Sabratha

Sabratha, on the Mediterranean coast west of Tripoli, was a flourishing Phoenician and then Roman port that grew rich trading the goods of Africa, and its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage site of great beauty. Its crowning glory is the magnificent Roman theatre, its towering three-storey stage wall of columns and reliefs superbly reconstructed, one of the most spectacular in the entire Roman world, set dramatically against the blue sea. Around it spread temples, forums, baths adorned with fine mosaics, and the remains of a once-wealthy city, gathered at the northern edge of the Sahara where the desert meets the Mediterranean.

History

The port was founded perhaps around 500 BC as the Phoenician trading post of Tsabratan, a Berber name that suggests an earlier native settlement, and served as an outlet for goods from the African interior; it later fell under Carthage, passed after the Punic Wars to the Numidian kingdom of Massinissa and joined the Roman province of Africa Nova in the 1st century BC. Rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, it reached its peak under the Severan dynasty, almost doubling in size, and in 186 the emperor Commodus dedicated a temple here to Hercules and Marcus Aurelius. Earthquakes, above all that of 365, badly damaged the city, the Vandals left much of it abandoned in the 5th century, the Byzantines built churches and a short wall, and within a hundred years of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb trade had moved elsewhere and Sabratha dwindled to a village. Italian archaeologists dug here from 1921, Kathleen Kenyon and John Ward-Perkins led a British team in 1948-1951, and the site became a World Heritage Site in 1982 (Wikipedia, Sabratha).

Highlights

• The Roman theatre - the spectacular three-tier columned stage.
• The temples - the ruins of the forum and sanctuaries.
• The mosaics - the fine floor mosaics of the baths.
• The seaside setting - the ruins against the blue Mediterranean.

When to go

October to April, the cooler months, are the most comfortable for exploring the coastal ruins, avoiding the hot summer; the great theatre and seaside setting are especially beautiful in the warm light of morning and late afternoon. Winter on this coast is mild and clear.

Before you go

Sabratha is smaller than nearby Leptis Magna and, like it, an open coastal site with little shade, so a visit centres on its superb theatre and seaside ruins. As a UNESCO World Heritage site with one of the most spectacular Roman theatres in the world set against the Mediterranean, though, Sabratha is a genuinely stunning and memorable place.

Nearby

The town of Sabratha and the coast west of Tripoli lie around the ruins.

Key facts