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Preface Like the history of sub-­Saharan Africa in general, most lit­ er ­ a ­ ture on the history of Libya traced the history of the dif­fer­ent African ­ peoples who are indigenous to areas—­from the fringes of the Sahara Desert to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea—to periods of foreign invasions. Susan Raven, in Rome in Africa, asserted that “much of the history of north-­west Africa is the history of foreigners.” Anthony Thwaite, in The Desert of Hesperides, explained Libyan history and culture as “the mate- rial leftovers of receding cultures.” Dirk Vandewalle described it as “an extraordinary odyssey from Ottoman backwater to Italian colony,” while John Oakes never stopped short of arrogating developments of (and in) Cyrene, Sabratha, Oea (Tripoli), and Leptis Magna to the ancient Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the Romans. John Wright, writing in 2012, described Libya as both a cultural and a historical void ­ until the coming of invaders. He described what existed and was captured in rock art and cave paintings as mere paperweight and that Libya’s real history began with invaders. ­ These descriptions not only skewed the history of Libya as the histories and cultures of other ­peoples but also presented Libyan history and culture as recent. More importantly, it also denied ancient Libyans of any contribution, no ­ matter how small, to their own history, culture, and development.