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49-527: The lake is mentioned as being in Libya , a land the ancient Greeks believed encircled their world, "washed on all sides by the sea," Herodotus said, "except where it is attached to Asia." "In their knowledge, Libya extended from Ancient Egypt , the Nile Valley and its basin, Algeria and along the south of Ancient Egypt ." Both Herodotus in the fifth century B.C. and Diodorus in the first century A.D. described

98-484: A catastrophic change reduced the vast body of fresh water to a seasonal lake or marsh. Ibn Khaldun and Herodotus distinguish the Libyans on the basis of their lifestyles rather than ethnic background, those practicing agriculture, and the others nomadic pastoralism. Modern historians tend to follow Herodotus's classical distinctions. Examples include Oric Bates in his book The Eastern Libyans . Some other historians have used

147-706: A common pedestal that supports a huge transverse beam. In the Terrgurt valley, Cowper says: "There had been originally no less than eighteen or twenty megalithic trilithons, in a line, each with its massive altar placed before it". In ancient times, the Phoenicians / Carthaginians , the Neo-Assyrian Empire , the Persian Achaemenid Empire ( see Libya (satrapy) ), the Macedonian Empire of Alexander

196-471: A fierce storm while returning from Colchis , the Argonauts found themselves in "an area surrounded by sands". They portaged their ship twelve days to Lake Tritonis, but the lake water was salty and undrinkable. Since they could find no outlet from Lake Tritonis to the sea, they could do nothing. Then they propitiated the deities with a golden tripod on the shore and Triton, the local deity, appeared to them in

245-515: A long prediction. "When a descendant," he said, "of one of the Argo's crew should seize and carry off the brazen tripod, then by inevitable fate would a hundred Grecian cities be built around Lake Tritonis." The Libyans of that region, when they heard the words of this prophecy, took away the tripod and hid it. " As Apollonius of Rhodes narrates it, when the Argo was driven ashore on the Lesser Syrtes by

294-606: A speculative territory west of Egypt. Modern Arabic uses Libya . The Lwatae, the tribe of Ibn Battuta , as the Arabs called it, was a Berber tribe that mainly was situated in Cyrenaica. This tribe may have ranged from the Atlantic Ocean to modern Libya , however, and was referred to by Corippius as Laguatan ; he linked them with the Maures . Ibn Khaldun 's Muqaddimah states Luwa

343-593: Is an endorheic chott -kind of salt lake in northeastern Algeria . It is the westernmost part of a series of depressions which extend from the Gulf of Gabès into the Sahara . It was formerly known as Lake Tritonis . They were created between Miocene and Early Pleistocene as a result of compression accompanying the formation of the Atlas Mountains . With the maximum area of about 6,700 km (2,600 sq mi), it

392-566: Is based on the ethnonym Libu ( Ancient Greek : Λίβυες Líbyes , Latin : Libyes ). 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 the Maghreb, from the Ancient Greek ( Attic Greek : Λιβύη Libúē , Doric Greek : Λιβύᾱ Libúā ). In Classical Greece , the term had a broader meaning, encompassing

441-1145: Is below 160 mm. The winds have a speed between 2.7 and 5.3 m/s and are mostly directed south-east between June and September and north-west between autumn and early spring. Sandstorms are more frequent in winter and late summer and last 39 days per year on average. The shallow waters of the lake contain scarce vegetation composed of 72 species of plants which have adapted to salty water, such as sea lavender ( Limonium ), rushes ( Juncus ), glasswort ( Salicornia ), Sarcocornia , bulrush ( Scirpus ) and seepweeds ( Suaeda ). Some species are unique for Algeria and 14 are endemic, such as Fagonia microphylla , Oudneya africana , Zygophyllum cornutum , Limoniastrum feii and Ammosperma cinerea . They grown up to 30 cm in height and host relatively rich avifauna, mostly ducks , sandgrouse , houbara bustard ( Chlamydotis undulata ) and greater flamingo ( Phoenicopterus roseus ). Lake waters are saturated with salt with concentrations reaching 0.4 kg/L and sustain only few animal species, such as brine shrimp . Wild boars, golden jackals , hares and foxes were observed around

