Analyzing ancient sources

The ancient Greco-Roman Geographers defined the boundaries of Libya as almost similar to what we accept today, with the exception that they consider the Sahara desert of northern Sudan and northern Chad as also part of Libya.

Historical sources tend to give different perspectives about inhabitants of the Libyan Desert depending on the time period and location. The objectives and the credibility of the source (i.e., poetry, literature, traveler description ... and so forth) also determine the type of perspective.

The ancient Egyptians, referred to their western neighbors as ‘Tjehenu' during the Old Kingdom period and as ‘Lebo' and ‘Meshwesh' in later periods. In some Egyptian paintings, Libyan enemies are depicted spontaneously in diverse looks including different costumes and skin complexions. Generally, the Libyans in Egyptian art can be designated into two categories according to costumes and physical characteristics. On one category, they appear wearing clothes made of exotic animal hides and as being fair in skin color; they are depicted as enemies and sometimes as allies of each other in various records. Libyans of the other category, on the other hand, appear mostly as enemies. They are depicted wearing short tunics painted in exceptionally dark pigment to represent their skin color.

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On the left are Libyans as depicted in an Egyptian painting' with fair skin.
On the right is a closeup of Libyans as portrayed in an an Egyptian paiting with dark complexion. '

However, it is oversimplification to consider the coloring in these Egyptian paintings as representative of actual skin colors. It has been suggested that in Egyptian paintings people of other nations were colored different from their own colors, primarily, to distinguish themselves.

These two contradicting categories seem to imply social and ethnic diversity within Libya. In the large scheme, North Africa has been a melting pot of Mediterranean cultures; Asian and European settlers may have represented the fair skin Libyans in Egyptian paintings, while the darker Libyans may have represented the desert natives to the south.

In any case it is important to note that segmented societies are dynamic; interchanging with one another, while some exterminate others form. Thus, it wouldn't be realistic to expect nomadic communities such as the Libyans to all look or dress similarly.

Herodotus wrote that the Libyans were divided into tribes sharing "the same customs as the Egyptians, but wearing clothing similar to that of the other Libyans". He also wrote about different cultural traditions among certain Libyan tribes. Herodotus was also aware of the foreign origin of the Carthaginians and Hellene in North Africa and he regards them as foreigners to Libya.

Unlike Egypt, the semi-deserts to the southwest of Kush (i.e. Kordofan) and to east (i.e., Butanna) are supportive of pasture and small-scale agriculture activities, which would have represented an ideal environment for herding communities such as those we label as ‘ancient Libyans'.

We also know from historical evidence that the Kushite state have experienced continuous invasions from occupants of neighboring deserts. Thus, in Kushite art the theme of war is common. It has also been claimed that the Kushite state has strongly relied on the use of diplomacy as a strategy to exercise political control and co-existence with other nations.

The Kushite sources available mention individual tribes and/or clans, rather than collective populations such as ‘Libyans'. Thus, in most cases, the Kushite sources delude any useful information about these tribes other than their bare names.

Interestingly, archeology has revealed that the important Kushite cities and large settlements were located east of the Nile, as opposed to west of the Nile. Also most of the few important sites to the west of the Nile were noticeably fortified, such as el Hobaggi and Hosh-al-Kafir, where two large forts were excavated.

Accordingly, Strabo writes, "Libyans occupy the western bank of the Nile, and the Ethiopians (meaning the Kushites) the country on the other side of the River, one party repulsing the other, or yielding to the superiority of its opponent". (Strabo. xvii. ii. 3). Obviously, expelling Libyan nomads off the Nile would not have presented a difficult task to the Kushite military. However, it is reasonable to suggest that due to the high frequency of nomadic invasions from west of the Nile the Kushites preferred to settle on the east side, leaving the west side under military control. Another possibility, which would disregard Strabo's account, is that the Kushites chose to settle on the east side for religious reasons while the west side was kept open for Libyan allies to pasture their flocks.

Herodotus, and preceding Greco-Roman authors have mentioned Ethiopian populations as inhabiting the other parts of the Sahara, as opposed to the Nilo-Saharan Ethiopians (i.e. Kushites).

"Thus much also I have to say about this land (Libya), namely that it is occupied by four races and no more, so far as we know; and of these races two are natives of the soil and the other two not so; for the Libyans and the Ethiopians are natives, the one race dwelling in the northern parts of Libya and the other in the southern, while the Phoenicians and the Helens are immigrants" (Herodotus. iv. 197)

Several groups of Ethiopians are mentioned by Greco Roman Geographers as living in North Africa as far as the Atlas Mountains. Of a particular interest are the so called "troglodytes", an Ethiopian nomadic tribe, who lived in close association to the Garmantes of the ancient settlement of Germa that was founded in fertile valleys of Fezzan in southwest modern Libya and was a trade center along the trans-Saharan trade routes, which connected the Mediterranean to the sub-Sahara.

The trans- Sharan traffic brought wealth to North Africa civilizations such as Carthage. For that reason, the ancients of North Africa were careful to keep the trade routes secret, and thus, ancient written sources provide little evidence for such trade activity. However, it is least likely to assume that Kush have not played a role in the interconnected chain of the ancient Saharan trade.

Recent Excavations

Also, the recent discovery of Old Nubian document in Abu Nagila in Kurdofan provided the first physical evidence to Kushite contacts with western Sudan. Many historians and archeologists are optimistic about excavating in Kurdofan and Darfur for more discoveries. Archeological research in western Sudan might not only reveal evidence for Kushite presence there, but also for local cultures native of western Sudan.

In the post Islamic period, the most important commodities of the trans-Saharan trade came from western Sudan. ‘Darb el Arbain', was the basic trans-Saharan rout that connected El-Fahsir in Darfur to Assute in Egypt (see map). Along this route large quantities of gold and thousands of slaves were annually transported from western Sudan to Egypt and the rest of the Middle East. No archeological work for ancient remains along this rout has been carried, until the recent expedition by the University of Cambridge in Kharga oasis, which was a thriving settlement and a crossroad of ‘Darb el Arbain'. There, the ruins of ancient Egyptian and Roman settlements were uncovered. As a crossroad, Kharga, is thought to have been a location, where the ancient Egyptians, local desert tribes, and merchants from the Mediterranean would have met.