Ancient Libya

The Latin name Libya (from Greek Λιβύη, Libyē) referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa. Its people were ancestors of the modern Berber people. Berbers occupied the area for thousands of years before the beginning of human records in Ancient Egypt. 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 northwest Africa. 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

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).