Libu

For other uses, see Libu (disambiguation).

The Libu (Ancient Egyptian: rbw; also transcribed Rebu, Libo, or Lebu) were an Ancient Libyan tribe of Berber origin, from which the name Libya derives.^[1]

Libu in hieroglyphs
rbw

From right to left an Egyptian, an Assyrian, a Nubian, and four Libu men, Heinrich von Minutoli (1820)

Early history

A faience tile from the throne of Pharaoh Ramesses III depicting a tattooed ancient Libyan chief (c. 1184 to 1153 BC).

Vanquished Libyan. Bronze inlaid with gold and silver, reign of Rameses II (19th Dynasty) 1279–1213 BCE. (Louvre Museum, Paris)

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.^[2] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[3][4] Libu appears as an ethnic name on the Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele.^[5]

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.^[6]

This name Libu was taken over by the Greeks of Cyrenaica, who co-existed with them.^[7] Geographically, the name of this tribe was adopted by the Greeks for "Cyrenaica" as well as for northwestern Africa in general.^[8]

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.^[9]

Great Chiefs of the Libu

In the western Nile Delta, Libyan groups such as the Libu established some local chiefdoms under leaders titled Great Chiefs during the 24th Dynasty but these formations were short-lived.^[10] During the 24th Dynasty, political authority had shifted to the prominent lineage of Libyan-descended rulers from the Great Ma tribe (short for Meshwesh), the Great Ma rulers governed as kings from Sais. The dynasty culminated with Tefnakht, who originally held the titles Great Chief of the West and Great Chief of the Ma, and who was of the Great Ma origin (or possibly Egyptianized) rather than Libu, before assuming royal status.^[11] Later, Tefnakht adopted full pharaonic titulary, thereby founding the 24th Dynasty.^[12]

They dated their monuments under the sovereign authority of the Great Ma rulers, following the regnal years of the pharaohs of the 22nd Dynasty of Ma origin.^[13]

Name	Image	Attested in regnal year...	Corresponding absolute datation	Notes
Inamunnifnebu		Year 31 of Shoshenq III[13]	795 BCE	-
Niumateped		Year 4 of Shoshenq IV Year 8 of Shoshenq IV Year 10 of Shoshenq IV[14]	- BCE	Possibly two different rulers with the same name
Tjerpahati		Year 7 of Shoshenq V Year 15 of Shoshenq V[14]	760 BCE 753 BCE	Also known in literature as Tjerper or Titaru, son of Didi
Ker		Year 19 of Shoshenq V[13]	749 BCE	-
Rudamun		Year 30 of Shoshenq V[13]	738 BCE	-
Ankhhor		Year 37 of Shoshenq V Year ? of Shoshenq V[13]	731 BCE ? BCE	Struggled against Tefnakht and was likely defeated by him
Tefnakht		Year 36 of Shoshenq V Year 38 of Shoshenq V[13]	732 BCE 730 BCE	-

See also

• Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Libya
• Garamantes
• Meshwesh