ROMAWI RUINS IN LIBYA: SABRATHA

Sabratha - A Metropolis of Almost Equal Splendour to Leptis Magna

The Tripolipost, 08/07/2007


In the past few weeks we dealt at length with perhaps the best known of the Roman remains in Libya, the city of Leptis Magna, which lies to the east of Tripoli along the North African littoral. But this is not the only reminder of Libya’s ancient civilisation under the Romans.

To the west of Tripoli, the ancient sister city of Leptis, and a metropolis of almost equal resplendence also thrusts its ruins to the sky not far from the area where Libya borders with Tunisia, the ancient city of Sabratha, which lies about sixty kilometres from the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Most historians consider the Roman period to have been one that brought significant development and prosperity to the shores of North Africa.

Then masters of the Mediterranean, and other regions all over the European continent and elsewhere, the Romans were not unaware of the immense importance of their possessions along the southern shores of the sea.

Therefore, it was not surprising that the leading cities of Libya at that time, particularly Leptis Magna and Sabratha were to rise to unprecedented levels of commercial and administrative importance.

Leptis Magna, called “magna” by the Romans not only to distinguish it from cities bearing the same name, but also to emphasise its greatness, was considered by Rome to be perhaps its most valuable possession along the North African littoral.

Nonetheless, much in the same manner that the fortunes or otherwise of Leptis Magna were tied to the performance and abilities of the empire itself, so was its twin city Sabratha dependent on the capabilities of Rome to survive as the leading power.

Not unlike Leptis Magna, Sabratha is similarly looked upon as yet another magnificent memorial to the era of he Romans in North Africa.

Here at Sabratha too, time and the elements, not to mention the human ravages, have left their imprint but they have failed to eradicate the lingering impression of past grandeur that Sabratha, or better still its ruins, still possess.

Like Leptis, Sabratha too knows its very origin to the era of the Phoenicians.

Together with Leptis and Oea, now Tripoli, Sabratha was one of the Three Cities that the Phoenicians had founded as their three major trading posts along the southern shores of the Mediter-ranean.

Thus, it is not at all surprising that Sabratha shares a common history and an almost identical rise to fame and glory as its sister city in the east, Leptis Magna.

The date of the construction of Sabratha is not known with precision, but it seems certain that the Phoenicians, able seaman and traders from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, had established the city as a trading settlement.

Several historians believe that the Phoenicians had demonstrated a great interest in Sabratha because it lay as a convenient link along the route to Ghadames, further inland and close to the region where today Libya borders with Algeria.

Several ancient coins that have been discovered in the immediate vicinity of the ruins of Sabratha indicate that the ancient city had become autonomous in the first century.

Other discoveries provide evidence that as time went by, Sabratha developed as an outstanding commercial centre. Several historians point out that Sabratha could have reached such heights of grandeur and prosperity that it attracted the attention of brigands and looters.

Many believe that groups of brigands lured by the wealth of the city, raided and pillaged until the Vandal invasion left it in ruins.

Thus a parallel is established between Leptis Magna and Sabratha … both prospered in an unprecedented manner under the Romans, and both were destined to fall victim to the ravages of the Vandal hordes once the Roman Empire started to decline and eventually had to submit to the encroaching sands of the Sahara.

For centuries Sabratha also lay abandoned until the Byzantines marched on the dying city and attempted to carry out some works of restoration.

But, as has already been pointed out, the Byzantine period in Libya was relatively short and of no real consequence.

In the case of Sabratha, the Byzan-tines also attempted to construct several churches and chapels. These included a fine place of worship that was built during the reign of Justinian, as well as a new street on the ruins of the old one.

Otherwise, the Byzantine contribution to the restoration of Sabratha was insignificant, and not unlike Leptis Magna, the city was to be over-run by the Moslem Arabs and later to sink into obscurity.

JOSEPH CUTAJAR