Tocra, Taucheira or Tukrah, is a town on the coast of the

Marj District Marj ( ar, المرج ', en, The Meadows) is an administrative division (''shabiyah'' or district) of northeastern Libya, lying on the Mediterranean Sea coast. Its administrative seat is the city of Marj, which was formerly known as Barca. M ...

in the

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

region of northeastern

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

, founded by Cyrene. It lay 200 stadia west of Ptolemais. Today it is a coastal town west of

Marj Marj ( ar, المرج, Al Marǧ, The Meadows), also spelt ''El Merj'', generally believed to be on the site of the ancient city of Barca or Barce, is a city in northeastern Libya and the administrative seat of the Marj District. It lies in an ...

History

Founded by the Greeks and considered by some to be part of the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, at a later period it became a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

colony (Tab. Peut.), and was fortified by

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...

. (Procop. ''de Aed.'' vi. 3.) Taucheira was particularly noted for the worship of

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forer ...

, in honour of whom an annual festival was celebrated. (Synes. Ep. 3.) In the city fortifications from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods have been found.

Name

Taucheira, Teucheira, Tauchira or Teuchira (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: , ,). Under the Ptolemies it obtained the name of Arsinoe (Arsinoë) (Greek: ), after Arsinoe II of Egypt, named by her brother and husband,

Ptolemy Philadelphus ; egy, Userkanaenre Meryamun Clayton (2006) p. 208 , predecessor = Ptolemy I , successor = Ptolemy III , horus = ''ḥwnw-ḳni'Khunuqeni''The brave youth , nebty = ''wr-pḥtj'Urpekhti''Great of strength , gol ...

. Later it became known as Tocra or Tukrah or Tokara, and then Al Quriyah or El Agouriya in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

. It is the same town erroneously written by

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

(xviii. 20). It is still called Tochira.Cf. Della Cella, ''Viagg.'' p. 198; Pacho, ''Voyage,'' p. 184. Agouriya is the name given to the city by the deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi, in reference to the Agouri tribe. The town's largest tribe is the Barghathi tribe, who claim the town their own. There are tribal rivalries with the Abdali tribe. Both the Barghathi and Abdali tribes belong to the larger "umbrella" Agouri tribe. The renaming of the town by Gaddafi was to play on the rivalry between the two tribes. After the 17 Feb revolution, inhabitants of the town went back to the old name, Tokara.

Agriculture

On a relatively small scale, residents of the town grow watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, almonds, and tomatoes; but it is most famous for its figs.

Notes

References

External links