Cyraunis, an island of Libya. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 195.
Cyrbiāna, a province of the Elymæans.
Cyre, a fountain near Cyrene.
Cyrēnaĭca, a country of Africa, of which Cyrene is the capital. See: [Cyrene].
Cyrēnaĭci, a sect of philosophers who followed the doctrine of Aristippus. They placed their summum bonum in pleasure, and said that virtue ought to be commended because it gave pleasure. Diogenes Laërtius, Aristotle.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3.
Cyrēne, the daughter of the river Peneus, of whom Apollo became enamoured. He carried her to that part of Africa which is called Cyrenaica, where she brought forth Aristæus. She is called by some daughter of Hypseus, king of the Lapithæ and son of the Peneus. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 321.—Justin, bk. 13, ch. 7.—Pindar, Pythian, li. 9.——A celebrated city of Libya, to which Aristæus, who was the chief of the colonists settled there, gave his mother’s name. Cyrene was situate in a beautiful and fertile plain, about 11 miles from the Mediterranean sea, and it became the capital of the country, which was called Pentapolis, on account of the five cities which it contained. It gave birth to many great men, among whom were Callimachus, Eratosthenes, Carneades, Aristippus, &c. The town of Cyrene was built by Battus, B.C. 630, and the kingdom was bequeathed to the Romans, B.C. 97, by king Ptolemy Appion. Herodotus, bks. 3 & 4.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 13.—Strabo, bk. 17.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 8.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 5.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 3, ch. 70.
Cyriades, one of the 30 tyrants who harassed the Roman empire in the reign of Gallienus. He died A.D. 259.
Cyrillus, a bishop of Jerusalem, who died A.D. 386. Of his writings, composed in Greek, there remain 23 catecheses, and a letter to the emperor Constantine, the best edition of which is by Milles, folio, Oxford, 1703.——A bishop of Alexandria, who died A.D. 444. The best edition of his writings, which are mostly controversial, in Greek, is that of Paris, folio, 7 vols., 1638.
Cyrne, a place of Eubœa.
Cyrnus, a driver in the games which Scipio exhibited in Africa, &c. Silius Italicus, bk. 16, li. 342.——A man of Argos, who founded a city of Chersonesus. Diodorus, bk. 5.——A river that falls into the Caspian sea. Plutarch, Pompey.——An island on the coast of Liguria, the same as Corsica; and called after Cyrnus the son of Hercules. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 9, li. 30.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 17.