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Sabratha
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| Archaeology Dictionary: Sabratha, Libya |
[Si]
Phoenician and Roman port on the North African coast in modern-day Libya, excavated by Kathleen Kenyon between 1948 and 1951. Founded by the Phoenicians in the 5th century bc, it quickly became a major trading port. It was annexed to the Roman world in 46 bc, later becoming one of the three cities of the Roman Tripolitania, alongside Oea and Leptis Magna. The port was an important part of the sea-routes of the western Mediterranean, but also served to connect the sea-borne trade to the overland routes used by the trans-Saharan caravans. The city enjoyed great prosperity during the early empire, and in the 2nd century ad was made a colonia. A number of bath buildings and the Antonine-period theatre survive from this period. Sacked by the Austuriani in ad 363 and the Vandals in the 5th century, eventually the city enjoyed a second period of prosperity as part of the Byzantine empire in the 6th century ad. New walls were constructed, albeit enclosing smaller areas than in earlier times. Occupation of the site ended about ad 643> when the city was taken by Arab forces.
[Rep.: P. M. Kendrick, 1986, Excavations at Sabratha 1948–1951. A report on the excavations conducted by Dame Kathleen Kenyon and John Ward-Perkins. London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies]
| Dialing Code: The telephone dialing code for: Sabratha, Libya |
The country code is: 218
The city code is: 24
| Wikipedia: Sabratha |
| Sabratah صبراتة Sabratha |
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|---|---|
  Sabratah
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| Coordinates: 32°48′N 12°29′E / 32.8°N 12.483°E | |
| Country |  Libya |
| District | Az Zawiyah 2001-2007 Sabratha Wa Surman |
| Time zone | UTC + 2 |
| Archaeological Site of Sabratha* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| State Party | Libyan Arab Jamahiriya |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii |
| Reference | 184 |
| Region** | Arab States |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1982 (6th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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Sabratha, Sabratah or Siburata (Arabic: صبراتة), in the Az Zawiyah District[1] in the northwestern corner of modern Libya, was the westernmost of the "three cities" of Tripolis. From 2001 to 2007 it was the capital of the former Sabratha Wa Surman District. It lies on the Mediterranean coast about 65km (40 miles) west of Tripoli (ancient Oea). The extant archaeological site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.
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Ancient Sabratha
Sabratha's port was established, perhaps about 500 BC, as a Phoenician trading-post that served as a coastal outlet for the products of the African hinterland. Sabratha became part of the short-lived Numidian Kingdom of Massinissa before being Romanized and rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The Emperor Septimus Severus was born nearby in Leptis Magna, and Sabratha reached its monumental peak during the rule of the Severans. The city was badly damaged by earthquakes during the 4th century, particularly the quake of AD 365. It was rebuilt on a more modest scale by Byzantine governors. Within a hundred years of the Arab conquest of the maghreb, trade had shifted to other ports and Sabratha dwindled to a village.
The archaeological site
Besides its magnificent late 3rd century theatre that retains its three-storey architectural backdrop, Sabratha has temples dedicated to Liber Pater, Serapis and Isis. There is a Christian basilica of the time of Justinian and also remnants of some of the mosaic floors that enriched elite dwellings of Roman North Africa (for example, at the Villa Sileen, near Al-Khoms). However, these are most clearly preserved in the coloured patterns of the seaward (or Forum) baths, directly overlooking the shore, and in the black and white floors of the Theatre baths.
There is an adjacent museum containing some treasures from Sabratha, but others can be seen in the national museum in Tripoli.
Max Mallowan at Sabratha
In 1943, during the Second World War, archaeologist Max Mallowan, husband of novelist Agatha Christie, was based at Sabratha as assistant to the Senior Civil Affairs Officer of the Western Province of Tripolitania. His main task was to oversee the allocation of grain rations, but it was, in the words of Christie's biographer, a "glorious attachment", during which Mallowan lived in an Italian villa with a patio overlooking the sea and dined on fresh tunny fish and olives.[2]
Modern Sabratha
Al Wefaq Sabratah is the football club, playing at Sabratah Stadium.
Notes
- ^ شعبيات الجماهيرية العظمى – Sha'biyat of Great Jamahiriya, accessed 20 July 2009, in Arabic
- ^ Janet Morgan (1984) Agatha Christie: a Biography
Further reading
- Matthews, Kenneth D. (1957) Cities in the Sand, Leptis Magna and Sabratha in Roman Africa University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, OCLC 414295
- Ward, Philip (1970) Sabratha: A Guide for Visitors Oleander Press, Cambridge, UK, ISBN 0-902675-05-2
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sabratha |
- UNESCO archaeological site of Sabratha
- Complete photo coverage of the archeological site
- "Sabratah, Libya" Falling Rain Genomics, Inc.
- Sabratha, image from the BSR Library and Archive digital collections. Ward-Perkins photographic collection
Coordinates: 32°47′N 12°29′E / 32.783°N 12.483°E
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Mentioned in
- Tripolitania (region, Tripoli/Libya)
- Leptis Magna (in archaeology)
- Tripoli
- Kathleen Kenyon (in archaeology)
