In eastern Libya, a small group of passionate archaeologists are striving to safeguard the ancient ruins of Cyrene and Apollonia — sites first targeted by jihadist groups, then ravaged by Storm Daniel.
The UNESCO-listed ruins were once at the heart of a unique network of Greek colonies in North Africa.
“Breathtaking,” tour guide Hamdi Al-Kailani said, surveying the imposing Temple of Zeus at Cyrene. The monument, he added, is slightly bigger than the Parthenon in Athens.
While calm reigns there today, Cyrene — much like other sites across eastern Libya — was the target of looting by jihadists, including the Daesh group, when the country descended into chaos following the fall of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
With state institutions largely absent, local experts and aficionados had to improvise.
“We were so afraid,” recalled Smail Dakhil, who oversees the dilapidated Museum of Cyrene, which houses statues of Apollo and Zeus, and a storage of more than 40,000 rare artifacts salvaged from the ancient city.
“We came up with a plan among colleagues to hide the small statues, gold coins and archives in our homes,” he told AFP.
Larger sculptures that could not be moved, including a rare female sphinx, were protected by volunteer archaeologists and residents who “stood watch over the sites around the clock so no thefts were recorded in Cyrene,” Dakhil added.
In 631 BC, settlers from the Greek island of Thera, now Santorini, founded Cyrene and four other colonies — Apollonia, Ptolemais, Arsinoe and Berenice — along the coast of today’s eastern Libya.
At its height, Cyrene had as many as 100,000 inhabitants and developed a rich intellectual life centered on the arts, music and science, with theaters and a renowned school of philosophy.
Earthquakes and wars eventually reduced the cities to ruins, and they were only rediscovered in the 18th century.
During Qaddafi’s rule, they received little attention as the country’s official ideology emphasized pan-Arabism and largely overlooked Libya’s pre-Islamic past.
Then came Storm Daniel in 2023, with major floods sweeping through Derna, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Cyrene, and killing thousands of people.
“The day after, everyone who loves this site came by,” said Anis Hamid Younes, who oversees renovation works along a sacred pathway linking upper Cyrene to the Temple of Apollo.
“We were in shock,” he added.
Younes leads a team that has spent months clearing fallen blocks and rubble, salvaging valuable objects and rebuilding a sanctuary and nearly 60 meters (200 feet) of an antique wall.
Despite what he described as “outdated equipment” and “a lack of resources,” Younes said he hoped the area would reopen to visitors in September.
Storm Daniel brought destruction and death — but also new discoveries.
Archaeologists have since unearthed engravings and funerary offerings hidden among thousands of Green and Roman tombs.
