Taucheira

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taucheira or Teucheira or Tauchira or Teuchira (Greek: Ταύχειρα, Herod. iv. 171, et alii; Τεύχειρα, Hierocl. p. 732; Plin. v. 5. s. 5, etc.), later Arsinoe (Greek: Ἀρσινόη), was a town on the coast of Cyrenaica, founded by Cyrene and considered by some to be part of the pentapolis of Cyrenaica; its location is in modern-day Libya. It lay 200 stadia west of Ptolemais. Under the Ptolemies it obtained the name of Arsinoe (Arsinoë), after Arsinoe II of Egypt, named by her brother and husband, Ptolemy Philadelphus. (Strab. xvii. p. 836; Mela, i. 8; Plin. l. c.) At a later period it became a Roman colony (Tab. Peut.), and was fortified by Justinian I. (Procop. de Aed. vi. 3.) Taucheira was particularly noted for the worship of Cybele, in honour of whom an annual festival was celebrated. (Synes. Ep. 3.) It is the same town erroneously written Τάριχα by Diodorus (xviii. 20). It is still called Tochira. (Cf. Della Cella, Viagg. p. 198; Pacho, Voyage, p. 184.

[edit] References