general, according to the Greeks, denoted Africa. An appellation derived from lub, "thirst," being a dry and thirsty country. See Africa.

a more restrained sense, was the middle part of Africa, extending north and west (Pliny); between the Mediterranean to the north, and Ethiopia to the east: and was twofold, the Hither or Exterior Libya; and the Farther or Interior. The former lay between the Mediterranean on the north, and the Farther Libya and Ethiopia beyond Egypt on the south, (Ptolemy). The Farther or Interior Libya was a vast country, lying between the Hither Libya on the north, the Atlantic ocean on the west, the Ethiopic on the south, and Ethiopia beyond Egypt on the east, (Ptolemy).

a still more restrained sense, called, for distinction's sake, Libya Propria, was a northern district of Africa, and a part of the Hither Libya; situated between Egypt to the east, the Mediterranean to the north, the Syrtis Major and the Regio Tripolitana to the west, the Garamantes and Ethiopia beyond Egypt to the south. Now the kingdom and desert of Barca. This Libya was again subdivided into Libya taken in the strictest sense of all, and into Marmarica and Cyrenaica. Libya in the strictest sense, otherwise the Exterior, was the most eastern part of Libya Propria, next to Egypt, with Marmarica on the west, the Mediterranean on the north, and the Nubi, now called Nubia, to the south, (Ptolemy).

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