Sabratha

Neopunic mausoleum

Sabratha: Phoenician, Punic, and Roman town in northwestern Libya, famous for its theater.

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Like Lepcis Magna and Oea, Sabratha was a Phoenician colony that belonged to the Carthaginian empire, but its nature was always very cosmopolitan. In the middle of the second century, it was conquered by the Numidian king Massinissa, and later became part of the Roman empire. Temples, basilicas, and -later- churches are all according to standard Roman designs.

Still, the city retained much of its original nature. This tomb combines classical and Phoenician elements. It is not unlike the mausoleums at Msletten, the other Msletten, or the tombs at Ghirza's South Cemetery.

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The theater

The theater is Sabratha's most famous monument. It is well preserved, and contains several splendid reliefs. Other monuments are the Neopunic tombs, the temples, the basilica where the Roman writer Apuleius once had to defend himself against an accusation of sorcery, the bathhouse, several villas, a fountain, and so on. The site boasts two museums: one for Roman art, mostly mosaics, and one for Punic art.

Although the city was fortified during the Ananeosis, the Arabs conquered the region in 643.

A satellite photo can be found here.


Mosaic in the Seaward Baths	Curia	A peacock on a mosaic	Christian inscription

Literature

Antonino Di Vita e.a., La Libye antique. Cités perdues de l'empire romain (1998 Paris)
K.D. Matthews, Cities in the Sand (1957 Philadelphia)
Erwin Ruprechtsberger, Die römische Limeszone in Tripolitanien und der Kyrenaika, Tunesien - Libyen (1993 Aalen; Limes Museum)