The ancient settlements beneath and beside modern Benghazi began with the Greek city of Euesperides, founded in Cyrenaica during the first millennium BCE. Its position near fertile land and Mediterranean routes supported grain, oil, livestock, pottery, and maritime exchange. Greek colonists interacted and sometimes fought with Indigenous Libyan communities whose knowledge and labor shaped the region. Political ties connected the city with Cyrene and other Greek centers, but local conditions and changing shorelines influenced where inhabitants could safely maintain a port.

In the Hellenistic period, settlement shifted and a new city called Berenice was established, traditionally associated with the Ptolemaic dynasty and Berenice II. The urban center contained houses, streets, workshops, religious buildings, cemeteries, and harbor facilities. Under Roman rule, Berenice formed part of Cyrenaica and participated in imperial trade. Greek, Roman, Jewish, Libyan, and other communities contributed to its population, and inscriptions and archaeology reveal a society more diverse than monumental ruins alone suggest.

Earthquakes, economic change, political conflict, and the reorganization of Mediterranean commerce affected the city in late antiquity. Christian institutions appeared as the Roman world became Byzantine, but urban occupation contracted. Arab conquest in the seventh century redirected administration and trade, and the ancient city ceased to function in its former form. Materials were reused, wind and building covered remains, and later settlement developed under names from which modern Benghazi ultimately emerged.

Ottoman and Italian colonial development, followed by the Second World War and rapid twentieth-century urban growth, overlaid or disturbed parts of the ancient landscape. Archaeologists identified remains of Euesperides and Berenice at different locations within the modern city, clarifying that they were related but not identical settlements. Excavated ceramics, walls, graves, coins, and environmental evidence have helped reconstruct changes in trade, diet, population, and coastline even where standing architecture is limited.

The archaeological remains survive within a living city that has endured war and political instability in the twenty-first century. Protection is difficult because ancient deposits compete with housing, infrastructure, looting risk, and urgent recovery needs. Berenice matters less as a single photogenic ruin than as evidence for Benghazi's repeated reinvention. Greek foundation, Ptolemaic relocation, Roman and Byzantine urban life, Islamic transformation, colonial construction, and modern conflict occupy overlapping ground, making archaeological documentation essential before additional layers disappear. Continued local stewardship, secure collections, and careful rescue excavation are vital to preserving evidence during reconstruction and renewed urban growth. These records remain essential to Mediterranean history.