Msletten (1)

Msletten ('needles'): name of a pair of obelisk-shaped tombs along the road from Bani Walid to Zlitan and Misurata.

There are many places in the Tripolitania that are called Msletten, 'needles'. The place to which this page is dedicated, is the best one, which is 35 km east of Banu Walid. (There's another Msletten southeast of that town.)

A fortified farm (qasr) near Msletten. Photo Jona Lendering.

Msletten (satellite photo) is also known as Fashiet al-Habs. It is situated along the Wadi Merdum; across the wadi are these remains an ancient fortified farm (satellite photo), which may have been the home of the people who were buried, somewhere in the second or third centuries CE, in the needle-shaped tombs at Msletten.

The decoration of a needle at Msletten. Photo Jona Lendering.

There are many obelisk-shaped tombs like this, e.g. in the Wadi El-Amud (along the road from Gheriat esh-Shergia to Mizda) and at the South Cemetery of Ghirza. Another well-known 'needle' is at Sabratha. They all combine native forms (the obelisk) with Roman stylistic elements (e.g., the columns).


From the northeast	From the southeast	From the southwest	From the northwest


From the northeast	From the southeast	From the southwest	From the northwest

The third tomb at Msletten. Photo Jona Lendering.

These remains may belong to a third tomb.

A fortified farm (qasr) beyond Msletten. Photo Jona Lendering.

Finally, a photo of another fortified farm, just east of Msletten; the satellite photo is here.

The site of the two needles can best be approached from the north. The alternative, the south, leads across somebody's land.