Cyrene or Cyrenaica was a Greek colony on the North African coast, in what is now northeastern Libya, founded by Dorian settlers from Thera (modern Santorini) in the 7th century BC.
[1] In 440 BC, Cyrene became a republic, under Persian suzerainty (as had been the latter kings from Arcesilaus III).
[citation needed] In 249 BC Cyrene again became a republic, but was restored to Ptolemaic control in 246 BC by Ptolemy III who married to Berenice II, Queen of Cyrene.
From 163 BC, Cyrene occasionally had its own rulers from the Ptolemaic dynasty.
In 34 BC Cleopatra VII and Antony's daughter, Cleopatra Selene II, was made Queen of Cyrene, but the city returned to Rome following Augustus' conquest of Egypt in 30 BC.