Cinyps, Libya


Ka'am, Wadi Caam or Wadi Ka'am is a small river in Tripolitana, site of a failed Greek attempt to build a city under the leadership of Spartan Dorieus.

History

The springs in Wadi Caam were the source of the water used in the Hadrianic baths of Leptis Magna with the water diversion scheme using the aqueduct built by Quintus Servillius Candidus in 119-120A.D.
The Greeks under Dorieus of Sparta who was said to be angry because Cleomenes was chosen to be king of Sparta ahead of him left the Peloponnese to found his own colony He chose to found his colony at the mouth of the Cinyps. After three years, around 515B.C. they were expelled by the Carthaginians from Leptis Magna, in alliance with local Libyan tribes. It was said to be the home of the Libyan tribe of the Macae, who were used as mercenaries by the Carthaginians.
In Greek mythology one of the combatants in the Trojan War, Guneus and went to Libya after the war where he settled near the Cinyps River, although other myths have Guneus drowning at sea.
Archaeologists have uncovered a Greek necropolis in Wadi Caam which dates to the 3rd century BC, it consists of a series of stone, box-shaped urns with the lids in the shape of a sloping roof and containing ashes and bones, as well as various types of ceramics.