The Ancient Libyans

*Includes pictures *Includes contemporary Egyptian accounts of the Libyans and the wars against them *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading The ancient Egyptians are well known today for the enemies they kept. In their texts, the Egyptians made copious references to the "vile Asiatics" and "wretched Kush," who were their Canaanite and Nubian neighbors, respectively. The Nubians and Canaanites were also portrayed in numerous reliefs from the temples and tombs throughout Egypt, which has given modern scholars both a general impression concerning how those people dressed and looked, as well as (and probably more importantly) how the Egyptians viewed those peoples. The Canaanites and Nubians received the most attention as Egypt's enemies and occasional trading partners, but it was the Libyans-the final third of Egypt's traditional enemies-who influenced later Egyptian culture most. Unlike the Nubians and Canaanites, the Libyans were nearly always at war with the Egyptians. The reasons for the near constant warfare between the Libyans and Egyptians are difficult to discern, but more than likely stem from the fact that Libya was poor in resources, so the Egyptians had little reason to trade with the Libyans. On the other hand, the Libyans coveted Egypt's material wealth. The result was numerous putative campaigns by the Egyptians into Libya and raids by the Libyans into Egypt. The wars between the Libyans and Egyptians reached a fevered pitch during the New Kingdom when the Libyans organized anti-Egyptian coalitions, and even formed an alliance with the mysterious Sea Peoples. By the Late New Kingdom, Egypt was an armed camp, yet it was ultimately unable to stem the tide of Libyan migration. The Libyans used their numbers to their advantage, eventually conquering Egypt and establishing two dynasties. Their ancestors created another two. Unfortunately, early Libyan history is replete with several lacunae since the Libyans were not literate until the early Iron Age, and modern archaeologists have uncovered little of their material culture. As a result, modern studies of the ancient Libyans are then forced to synthesize archaeological evidence using Egyptian textual and pictorial references, classical sources, and biblical references, in order to arrive at a more complete picture. The relationship between the Libyans and Egyptians was truly complicated, and an in-depth survey of Libyan history from the Neolithic Period until the middle of the 6th century BCE demonstrates just how important the Libyans were in the ancient world. The Ancient Libyans: The Mysterious History of Egypt's Neighbors to the West during Antiquity looks at the various groups and their impact on the region and subsequent cultures. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the ancient Libyans like never before.

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading During the several centuries that ancient Egypt stood as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, civilizations of the ancient world, conflicts with its neighbors often played a central role in hieroglyphic texts and art from temples and tombs. The three primary enemies of the Egyptians were the Libyans who occupied the Western Desert and its oases, the so-called Asiatics who lived in the Levant, and finally the Nubians to Egypt's south. Among the three peoples, the Nubians were the most "Egyptianized" and at times were integral to the development of Egyptian history. Truly, the Nubians were the greatest of all sub-Saharan peoples in pre-modern times and deserve to be studied in their own right, apart from ancient Egyptian history. Unfortunately, it is often difficult for scholars to separate aspects of ancient Nubian culture that were truly unique and "Nubian" from those elements that were Egyptian, as the Nubians borrowed heavily in terms of culture from their northern neighbor. One historian noted, "As expected, strong Nubian features and dark coloring are seen in their sculpture and relief work. This dynasty ranks as among the greatest, whose fame far outlived its actual tenure on the throne. Especially interesting, it was a member of this dynasty that decreed that no Nehsy (riverine Nubian of the principality of Kush), except such as came for trade or diplomatic reasons, should pass by the Egyptian fortress and cops at the southern end of the Second Nile Cataract. Why would this royal family of Nubian ancestry ban other Nubians from coming into Egyptian territory? Because the Egyptian rulers of Nubian ancestry had become Egyptians culturally; as pharaohs, they exhibited typical Egyptian attitudes and adopted typical Egyptian policies." Robert S. Bianchi went even further: "It is an extremely difficult task to attempt to describe the Nubians during the course of Egypt's New Kingdom, because their presence appears to have virtually evaporated from the archaeological record. The result has been described as a wholesale Nubian assimilation into Egyptian society. This assimilation was so complete that it masked all Nubian ethnic identities insofar as archaeological remains are concerned beneath the impenetrable veneer of Egypt's material culture." The Canaanites and Nubians received the most attention as Egypt's enemies and occasional trading partners, but it was the Libyans-the final third of Egypt's traditional enemies-who influenced later Egyptian culture most. Unlike the Nubians and Canaanites, the Libyans were nearly always at war with the Egyptians. The reasons for the near constant warfare between the Libyans and Egyptians are difficult to discern, but more than likely stem from the fact that Libya was poor in resources, so the Egyptians had little reason to trade with the Libyans. On the other hand, the Libyans coveted Egypt's material wealth. The result was numerous putative campaigns by the Egyptians into Libya and raids by the Libyans into Egypt. The wars between the Libyans and Egyptians reached a fevered pitch during the New Kingdom when the Libyans organized anti-Egyptian coalitions, and even formed an alliance with the mysterious Sea Peoples. By the Late New Kingdom, Egypt was an armed camp, yet it was ultimately unable to stem the tide of Libyan migration. The Libyans used their numbers to their advantage, eventually conquering Egypt and establishing two dynasties. Their ancestors created another two. The relationship between the Libyans and Egyptians was truly complicated, and an in-depth survey of Libyan history from the Neolithic Period until the middle of the 6th century BCE demonstrates just how important the Libyans were in the ancient world.

