Editing Awjila (section)

===Classical times===

The oasis is mentioned by Herodotus, who also describes the nomadic [[Nasamones]], a Berber tribe, migrating in fixed seasons between the coasts of [[Gulf of Sidra|Syrtis Major]] (Gulf of Sirte) and the Augila oasis. According to Herodotus, it was a journey of ten days from the oasis of Ammonium—modern-day [[Siwa Oasis|Siwa]]—to the oasis of Augila, where men live around a spring of water. In the summer, the Nasamones left their flocks by the coast (Gulf of Sirte) and traveled inland to the oasis of Augila to gather dates where they grew in great abundance.<ref name=":0">Herodotus. The Histories volume 4. Translated by [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D4&force=y A. D. Godley. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920.]  Book IV, p. 173 and 183.</ref> The distance was traversed by the German explorer [[Friedrich Hornemann]] (1772–1801), whose caravan reportedly took eleven days in 1798; he described Augila as a small and miserable town belonging to [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] during the Ottoman era.<ref>Hornemann, Frederick. ''The Journal of Frederick Hornemann's Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk... in the Years 1797–8''. London: W. Bulmer and Co., 1802. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/71426/71426-h/71426-h.htm See: ''Extracts from a Letter accompanying the above Informations, dated Tripoly, 19th of August, 1799'', line 117.</ref> although caravans normally took thirteen days.

[[Ptolemy]] (c. 90 – 168) implies that the Greek colonists had forced the Nasamones to leave the coast and take up residence in Augila.{{sfn|Smith|1872|p=338}} 
[[Procopius]], writing around 562, says that even in his day sacrifices continued to be made to [[Amun|Ammon]] and to [[Alexander the Great]] of Macedon in two Libyan cities that were both called Augila. He was probably referring to what are now [[El Agheila]] on the Gulf of Sirte and the oasis of Awjilah.{{fact|date=October 2021}}
According to Procopius the temples of the oasis were converted into Christian churches by the Byzantine Emperor [[Justinian I]] (c. 482 – 565).{{sfn|Smith|1872|p=338}}
The 6th-century geographer [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] described Augila as a city.{{sfn|Smith|1872|p=338}}