Cyrenaica Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ; , , after the city of Cyrene; ) is the eastern coastal region of Libya. Also known as "Pentapolis" ("Five Cities") in antiquity, it formed part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into "Libya Pentapolis" and "Libya Sicca". During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as "Barqa", after the city of Barca. Cyrenaica was the name of an administrative division of Italian Libya from 1927 until 1943, then under British military and civil administration from 1943 until 1951, and finally in the Kingdom of Libya from 1951 until 1963.
Cyrenaica term "Pentapolis" continued to be used as a synonym for Cyrenaica. In the south, the Pentapolis faded into the Saharan tribal areas, including the pharaonic oracle of Ammonium. The region produced barley, wheat, olive oil, wine, figs, apples, wool, sheep, cattle and silphium, an herb that grew only in Cyrenaica and was regarded as a medicinal cure and aphrodisiac. Cyrene became one of the greatest intellectual and artistic centers of the Greek world, famous for its medical school, learned academies and architecture, which included some of the finest examples of the Hellenistic style. The Cyrenaics, a school of thinkers who