490-479: Is nearly barren due to the high concentration of salt. For the same reason, the soil absorbs much condensation overnight that keeps it partly humid during much of the day. The climate in the Chott Melrhir is hot and arid with high evaporation and low precipitation. The average lowest and highest temperatures are 11.4 and 34.2 °C, respectively, and the minimum temperature is about 0 °C. Annual precipitation

539-509: Is the Libyans who taught Greeks how to ride chariots , this is further shown when Mastanbal the prince of Numidia who is well versed in Greek literature. A sportsman in his youth, the prince took part in chariot races and the Panathenaic Games which only populations whom the greeks considered equal to them culturally and religiously were allowed to participate. Mastanbal was a sportsman who

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588-496: Is the daughter of Poseidon and Tritonis a Libyan lake nymph. .in another version of the story in the same source, they say that she was daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and that, being for some reason angry at her father, she gave herself to Zeus , who made her his own daughter, on the other hand some say that she sprang from the forehead of her father Zeus in the same location in North Africa. According to Herodotus , it

637-556: Is the largest lake in Algeria. It lies almost entirely below sea level and contains the lowest point in Algeria, −40 meters (−130 feet). Its size varies over the year and is usually larger than 130 km (81 mi) from east to west. The nearby cities are Biskra (60 km north-west), El Oued and Touggourt (85 km south). During the rain season in winter, the lake is filled by numerous wadi (periodically drying rivers), mostly from north and north-west. The largest of them are

686-661: The Berbers (El-Barbar or El-Barabera(h)). There were many tribes in ancient Libya, including the now extinct Psylli , with the Libu being the most prominent. The ancient Libyans were mainly pastoral nomads, living off their goats, sheep and other livestock. For subsistence, milk, meat, hides and wool were gathered from their livestock for food, pitching tents and as clothing. Ancient Egyptian sources describe Libyan men with long hair, braided and bearded, neatly parted from different sides and decorated with feathers attached to leather bands around

735-554: The Djedi and Arab running from west to east down the slopes of Aurès Mountains . Others include Abiod , Beggour Mitta, Biskra , Bir Az Atrous, Cheria, Demmed, Dermoun, Derradj, Djedeida, Djemorah, Halail, Horchane, Ittel, Mechra, Melh, Mzi, Messad, Oum El Ksob, Soukies, Tadmit and Zeribet. In summer, the lake and most of the rivers feeding it dry out, and Chott Melrhir turns into a salt pan . The annual water evaporation varies between 9.6 and 20 km , and evaporation from soil nearby

784-658: The Egyptians . The nation of Egypt contains the Siwa Oasis , which is bordering Libya at the Western Desert . The Siwi language , a Berber language , is still spoken in the area by around 21,000 people. Their Ancient Egyptian neighbors referred to the various Libyan tribes as the Temehu, Tehenu, Rebu and Meshwesh . Homer names Libya, in the Odyssey (IX.95; XXIII.311). Homer used

833-457: The Gulf of Sidra and due west coastal sections, which became filled in due to salt and gypsum evaporates as well as sand washed or blown in. These areas are below sea level for large expanses, typically only less than 5 meters in depth. This article is based partly on the entry in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography , by William Smith , LLD, 1854. Ancient Libya During

882-681: The Iron Age and Classical antiquity , Libya (from Greek Λιβύη : Libyē , which came from Berber : Libu ) referred to modern-day Africa west of the Nile river . Greek and Roman geographers placed the dividing line between Libya/Africa and Asia at the Nile. In contrast, the areas of Sub-Saharan Africa were known as Aethiopia . 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

931-662: The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt , during the 13th century BC. LBW appears as an ethnic name on the Merneptah Stele to designate Libyans. Menelaus had travelled there on his way home from Troy ; it was a land of wonderful richness, where the lambs have horns as soon as they are born, where ewes lamb three times a year and no shepherd ever goes short of milk, meat or cheese. When the Ancient Greeks actually settled in Libya,

