. In Roman times, apart from a few examples of new tombs, most of the Roman funerary monuments reuse earlier tombs or are tombs that have been in constant use from previous periods. These phenomena of transformation and reuse of earlier monuments are quite well know for Cyrene, but are more evident from the middle and late imperial period; in later periods we even see the total re-functionalization of the monument. The monumental appearance of the Western Necropolis and its location in a quite remote area, are unfortunately the main reasons for the destruction of the tombs, which have been quite heavily looted: marble statues, busts and portraits have particularly suffered.

“…The zone includes the Western necropolis with the amazing painted Hellenistic tombs (Fabbricotti 2006) and the series of wonderful Archaic and Classical chambers (Di Valerio 2008, Cherstich I. 2008) or the still-preserved Balagrae Road in the Southern Necropolis (Cherstich L. 2006a, 2008) which has an inscribed Roman milestone, farms, cisterns and forms an important part of the ancient landscape. The loss of these remains would be very damaging to the heritage.Core Zone 2 is important not only for preserving the integrity of the archaeological landscape, but also the natural landscape which is an important part of the heritage of this area.…”

Section: Cyrene: Core and Buffer Zones (Omenozzi E DI Valerio Mgmentioning

confidence: 99%

A proposal for the use of Core and Buffer Zones to protect the heritage of the Cyrenean landscapes

Menozzi¹,

Cherstich

Valerio

et al. 2019

The ancient landscapes surrounding Cyrene, which have been incredibly well preserved for centuries, have suffered more destructions in the past 7 or 8 years than in the whole of the last millennium. Urban encroachment, strong demographic pressure, unsustainable exploitation of resources and unplanned growth of infrastructures and services are threatening the archaeological heritage of this splendid site. The Department of Antiquities (DoA) has always struggled against these phenomena, but today the destructions are so great that the DoA is often powerless to act. This paper continues previous works on the damage to the Cyrenean necropoleis after 2011(Abdulkariem and Bennett, 2014; Al Raeid et al. 2016; Menozzi, Di Valerio et al. 2017; Menozzi, Tamburrino et al. 2017) and proposes strategies to help, on the basis of a preliminary report organised by the Mission of the University of Chieti in collaboration with the Departments of Antiquities of Cyrene and Tripoli, as requested by UNESCO. This preliminary step towards further improvements and needs to be discussed with other institutions and missions. The first part presents a proposal for controlling the core and buffer zones around Cyrene; the second part is an update on the recent damages to the necropoleis.