King Azkiran
Conqueror of the Greeks in Barkai (Cyrenaica)
He is a leader of the Libu tribes in the Barkai region (currently Cyrenaica). He was born and lived in Barkai in the sixth century BC. To him belongs the Libyan Azkiran tribe, which is spread in several Libyan cities. They are called Balala in Benghazi, in reference to the region of Ablala (Balala) in Misrata.
Herodotus, the Greek historian (484-?425 BC), who lived part of his life traveling in North Africa, says in his fourth book (paragraph No. 159): “The Cyreneid invaders, who were Greek tribes, occupied parts of the land of Barkai, so the Barkai became poets and their kings, and his name was Adicran. They lost their land and were insulted by the Cyrenaeans, so he sent to Apris, king of Egypt at that time, asking for help in expelling the Greeks from Barkai. But the Egyptian army sent by Apris collided with the Greek army in the Erasa area (most likely the area of Umm al-Razm today) as a result of the betrayal of the Greek leaders in the Egyptian army. The Egyptian army was defeated and restored, so the Libyans had no choice but to rely on themselves, so they gathered as many soldiers as they could from the various Libo tribes. The Libyan armies led by King Izkiran and the Greek armies led by King Arcesilaus II met in the year 550 BC. The battle ended with a massive defeat for the Greeks, in which they lost, according to Herodotus’s account in his fourth book, more than 7,000 soldiers. After the defeat, the Greeks were forced to make a truce with the Libyans and stop the expansion of Libyan lands. The Greeks settled in some coastal areas, and the Libyans agreed to live temporarily side by side with the Greeks due to the wealth they possessed. Power beyond the sea.
During the Islamic invasion, most of the Libyan tribes in Barkai converted to Islam voluntarily and without significant fighting until the late thirteenth century AD, when most of the Libyan Hawara and Liwata tribes migrated westward under the weight of wars and conflicts, and the Azkiran tribe was one of these tribes, as many of them migrated to the barren western region in search of Searching for safety, they left their rich green land and settled in an area called “Ablala” (or as it is now pronounced Bilala) in an area now known as Misrata.
the reviewer :
- Book Four of Herodotus' History
- Translation of the fourth book by Dr. Muhammad Al-Dhuwaib
- The Book of Abstraction by Al-Sadiq Al-Nayhum
- Popular novels transmitted by Hajj Rajab Al-Nayhoum (1891-1996).