Buried for more than a millennium beneath sand and the erosions of time are the remnants of a vital, formative Christian presence in Libya. From about A.D. 68 till the Muslim conquest of A.D. 643, Libya housed a vibrant, creative Christian community that contributed to the shape of the faith even as we know it today. By the mid-190s A.D., Leptis Magna could claim favorite sons as the Roman pontiff, Victor the African, and as the Roman emperor, Septimius Severus. A rich and energetic community produced a wide variety of key players from early martyrs to great thinkers to archheretics. Tertullian, the great theologian, and Sabellius, the heretic, are relatively well known. Less well known are the martyrs Wasilla and Theodore and the great poet-philosopher-bishop Synesius of Cyrene. Uncovering this North African tradition and offering it to a wide reading audience is the task that Tom Oden sets for himself in this fascinating tour de force. The book, originating as lectures delivered at the Islamic Da'wa University in Tripoli in 2008 and later expanded as the W. H. Griffith Thomas Lectures in 2009 at Dallas Theological Seminary, has been expanded and refined to provide additional insights and references, surveying the texts, architecture and landmarks of this important period of Christian history. It also serves as a valuable companion to Oden's earlier offerings in How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind and The African Memory of Mark.

An excerpt of a review from The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, Volume 92: VISITORS to the Museum of Ghizeh must often have been surprised at the facial expressions of the mummies and sculptured portraits of the ancient Egyptians. The faces of both mummies and effigies are in many instances neither Asiatic nor African, but show traces of the character-forming influences identified with the best periods of European life. Similarly travelers in Algiers have been astonished to find white men among the native population which represents the most ancient stock of the aboriginal inhabitants; these white men being in fact the descendants of the "White Libyans" whose existence was noted with curiosity by the Greek and Roman writers. Taken together these two facts suggest a sufficient motive for the researches which are given to the public in this volume. To be more precise, Professor Flinders Petrie and other students of Egyptian antiquities have advanced the theory that the prehistoric Egyptians (i.e. prior to the IV. dynasty) were of the same race as the white Libyans who survive in the Berbers; and the authors of "Libyan Notes" went to Algeria to collect evidence which should prove or disprove this theory. For the purpose they made very careful anthropometric observations of the Chawia and Kabyles, two Berber tribes untouched by European intercourse and undoubted descendants of the white Libyans of antiquity. The evidence thus obtained, it may be said at once, is against the theory. Shortly put, it shows that the Berbers (and therefore the Libyans), are round headed, comparable in this respect "to the ancient Germans of the Reihengraber, and to some of the mixed races of modern Europe"; whereas the prehistoric Egyptians — as shown by craniological evidence — were very longheaded, resembling "the Melanesians, Australians, Veddahs, Eskimo, and (which is much more important), the Long Barrow race of England, the prehistoric people of the Beaumes Chandes Cavern in France, and the few specimens which have been found at Lake Ladoga". The alveolar and nasal measurements indicate similar results, and the three tests taken together show in the opinion of the authors that " the' prehistoric Egyptians, so far from resembling the Berbers, are strongly contrasted with them in respect of breadth of head, projection of profile, and breadth of nose". On the other hand a study of the Kabyle pottery, and a comparison of its motives and coloring with that of the prehistoric Egyptians, reveal marked similarities; and this and other evidence point to the conclusion that the prehistoric Egyptians were identical in culture, though not in race, with the white Libyans of antiquity. The anthropometric evidence is worked out with great care, and the results obtained are arranged