980-697: The Pentapolis of the Roman era on the current west Italian coast. The exact boundaries of the whole of ancient Libya are unknown, but it likely constituted the western regions of Ancient Egypt , and was known as "Tjehenu" to the Egyptians. Ibn Khaldun, who dedicated the main part of his book Kitab el'ibar , which is known as "The history of the Berbers", did not use the names Libya and Libyans , but instead used Arabic names: The Old Maghreb , ( El-Maghrib el-Qadim ), and

1029-477: The desertification of the area is provided by megalithic remains, which occur in great variety of form and in vast numbers in presently arid and uninhabitable wastelands: dolmens and circles akin to Stonehenge , cairns, underground cells excavated in rock, barrows topped with huge slabs, and step-pyramid-like mounds. Most remarkable are the trilithons , some still standing, some fallen, which occur isolated or in rows, and consist of two squared uprights standing on

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1078-476: The history of Egypt , historians know little about the history of Libya, as there are few surviving written records. Information on ancient Libya comes from archaeological evidence and historic sources written by Egyptian scribes, as well as the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines , and later from Arabs of Medieval times. Since the Neolithic, the climate of North Africa has become drier over time. A reminder of

1127-467: The Berbers for themselves, such as Imazighen . Late period sources give more detailed descriptions of Libya and its inhabitants. The ancient historian Herodotus describes Libya and the Libyans in his fourth book, known as The Libyan Book . Writers such as Pliny the Elder , Diodorus Siculus , and Procopius also contributed to what is now primary source material on ancient Libya and the Libyans. The name

1176-522: The Egyptian ones, but probably, some tribes were named in the Egyptian sources and the later ones as well. The Meshwesh -tribe documented by the Ancient Egyptians represents this assumption. Moreover, scholars believe it would be the same tribe called Mazyes by Hektaios and Maxyes by Herodotus, while it was called "Mazaces" and "Mazax" in Latin sources. All those names are similar to the name used by

1225-702: The Great and his Ptolemaic successors from Egypt ruled variously parts of Libya. With the Roman conquest, the entire region of present-day Libya became part of the Roman Empire . Following the fall of the Empire, Vandals , and local representatives of the Byzantine Empire also ruled all or parts of Libya. The territory of modern Libya had separate histories until Roman times, as Tripoli and Cyrenaica . Cyrenaica , by contrast,

1274-674: The Mzata, were from the Qibt s (Egyptians). According to Ibn Khaldun, this claim is incorrect because Ibn Hazam had not read the books of the Berber scholars. Oric Bates , a historian, considers that the name Libu or LBW would be derived from the name Luwatah whilst the name Luwatah is a derivation of the name Libu. Furthermore, Bates considered all the Libyan tribes to be a single civilization united under central Libu and Meshwesh control. Compared with

1323-522: The continent that later (second century BC) became known as Africa , which, in antiquity, was assumed to constitute one third of the world's land mass, Europe and Asia combined making up the other two thirds. The Libu are attested since the Late Bronze Age as inhabiting the region ( Egyptian R'bw , Punic : 𐤋𐤁𐤉 ‎ lby ). The oldest known documented references to the Libu date to Ramesses II and his successor Merneptah , pharaohs of

1372-531: The crown of the head while wearing thin robes of antelope hide , dyed and printed, crossing the shoulder and coming down until mid calf length to make a robe. Older men kept long braided beards, while women wore the same robes as men, plaited, decorated hair and both sexes wore heavy jewelry. Depictions of Libyans in Egyptian reliefs show prominent and numerous tattoos, very similar to traditional Berber tattoos still seen today. Their weapons included bows and arrows, hatchets, spears and daggers. The Libyan script that

1421-530: The earliest Egyptian pantheon, and is suspected to have originated among the Berbers. The story of the Argonauts places Triton's home on the Mediterranean coast of Libya. Before the epic Argonautika of Apollonius, Herodotus knew this tradition of Jason, in which winds "carried him out of his course to the coast of Libya; where, before he discovered the land, he got among the shallows of Lake Tritonis. As he

