Cyrene

A city on the coast of North Africa, known as the capital of Cyrenaica. It was founded in the seventh century BC by Greeks who were mainly farmers. Herodotus, a historian from the fifth century BC, noted that Cyrene was unique because it had three harvest seasons, resulting in a long, continuous autumn of eight months: “the land of Cyrene, the highest of that part of Libya which is inhabited by Nomads, has the remarkable peculiarity of three separate harvest-seasons . . . making for the fortunate people of Cyrene, a continuous autumn of eight months on end” (4.199).

Alexander the Great conquered Cyrene in 331 BC, and it later became part of the Roman Empire. During the New Testament period, the city had a large Jewish population from Alexandria. One of these Jews, Simon of Cyrene, was in Jerusalem during the Passover when he was compelled to carry Jesus's cross (Matthew 27:32). On Pentecost, Peter preached to Jews from Cyrene in Jerusalem (Acts 2:10). Stephen was attacked by Jews from a synagogue that included people from Cyrene (Acts 6:9). Some of these Cyrenian Jews were later converted to Christianity and became preachers (Acts 11:20), traveling as far as Antioch, where Lucius of Cyrene was a notable Christian teacher (Acts 13:1).