Shahhat Things to Do

Nike was the Goddess of Victory and was usually pictured with wings. She was a very popular goddess in time of war. This did not mean that Nike's prowess were confined to military exploits, quite the opposite, she was equally famous for her vistory in many areas of ancient Greek life, including athletics and other contests. According to the poet Hesiod, she was the daughter of the Titan Pallas and the Oceanid Styx.

Nike was called Victoria in Roman mythology.

This Roman period statue was found in Beida in the sanctuary of Asklepios.

2 more images

Next to the "Baths of Paris/Artemis, but at the opposite site of the holy road you will see a lot of tombs, say "Necropolis" situated on a hillside overlooking the city. The necropolis dates back to the 6th century BC when it was used by the Greeks, the Romans and Byzantines.
Even after leaving the site, in the area, you will meet a lot such graves/caves

4 more images

Strolling from the agora direction the Apollo square you will see a lot of places still to be excavated. On the left you can see some remarkable caves. They seem to be ancient baths and are called Greek (i.e. pre-Roman) or"Baths of Artemis". Some other archeo's call them now the "Byzantine Baths of Paris", who is right, who is wrong.
Anyway the Greek didn't have such a tradition in cultural bathing than the Romans
You will recognize the locker rooms, bathing rooms. A really "off the beathen path".

4 more images

Cyrene is an archeological site near the village of Shahat. One of its more significant features is the Temple of Apollo which was originally constructed as early as 7th century BC. Other ancient structures include a Temple to Demeter and a partially unexcavated Temple to Zeus

High up from the rest of the town, lies the Temple of Zeus, dating back to the 5th century BCE, but restored by the Romans around year 0. It was destroyed during a Jewish rebellion in 115, and restored a second time in 120. In the great earthquake of 365, it was crushed and not rebuilt before British and Italian archaeologists put it back together in modern times.

The public baths were very well restored and contain some good mosaics and cipolin columns. The baths were originally constructed in 98-99 AD under the Emperor Trajan, and later restored by Hadrian.

During a violent storm in 1913, a beautiful statue of Venus was unearthed, now in the museum in Rome.

Roman engineers devised an ingenious system of heating the baths—the hypocaust. By raising the floor off the ground with the use of pillars, cavities were created inside the walls so that hot air from the furnace (praefurnium) could circulate through these open areas. The calidarium and laconicum would be placed closst to the hypocaust as they would require the most heat . In some baths the floors would be so hot that the bathers would have to wear wooden sandels to stop their feet from being burnt.

Bathing was considered a leisure activity in Roman times and was part of the daily routine for men of all classes, as well as many women. While we consider bathing to be a very private activity conducted in the home, bathing in Roman cities was a communal activity, conducted in public facilities such as this sauna (laconicum).

From the changing rooms (apodyterium), the bathers would enter the baths where oils and herbs would be used on their skin, they would partake in excercise following which the oil would be scraped off their bodies along with any dirt.

They would then usually continue to the calidarium (hot baths), followed by the tepidarium (warm baths) and finally the frigidarium (the cold baths)

After the cleansing rituals, bathers would carry out more relaxing activities such as strolling in the gardens.