Learn about the major sources of economic wealth for Cyrene.
Cyrene's main source of economic wealth was in the cultivation and export of poppies and silphium.
Though the opium oil from the poppies was also an export, little is known about this crop.
Information about the cultivation of silphium, however, is more accessible to us.
Silphium, with its yellow flower, was considered a gift from the sun god.
Grown solely in this region near the Mediterranean sea, silphium extract was exported at high prices and was so crucial to the wealth of Cyrenaica that it was depicted on their coins.
Silphium's roots produced a resin used by both the Greeks and Romans in medicines intended to cure cough, fever, indigestion and many other ailments. It was also used as a contraceptive.
In a compilation of culinary recipes from the 4th century BCE, the herb is mentioned in various recipes, including a flamingo dish.
High demand, overexploitation and possibly a shift in climate all contributed to the eventual extinction of silphium.
The last mention of it dates from the 4th century CE and to this day no traces of this plant have been identified.