Ancient Libya

During the Iron Age and Classical antiquity, Libya (from Greek Λιβύη: Libyē, which came from Berber: Libu) referred to the area of North Africa directly west of the Nile river (Modern day Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco), not to be confused with the modern country of Libya, which only represents the eastern part of the territory at the time. Ancient Libya was one of the three parts of the world of the ancients (Libya, Asia, Europa). The territory also had part of the Mediterranean Sea named after it called the Libyan Sea or Mare Libycum which was the part of the Mediterranean south of Crete, between Cyrene and Alexandria.

Greek and Roman geographers placed the dividing line between Libya and Asia at the Nile because the entire region south of the Mediterranean and west of the Nile was homogeneous linguistically, and the Berber language was used all across North Africa as far as the Atlantic coast as well as racially by the Libyan people (Berbers) The area was divided during Roman times into four main regions: Mauretania, Numidia, Africa Preconsularis and Libya which retained the original name. In contrast, the areas of Sub-Saharan Africa were known as Aethiopia. Much later was the name Africa extended to the whole continent instead of just the Roman Province of Africa.