Postage stamps and postal history of Cyrenaica entire eastern section of the country. An Italian post office was opened in Benghazi in 1901 and the stamps of Italy were overprinted for use in the post office. The Ottoman Empire ceded Cyrenaica to Italy in 1912. From 1923 to 1934 stamps were issued for Cyrenaica, which were used concurrently with those of Italian Libya. The first stamps of Cyrenaica were Italian stamps overprinted CIRENAICA issued on 24 October 1923 at the same time as those for Tripolitania. Semi-postal stamps inscribed "Cirenaica" were issued in 1926, and regular commemorative and definitive stamp issues continued until 1934 when Tripolitania, Cyrenaica
Greeks in Malta Greeks in Malta Greeks (, "Ellines"; ) have a long presence in Malta, which may lead back to ancient times. The archipelago was intensely Hellenized beginning in the 3rd century BC, a process which intertwined with the Christianization of Malta after the 1st century AD. The Byzantine presence was overturned by the Arab conquest of 870, and the surviving Greek community was Islamified. Maltese Christianity of the Byzantine Rite was only preserved in some parts of the country, being especially important in Gozo. These groups formed the basis for a local branch of the Orthodox Church, revived following Norman conquest