Apollonia (Cyrenaica)

Apollonia
	Eastern port of Apollonia
	Shown within Libya
Alternative name	Sozusa
Location	Marsa Susa, Jabal al Akhdar, Libya
Coordinates	32°54′07″N 21°58′11″E / 32.90194°N 21.96972°E
Type	Settlement
History
Founded	7th century BC
Abandoned	7th century AD
Site notes
Public access	yes

Apollonia (Greek: Ἀπολλωνία) in Cyrenaica (modern Libya) was founded by Greek colonists and became a significant commercial centre in the southern Mediterranean. It served as the harbour of Cyrene, 20 km (12 mi) to the southwest.

Apollonia became autonomous from Cyrene at latest by the time the area came within the power of Rome, when it was one of the five cities of the Libyan Pentapolis, growing in power until, in the 6th century AD, it became the capital of the Roman province of Libya Superior or Libya Pentapolitana. The city became known as Sozusa, which explains the modern name of Marsa Susa^[1] or Susa, which grew up long after the cessation of urban life in the ancient city after the Arab invasion of AD 643.^[2]

Sozusa was an episcopal see and is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.^[3]

^ Hogarth, David George (1911). "Cyrene" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 704–705.
^ D. White, "Apollonia (Marsa Susa) Libya" in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (Princeton University Press, 1976)
^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 975

[EB1911-1] Hogarth, David George (1911). "Cyrene" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 704–705.

[2] D. White, "Apollonia (Marsa Susa) Libya" in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (Princeton University Press, 1976)

[3] Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 975

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