THE FOUNTAIN OF THE CYRENEAN NYMPH

This splendid fountain, to the south of the Roman era, is flanked by two lions. Water flowed from the mouth of a lion strangled by the nymph. In one of his odes, the Greek poet Pindar (late th - early fifth century BC) tale the story of the nymph hero who gave her name to the city. This young nymph of Thessaly, who prefers the arrows with which she hunts wild beasts, is seen by the God Apollo fighting alone and with bare hands against a furious lion. With such courage, Apollo seduced the nymph and leads it in Libya (i. e. in Africa for the Greeks) where he offers to reign on a rich city in the heart of a fertile land that the obviously god of Greeks. Under the pen's pen, the myth thus celebrated the history of the city, whose name was chosen by Battos its founder, in tribute to the nymph representation seduced by Apollo, the great protector of the city.