Ancient Libya

History of Libya
This article is part of a series
Prehistory
Ancient history (before 146 BC)
Roman era (146 BC – 640 AD)
Arab rule (640–1551)
Ottoman rule (1551–1911)
Italian colonization (1911–1934)
Italian Libya (1934–1943)
Allied occupation of Libya (1943–1951)
Kingdom of Libya (1951–1969)
Libya under Gaddafi (1969–2011)
Libyan Republic (2011–present)
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The Latin name Libya (from Greek Λιβύη, Libyē) referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa. Climate changes affected the locations of the settlements. More narrowly, Libya could also refer to the country immediately west of Egypt, viz. Marmarica (Libya Inferior} and Cyrenaica (Libya Superior). The Libyan Sea or Mare Libycum was the part of the Mediterranean south of Crete, between Cyrene and Alexandria.

In the Greek period the Berbers were known as Libyans, a Greek term for the inhabitants of northeast Africa.^[1] Their lands were called Libya, and extended from modern Morocco to the western borders of Ancient Egypt. Modern Egypt contains the Siwa Oasis, historically part of Libya, where the Berber Siwi language is still spoken.

Name

Further information: Libu

The name Libya (in use since 1934 for the modern country formerly known as Tripolitania and Barca) was the Latin designation for the region of Northwest Africa, from the Greek Ancient Greek: Λιβύη Libúē, Λιβύᾱ (Libúā) (in the Attic and Doric dialects respectively).

In Classical Greece the term had a broader meaning, encompassing all the continent that later (2nd century BC) came to be known as Africa, in antiquity assumed to make up one third^{[dubious – discuss]} of the world's landmass, besides Europe and Asia.

The Greek name is based on the ethnonym Libu (Ancient Greek: Λίβυες Líbues, Latin: Libyes). The land of the Libu was Λιβύη (Libúē) and Λιβύᾱ (Libúā) in the Attic and Doric dialects respectively. These Libu are attested since the Late Bronze Age as inhabiting the region (Egyptian: R'bw, Punic: