A province in Egypt: (see Acts 2: 10.) so called from Libin, the heart of the sea.
The name, in its largest sense, was used by the Greeks to denote the whole of Africa. But Libya Proper, or the Libya of the New Testament, the country of the Lubims of the Old, was a large country lying along the Mediterranean, on the west of Egypt. It was called Pentapolitana Regio by Pliny, from its five chief cities, Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolemais, Apollonia, and Cyrene; and Lybia Cyrenaica by Ptolemy, from Cyrene its capital. Libya is supposed to have been first peopled by, and to have derived its name from, the Lehabim, or Lubim. These, its earlier inhabitants, appear in the times of the Old Testament, to have consisted of wandering tribes, who were sometimes in alliance with Egypt, and at others with the Ethiopians of Arabia; as their are said to have assisted both Shishak and Zerah in their expeditions into Judea, 2 Chronicles 12, 14, 16. They were for a time sufficiently powerful to maintain a war with the Carthaginians, by whom they were in the end entirely overcome. Since that period, Libya, in common with the rest of the east, has successively passed into the hands of the Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and Turks. The city Cyrene, built by a Grecian colony, was the capital of this country, in which, and other parts, dwelt many Jews, who came up to Jerusalem at the feast of pentecost, together with those dispersed among other nations, and are called by St. Luke “dwellers in the parts of Libya about Cyrene,” Act 2:10.
Lib´ya. This name, in its largest acceptation, was used by the Greeks to denote the whole of Africa. But Libya Proper, which is the Libya of the New Testament and the country of the Lubim in the Old, was a large tract, lying along the Mediterranean, to the west of Egypt.
Libya is supposed to have been first peopled by, and to have derived its name from, the Lehabim or Lubim [NATIONS, DISPERSION OF]. These, its earliest inhabitants, appear, in the time of the Old Testament, to have consisted of wandering tribes, who were sometimes in alliance with Egypt, and at others with the Ethiopians, as they are said to have assisted both Shishak, king of Egypt, and Zerah the Ethiopian in their expeditions against Judea (2Ch 12:4; 2Ch 14:8; 2Ch 16:9). They were eventually subdued by the Carthaginians; and it was the policy of that people to bring the nomad tribes of Northern Africa which they mastered into the condition of cultivators, that by the produce of their industry they might be able to raise and maintain the numerous armies with which they made their foreign conquests. But Herodotus assures us that none of the Libyans beyond the Carthaginian territory were tillers of the ground. Since the time of the Carthaginian supremacy the country, with the rest of the East, has successively passed into the hands of the Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and Turks. The name of Libya occurs in Act 2:10, where ’the dwellers in the parts of Libya about Cyrene’ are mentioned among the stranger Jews who came up to Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost.
A country in the north of Africa, stretching along on the Mediterranean between Egypt and Carthage, and running back somewhat into the interior. The part adjoining Egypt was sometimes called Libya Marmarica; and that around Cyrene, Cyrenaica, from its chief city; or Pentapolitana, from its chief city; or Pentapolitana, from its five cities, Cyrene, Apollonia, Berenice, Arsinoe, and Ptolemais. In these cities great numbers of Jews dwelt in the time of Christ; and they, with their Libyan proselytes, resorted to Jerusalem to worship, Mal 2:10 . Libya received its name from the Lehabim of Lubim, Gen 10:13 ; a warlike people, who assisted Shishak king of Egypt, and Zerah the Ethiopian, in their wars against Judea, 2Ch 12:3 14:9 16:8 Da 11:43. They were also allies of ancient Thebes, Jon 3:9 . Compare Jer 46:9 Eze 30:5 . Libya fell at length under the power of Carthage; and subsequently, of the Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and Turks.\par
Lib’ya. This name occurs only in Act 2:10. It is applied by the Greek and Roman writers to the African continent, generally, however, excluding Egypt.
Act 2:10, "the parts of Libya about Cyrene;" not here the whole of Africa, but the province W. of Egypt, opposite Crete, including Cyrene, the Cyrenaica pentepolitana, containing the five cities Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolemais, Apollonia, and Cyrene.
By: Richard Gottheil, Samuel Krauss
District in the north of Africa. The name "Libya" was often used by the ancients, sometimes to designate the whole of northern Africa (with the exception of Egypt), sometimes to denote a single province west of Egypt. According to Josephus ("Ant." i. 6, § 2), Libya was founded by Phut (comp. Gen. x. 6), and the eponymous hero Libys was a son of Mesraios, i.e., of Egypt. Another old tradition says that Eofres (i.e., Epher; Gen. xxv. 4) conquered Libya and that the land was called "Africa" after him (Josephus, l.c. i. 15; comp. Eusebius, "Præparatio Evangelica," ix. 20, § 2; "Chronicon Paschale," i. 66; Suidas, s.v.
The Biblical data are more historical. Shishak (Shoshank), whose name is claimed to be Libyan, had Libyans in his army (A. V. "Lubims," II Chron. xii. 3); King Asa defeated a whole army of Cushites and Libyans (ib. xvi. 8; comp. xiv. 11); and the celebrated Egyptian Thebes also had Libyans in its pay (Nahum iii. 9). In all these passages the Septuagint has
In the Greco-Roman period Libya coincided approximately with Cyrene and the territory belonging to it. Jews lived there ("Ant." xvi. 6, § 1); and Augustus granted them certain privileges through Flavius, the governor of the province (ib. § 5). The Christian apostles also prepared themselves to extend their mission into Libya (Acts ii. 10). The great Jewish war of the year 70 had its aftermath in Libya; and the rebellious Jonathan was denounced to the governor of the Libyan Pentapolis (Josephus, "B. J." vii. 11, § 1). The Jews of Libya also took part in the rebellion under Trajan and Hadrian (see Cyrene).
Modern investigation is inclined to connect Lehabim (Gen. x. 13; I Chron. i. 11) with the Libyans, as did the Jerusalem Targum in rendering it by the Greek
The once flourishing province corresponds to the present Barka, which, under Islamic dominion, has become a desert.
Bibliography:
Knobel, Die Völkertafel der Genesis, pp. 282, 295-305, Giessen, 1850;
Boettger, Topographisch-Historisches Lexicon zu den Schriften des Flavius Josephus, p. 163;
Kohut, Aruch Completum, v. 5.
Military dictatorship on the northern coast of Africa, between Tunis and Egypt, comprising Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. The name was applied in ancient geography to the continent of Africa. Libyans from Cyrene were present at Pentecost (Acts 2).
Vicariates and Prefectures Apostolic include:
Benghazi
Derna
Misurata
Tripoli
See also:
New Catholic Dictionary
(Ëéâýç, the country of the Ëßâõåò or Lubim)
Libya was the name given by the Greeks to the great undefined region lying to the west of Egypt. It was for a long time equivalent to Africa, a Roman term which did not embrace Egypt till the days of Ptolemy (2nd cent. a.d.). Libya was made known to Greece in the 7th cent. b.c. by the Dorian colonists who founded Cyrene. The beautiful and fertile country occupied and developed by them remained independent till it was annexed by the Macedonian conquerors of Egypt in 330 b.c. It finally (in 90 b.c.) came under the power of the Romans, who combined it with Crete to form a single province, Creta-Cyrene. Its original name was revived by Vespasian, who divided Cyrene into Libya Superior and Libya Inferior. This country attracted the Jews at an early period. Philo bears testimony to their diffusion in his time ‘from the Katabathmos of Libya (ἀðὸ ôïῦ ðñὸò Ëéâýçí êáôáâáèìïῦ) to the borders of Ethiopia’ (in Flaccum, 6). Jews from ‘the parts of Libya about Cyrene’ (ôὰ ìÝñç ôῆò Ëéâýçò ôῆò êáôὰ ÊõñÞíçí) were in Jerusalem at the time of the first Christian Pentecost (Act_2:10). St. Luke’s designation of Cyrenaïca closely resembles that of Josephus, ἡ ðñὸò ÊõñÞíçí Ëéâýç (Ant. xvi. vi. 1), and that of Dio Cassius, Ëéâýç ἡ ðåñὶ ÊõñÞíçí (liii. 12). The possession of this fertile region was the bone of contention between the Turks and Italians in 1912.
James Strahan.