1470-481: The favorites of Apollo , and some ancient Greek writers regarded them as the mythical founders of Apollo's shrines at Delos and Delphi . Masinissa received a golden crown from the inhabitants of Delos as he had offered them several shiploads of grain to the temple of Apollo in Delos the famous birthplace of the sun god and his twin sister Artemis . Berbers have occupied North Africa for thousands of years alongside

1519-399: The form of a youth, to show them a hidden channel to the sea. This late myth related that a lake nymph named Tritonis made the lake her home and, according to an ancient tradition, was the mother of Athena by Poseidon . ( Herodotus , iv. 180; Pindar . Pytli. iv. 20.) By Amphithemis , she became the mother of Nasamon and Caphaurus . At an unknown date, an earthquake collapsed dikes or

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1568-490: The lake appears in discussion of the geography related in Greek mythology . When Athena is addressed as Athene Tritogeneia ("born of Trito"), the archaic epithet is explained by the episode where, having sprung fully formed from the head—or thigh—of Zeus —who had swallowed her pregnant mother to prevent his own downfall from the rule over the current Greek pantheon by her progeny, as predicted—the goddess

1617-405: The lake can reach 14 km . Chott Melrhir is separated from the nearby Chott Meorouane, which lies south-west, by a stripe of permanently dry land which can be as narrow as 4 kilometers in some places. The bottom of the lake is mostly composed of gypsum and mud and is covered in salt in summer. The lake emits a garlic-like odor. Although the dry soil in and around the lake appears arable, it

1666-500: The lake. In the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax , which is thought to date from the mid-4th century BC, it is said to have a circumference of 1000 stades, giving it an area of about 2,300 km (900 mi), or, half the size of the contemporary United States state of Rhode Island. Herodotus assumed that there would have to be a large river flowing into it, which he called the Triton. The name of

1715-499: The land structures that kept the lake from drying up, causing drainage to the sea of most of the fresh water and at the most allowing for a seasonal lake or marsh. It then possibly became associated with modern Chott el-Djerid and Chott Melghigh , a seasonal lake which is marshy and shallow, now separated by a 50 meter high elevated ridge ten kilometers wide from the Mediterranean. Other suggested locations are various Sabkha along

1764-533: The modern name of the Berbers in their works, such as the French historian Gabriel Camps . The Libyan tribes mentioned in these sources were: " Adyrmachidae ", " Giligamae ", " Asbystae ", " Marmaridae ", " Auschisae ", " Nasamones ", " Macae ", " Lotus-eaters (or Lotophagi)", " Garamantes ", " Gaetulians ", " Mauri ", and " Luwatae ", as well as many others. Chott Melrhir Chott Melrhir , ( Arabic : شط ملغيغ ) also known as Chott Melghir or Chott Melhir ,

1813-641: The name from Greek and the Punic languages. The Romans would have known them before their colonization of North Africa because of the Libyan role in the Punic Wars against the Romans. The Romans used the name Líbues , but only when referring to Barca and the Libyan Desert of Egypt. The other Libyan territories were called " Africa ", which were Roman provinces. Classical Arabic literature called Libya Lubya , indicating

1862-544: The name in a geographic sense, while he called its inhabitants " Lotus-eaters ". After Homer, Aeschylus , Pindar , and other ancient Greek writers used the name. Herodotus (1.46) used Λιβύη Libúē to indicate the African continent; the Líbues proper were the light-skinned North Africans, while those south of Egypt (and Elephantine on the Nile) were known to him as " Aethiopians "; this

1911-624: The old name taken from the Egyptians was applied by the Greeks of Cyrenaica , who may have coexisted with the Libu. Later, the name appeared in the Hebrew language , written in the Bible as Lehabim and Lubim , indicating the ethnic population and the geographic territory as well. In the neo-Punic inscriptions, it was written as Lby for the masculine noun, and Lbt for the feminine noun of Libyan . Latin absorbed

