Libya Greek cities were established in the area that became known as Cyrenaica. In 525 BC the Persian army of Cambyses II overran Cyrenaica, which for the next two centuries remained under Persian or Egyptian rule. Alexander the Great was greeted by the Greeks when he entered Cyrenaica in 331 BC, and Eastern Libya again fell under the control of the Greeks, this time as part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. After the fall of Carthage the Romans did not immediately occupy Tripolitania (the region around Tripoli), but left it instead under control of the kings of Numidia, until the coastal cities
Names of the Greeks words have a positive meaning in the Greek language if they are used in the preferred context. Names of the Greeks The Greeks () have been identified by many ethnonyms. The most common native ethnonym is "Hellen" (), pl. Hellenes (); the name "Greeks" (Latin: "Graeci") was used by the ancient Romans and gradually entered the European languages through its use in Latin. The mythological patriarch "Hellen" is the named progenitor of the Greek peoples; his descendants the Aeolians, Dorians, Achaeans and Ionians correspond to the main Greek tribes and to the main dialects spoken in Greece and Asia Minor