Libya

Libya is a country located in northern Africa directly west of Egypt. While under the dominion of the Roman Republic and Empire, the eastern most region was known by the name Cyrenaica.

Geography

Cyrene, 1st century BCE

Libya is a country with particularly varied geography. Bound to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, most of the country's major cities are nestled in between it and a shallow mountain range that divides the country. Throughout antiquity, the city of Cyrene was the largest established settlement in the province, with smaller settlements such as Balagrae residing further inland.

The region is more lush then the adjacent country of Egypt, which allowed for the production of wine on a large scale. It had a thriving viticulture industry in the 1st century BCE.

History

Ancient Libya

In classical antiquity, the eastern region of Libya was known as Kyrenaika. During the 7th century BCE, the region was colonized by the Greeks from Thera, led by Battus I who founded the colony of city of Cyrene.

By 49 BCE, Kyrenaika was staunchly under the control of the Roman Republic, which was later known as the province of Cyrenaica, with Flavius Metellus serving as the proconsul of the region. Apollodorus, a loyal follower of the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra, also set up a network of spies throughout the region that year.

In 47 BCE, the Medjay Bayek of Siwa passed by the region during his journey to Cyrene from Siwa. Along the way, he gained the acquaintances of Praxilla, Vitruvius and later Diocles in Cyrene.

Islamic era

By the late 15th century, the Assassins had founded a guild in Libya. Following her father's death, Najma Alayza travelled from her home in Granada, Spain, to Libya to find her mother, discovering that she was an Assassin and that their family had been allied with the Brotherhood for generations. Najma was trained in the Assassin ways by her mother and, in 1499, returned to Granada to hunt down her brother Ubayd, who had defected to the Templars and murdered their father.

In 1510, the Spanish Army, led by Pedro Navarro, conquered Tripoli, the capital city of Libya. The Ottoman Assassins later came seeking Navarro's expertise in weaponry and explosives, and returned to investigate his apparent kidnapping. They also seized the city from Templar control, installing several Assassin Dens.

Ottoman period

In 1796, the United States and the Ottoman province of Tripoli signed a treaty, protecting Americans sailing in the Mediterranean Sea from their privateers. The treaty included a clause mentioning that religious differences between the two countries were no reason for them to go to war.

Tripoli, 1805

Sometime before 1805, Tavis Olier, the Black Cross, was sent to Tripoli to infiltrate the palace of Sultan Selim III and retrieve the Koh-i-Noor, but was captured and imprisoned. Believed dead, a new Black Cross, Solomon Bolden, was appointed and eventually discovered clues about Olier's survival and presence in Tripoli. However, Bolden was killed by the Sultan's men while his travel companion, Jan van der Graff, whom Selim believed to be another Templar infiltrator, was put in Olier's cell.

During the three following years, the Black Cross took van der Graff as his student, teaching him the Templar tenets. On 29 July 1808, Olier sacrificed himself to allow van der Graff to escape. Afterwards, van der Graff successfully retrieved the Koh-i-Noor from the Assassin turncoat Ahkbar, who had poisoned Selim to obtain the artifact. As he left, the Black Cross was confronted by Ahkbar's fellow Assassins, but tricked them by handing them an empty box and escaped with the Koh-i-Noor.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed III (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Templars (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Origins
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Valley of Memory (mentioned in Database entry only)