The area of North Africa which has been known as Libya since 1911 was under Roman domination between 146 BC and 672 AD. The Latin name Libya at the time referred to the continent of Africa in general. What is now coastal Libya was known as Tripolitania and Pentapolis, divided between the Africa province in the west, and Crete and Cyrenaica in the east. In 296 AD, the Emperor Diocletian separated the administration of Crete from Cyrenaica and in the latter formed the new provinces of "Upper Libya" and "Lower Libya", using the term Libya as a political state for the first time in history.
Septimius Severus, shown on a golden coin, greatly improved the economy of his native Roman Libya
The expansion of the African frontier during the reign of Severus (medium tan). Severus even briefly held a military presence in Garama in 203 AD (light tan).
The Forum of Leptis Magna
Sabratha: Temple of Jupiter
Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by other names in antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean.
Leptis Magna
The Forum
Arch of Septimius Severus
Leptis Magna ruins, in the United Kingdom, by the Virginia Water Lake
