Located at the crest of the Cyrenaican (Libyan) coastal plateau, Cyrene was colonized by Greeks from the island of Therea around 630 B.C. Its population was gradually augmented by the arrival of other Greeks after 600, and by the century's end it had become the largest and richest of North Africa's Greek colonies. Excavation of its Intramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone began in 1969 under the sponsorship of the University of Michigan, and was continued by the University Museum between 1973 and 1981 under the direction of Donald White (Curator Emeritus, Mediterranean Section).
The Sanctuary grounds rise on terraces across the sharply rising slope of a plunging ravine or wadi south of the walled city. Its complex walled remains span some 850 years of religious activity, dating from ca. 600 B.C. until the mid third century A.D. During this time a large amount of votive material accumulated in the Sanctuary: stone sculpture, pottery, lamps, coinage, personal jewelry, glass, inscriptions, and bronze and terracotta figurines. The site suffered a crippling earthquake in A.D. 262, and then again in 365 when it passed out of use after being vandalized by the local Christian population. The city eventually fell to the Arabs in A.D. 643. To date, seven volumes on the results of the excavations have been published as University of Pennsylvania monographs: two by White, and the remaining five by a team of American, Australian, and British scholars. Four additional volumes are pending, including White’s study of the Sanctuary’s final two-hundred fifty years of architectural and religious development.