1960-491: Was Greek before it was Roman. It was also known as Pentapolis , the "five cities" being Cyrene (near the village of Shahat) with its port of Apollonia (Marsa Susa), Arsinoe (Tocra), Berenice (Benghazi) and Barca (Merj). From the oldest and most famous of the Greek colonies , the fertile coastal plain took the name of Cyrenaica. These five cities were also known as the Western Pentapolis ; not to be confused with

2009-1026: Was also the understanding of later Greek geographers such as Diodorus Siculus , Strabo ...etc, amongst other writers. In the Hellenistic period , the native Berbers were known collectively as Libyans to the Greco-Roman world, a Greek term for the inhabitants of the Maghreb, they Identified the Massylii , the Masaessyli , the Gaetuli , The Phareusiens and the Mauri . The Libyans were believers of an ancestral religion known as Numitheism . The Libyans were known far and wide as glorious warriors with extra-ordinary physical strength, they were efficient in battle and were an effective force when combined with an army, they were either employed as mercenaries or were made part of an army as

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2058-598: Was an ancestor of this tribe. He writes that the Berbers add an "a" and "t" to the name for the plural forms. Subsequently, it became rendered as Lwat . Conversely, the Arabs adopted the name as a singular form, adding an "h" for the plural form in Arabic. Ibn Khaldun disagrees with Ibn Hazam , who claimed, mostly on the basis of Berber sources, that the Lwatah, in addition to the Sadrata and

2107-408: Was escorted to Lake Trito and attended to by the nymphs. A different interpretation, taking into consideration much earlier Greek and Minoan myths, leads translator Robert Graves to suggest that the reverse direction of religious influence occurred, with Neith being the deity who influenced development of the Greek concept for the goddess Athene. Neith was an ancient deity when first appearing in

2156-660: Was passionate about horseback riding. He owned a stud farm of purebred horses. Around 168 BC or 164 BC, he won a gold medal for his people in Numidia at the Athens Hippodrome at the Panathenaic Games in the prestigious horse-drawn chariot racing event. In Pseudo-Apollodorus , the Greeks proceeded to write of Hyperborea as a place that existed in ancient Libya somewhere within or between the Atlas ranges of North Africa as that

2205-502: Was the case with Numidian Cavalry in the ranks of both Roman Empire and Ancient Carthage , they completely overturned the tide of battle in Cannae for Hannibal and Battle of Zama for Scipio Africanus , Virgil speaks of the Libyans in this way: "The surrounding lands are Libyan , a race unbeatable in war" After the Egyptians, the Greeks; Romans; and Byzantines mentioned various other tribes in Libya. Later tribal names differ from

2254-516: Was the part of the Mediterranean Sea south of Crete , between Cyrene and Alexandria . In Greek mythology , Athena was believed to have been of Libyan origins and was therefore nicknamed Athene Tritogeneia ("born of Trito"), from her birth in Lake Tritonis in North Africa (Modern day Algeria and Tunisia) where she is considered native to the land, in this version of the story she

2303-415: Was the well-known dwelling place of Atlas as he was enduring punishment by Zeus, he was visited by Herakles as well as Perseus in North Africa . This coincides exactly with North Africans being well known for their worship of their sun god 'Tafukt' or commonly identified by the Greeks as Apollo they were believed to inhabit a sunny, temperate, and divinely-blessed land. The oldest myths portray them as

2352-433: Was turning it in his mind how he should find his way out, Triton (they say) appeared to him, and offered to show him the channel, and secure him a safe retreat, if he would give him the tripod. Jason complying, was shown by Triton the passage through the shallows; after which the god took the tripod, and, carrying it to his own temple, seated himself upon it, and, filled with prophetic fury, delivered to Jason and his companions

2401-516: Was used in Libya was mostly a funerary script . It is difficult to understand, and there are a number of variations. Ibn Khaldun divided the Berbers into the Batr and the Baranis . Herodotus divided them into Eastern Libyans and Western Libyans . Eastern Libyans were nomadic shepherds east of Lake Tritonis . Western Libyans were sedentary farmers who lived west of Lake Tritonis. At one point,

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