tile from the throne of Pharaoh
Ramesses III depicting a tattooed ancient Libyan chief ( to 1153 BC). Their tribal origin in
Ancient Libya is first attested in
Egyptian language texts from the
New Kingdom, especially from the
Ramesside Period. The earliest occurrence is in a
Ramesses II inscription. There were no vowels in the Egyptian script. The name Libu is written as
rbw in Egyptian hieroglyphs. In the
Great Karnak Inscription, the pharaoh
Merneptah describes the Libu as men with pale complexion, tattooed, and with dark hair and eyes. Hostilities between
Egypt and Libya broke out in regnal year 5 (1208 BCE), but the coalition of Libu and
Sea Peoples led by the chief of the Libu
Meryey was defeated.
Libu appears as an ethnic name on
the Merneptah Stele, also known as the
Israel Stele.
Ramesses III defeated the Libyans in the 5th year of his reign, but six years later the Libyans joined the
Meshwesh and invaded the western Delta and were defeated once again. This name
Libu was taken over by the
Greeks of
Cyrenaica, who co-existed with them. Geographically, the name of this tribe was adopted by the Greeks for "Cyrenaica" as well as for northwestern Africa in general. In the neo-
Punic inscriptions,
Libu was written as
Lby for the
masculine noun, and
Lbt for the
feminine noun of
Libyan. The name supposedly was used as an ethnic name in those inscriptions. ==Great Chiefs of the Libu==