in an excellent system of tables. In this and other respects the book is well and freely illustrated; and a most interesting feature of the craniological evidence is a series of photographic reproductions giving the heads — full-face, side-face, and vaults — of the individual Berbers who were measured. Some of the Berber faces are startling in their resemblance to French, Italian and even English types. And so, indeed, we are told they are in real life. "The Chawia", we read on p. 29, "are generally speaking remarkably European in the appearance; many might have passed for Irishmen or Scotchmen. The boys in particular when about the age of fifteen or sixteen would, if put into similar dress, be almost indistinguishable from English lads of the same age"….

This volume is in many ways the culmination of the author's long involvement with Libya, tracing its history from pre-historic times through the revolutionary Qadhafi regime that consolidated its rule after 1969. Meticulously researched, the different chapters provide analytic summaries of each historic period.

An innovative, up-to-date treatment of ancient Greek mobility and migration from 1000 BCE to 30 BCE A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World explores the mobility and migration of Greeks who left their homelands in the ten centuries between the Early Iron Age and the Hellenistic period. While most academic literature centers on the Greeks of the Aegean basin area, this unique volume provides a systematic examination of the history of the other half of the ancient Greek world. Contributions from leading scholars and historians discuss where migrants settled, their new communities, and their connections and interactions with both Aegean Greeks and non-Greeks. Divided into three parts, the book first covers ancient and modern approaches and the study of the ancient Greeks outside their homelands, including various intellectual, national, and linguistic traditions. Regional case studies form the core of the text, taking a microhistory approach to examine Greeks in the Near Eastern Empires, Greek-Celtic interactions in Central Europe, Greek-established states in Central Asia, and many others throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. The closing section of the text discusses wider themes such as the relations between the Greek homeland and the edges of Greek civilization. Reflecting contemporary research and fresh perspectives on ancient Greek culture contact, this volume: Discusses the development and intersection of mobility, migration, and diaspora studies Examines the various forms of ancient Greek mobility and their outcomes Highlights contributions to cultural development in the Greek and non-Greek world Examines wider themes and the various forms of ancient Greek mobility and their outcomes Includes an overview of ancient terminology and concepts, modern translations, numerous maps, and full references A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World is a valuable resource for students, instructors, and researchers of Classical antiquity, as well as non-specialists with interest in ancient Greek mobilities, migrations, and diasporas.

First published in 1914, this is a systematic treatment of the people whose contribution to civilization of the Nile Valley was for so long a source of controversy.

First published in 1981, Libya: A Modern History traces the history of Libya from 1900 to 1980, showing how its first monarchic constitution was modelled by the UN Commission, and survived precariously until the military coup of 1969. The author traces both internal and foreign policy in detail, devoting over half the book to the rule of Colonel Gadafi, in one of the few independent accounts of the Jamahiriyah. He demonstrates the roots of Gadafi’s ideology in ancient Libyan traditions while defining the unique elements of his regime with its militarism and unorthodox diplomacy. He analyses the roots of Jamahiriyah’s strength in the oil of the desert and provides statistics on population and economy. It is a comprehensive treatment of a nation that is sui generis among the Arab countries. This is an important read for students and scholars of international relations, African studies, African history, and Geopolitics.