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οὐρανὸς τέτρηται. The ‘sky is pierced’ as a symbol of fertility; cf. Mal. iii. 10 ‘windows of heaven’. There is probably also a reference to the abundant winter rains at Cyrene (contrast c. 185 n.).

The date of the founding of Cyrene, 631 B. C., rests on Eusebius; it agrees with the facts in H. that the first two kings ruled fifty-six years (c. 159), and that the Egyptian attack (ii. 161), which we know was in 570 B. C., was in the time of Battus II, the third king.

For the whole subject cf. Busolt, i. 482 n. For recent exploration there (begun 1910) cf. J. H. S. xxxi. 301.

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