Libya was a satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

y of the Achaemenid Empire

Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...

 according to King Darius I of Persia

Darius I of Persia

Darius I , also known as Darius the Great, was the third king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire...

 Naqshe Rustam and King Xerxes I of Persia

Xerxes I of Persia

Xerxes I of Persia , Ḫšayāršā, ), also known as Xerxes the Great, was the fifth king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire.-Youth and rise to power:...

' Daiva inscription. It is also mentioned as being part of the 6th district by Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

, which also included Cyrene

Cyrene, Libya

Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...

, a Greek colony in Libya. When King Cambyses II of Persia

Cambyses II of Persia

Cambyses II son of Cyrus the Great , was a king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire. Cambyses's grandfather was Cambyses I, king of Anshan. Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of the Near East and Central Asia, Cambyses II further expanded the empire into Egypt during the Late Period by defeating...

 conquered Egypt, the king of Cyrene, Arcesilaus III

Arcesilaus III of Cyrene

Arcesilaus III of Cyrene or Arcesilaus III was the sixth Greek Cyrenaean King and was a member of the Battiad dynasty.-Ancestry:...

, sided with Persia. When he was killed trying to maintain power, Queen Pheretima

Pheretima (Cyrenaean Queen)

Pheretima or Pheretime was the wife of the Greek Cyrenaean King Battus III and the last recorded queen of the Battiad dynasty in Cyrenaica....

 invited the Persians to take Cyrene. The satrap of Egypt Aryandes, accepted and once the conquest was complete, a puppet king, Battus IV

Battus IV of Cyrene

Battus IV of Cyrene or Battus IV, surnamed The Handsome or The Fair was the seventh and second to last Greek Cyrenaean King of the Battiads dynasty...

, was installed. It is possible that Cyrene gained independence with the rebellion of Egypt in 404 BCE, but ultimately, it Achaemenid control of the region was lost after Alexanders conquests.