A pentapolis (from Greek πεντα- penta-, 'five' and πόλις polis, 'city') is a geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities. Cities in the ancient world probably formed such groups for political, commercial and military reasons, as happened later with the Cinque Ports in England.
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👉 Pentapolis in the context of Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica (/ˌsaɪrəˈneɪ.ɪkəˌˌsɪr-/ SY-rə-NAY-ik-ə-,-SIRR-ə) or Kyrenaika (Arabic: برقة, romanized: Barqah, Koine Greek: Κυρηναϊκή [ἐπαρχία], romanized: Kūrēnaïkḗ [eparkhíā], after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, also known as Pentapolis ("Five Cities") in antiquity, was 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 became an Italian colony in 1911. After the 1934 formation of Italian Libya, the Cyrenaica province was designated as one of the three primary provinces of the country. During World War II, it fell under British military and civil administration from 1943 until 1951, and finally in the Kingdom of Libya from 1951 until 1963. The region that used to be Cyrenaica officially until 1963 has formed several shabiyat, the administrative divisions of Libya, since 1995. The 2011 Libyan Civil War started in Cyrenaica, which came largely under the control of the National Transitional Council (headquartered in Benghazi) for most of the war. In 2012, a body known as the Cyrenaica Transitional Council unilaterally declared Cyrenaica to be an autonomous region of Libya.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Pentapolis
- 👉 Pentapolis in the context of Cyrenaica
- Pentapolis in the context of Ptolemais, Cyrenaica
- Pentapolis in the context of Philistia
- Pentapolis in the context of Ashdod (ancient city)
- Pentapolis in the context of Philistine language
- Pentapolis in the context of Gath (city)
Pentapolis in the context of Ptolemais, Cyrenaica
Ptolemais (Greek: Πτολεμαΐς) was one of the five cities that formed the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, the others being Cyrene, Euesperides (later known as Berenice, now Benghazi), Tauchira/Teuchira (later Arsinoe, and now Tocra), and Apollonia (now Susa).
Its ruins are at a small village in modern Libya called Tolmeita (Arabic طلميتة), after the ancient name.
Pentapolis in the context of Philistia
Philistia was a confederation of five main cities or pentapolis in the Southwest Levant, made up of principally Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and for a time, Jaffa (part of present-day Tel Aviv-Yafo).
Scholars believe the Philistines were made up of people of an Aegean background that from roughly 1200 BC onwards settled in the area and mixed with the local Canaanite population, and came to be known as Peleset, or Philistines. At its maximum territorial expansion, its territory may have stretched along the Canaanite coast from Arish in the Sinai (today's Egypt) to the Yarkon River (today's Tel Aviv), and as far inland as Ekron and Gath. Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Philistia in 604 BC, burned Ashkelon, and incorporated the territory into the Neo-Babylonian Empire; Philistia and its native population – the Philistines – disappear from the historic record after that year, until the second century BC, when both Philistea and its cities (Joppa, Jamina, and Azotus) reappear in biblical and Greek texts, in the context of the Maccabean Revolt and the Hellenistic period.
Pentapolis in the context of Ashdod (ancient city)
Ashdod (Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *ʾašdūd; Hebrew: אַשְׁדּוֹד, romanized: ʾašdōḏ; Arabic: أسدود, romanized: ʾasdūd) or Azotus (Koine Greek: Ἄζωτος, romanized: azōtos) was an ancient Levantine metropolis, the remains of which are situated at Tel Ashdod, an archaeological site located a few kilometers south of the modern Ashdod in present-day Israel.
The first documented urban settlement at Ashdod dates to the 17th century BCE, when it was a fortified Canaanite city, before being destroyed in the Bronze Age Collapse. During the Iron Age, it was one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis, and is mentioned 13 times in the Hebrew Bible. After being captured by Uzziah, it was briefly ruled by the Kingdom of Judah before changing hands between the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the later Achaemenid Empire.
Pentapolis in the context of Philistine language
The Philistine language (/ˈfɪləstiːn, ˈfɪləstaɪn, fəˈlɪstən, fəˈlɪstiːn/) is the extinct language of the Philistines. Very little is known about the language, of which a handful of words survived as cultural loanwords in Biblical Hebrew describing specifically Philistine institutions, like the serānim, the "lords" of the Philistine five cities ("pentapolis"), the ʿargāz receptacle, mentioned in 1 Samuel 6, and the title paḏi.
Pentapolis in the context of Gath (city)
Gath or Gat (Hebrew: גַּת, romanized: Gaṯ, lit. 'wine press'; Latin: Geth, Philistine: 𐤂𐤕 *Gīt) was one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis during the Iron Age. It was located in northeastern Philistia, close to the border with Judah.Gath is often mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and its existence is confirmed by Egyptian inscriptions. Already of significance during the Bronze Age, the city is believed to be mentioned in the El-Amarna letters as Gimti/Gintu, ruled by the two Shuwardata and 'Abdi-Ashtarti. Another Gath, known as Ginti-kirmil (Gath of Carmel) also appears in the Amarna letters.
The site most favored as the location of Gath is the archaeological mound or tell known as Tell es-Safi in Arabic and Tel Zafit in Hebrew (sometimes written Tel Tzafit), located inside Tel Zafit National Park, but a stone inscription disclosing the name of the city has yet to be discovered. A Gittite is a person from Gath.