Sabratha

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox settlement

File:LY-Sabratha.png
Map of Sabratha

Sabratha (Template:Langx; also Sabratah, Siburata), in the Zawiya District<ref name="shabyat-2007">شعبيات الجماهيرية العظمىTemplate:Spaced ndashSha'biyat of Great Jamahiriya, accessed 20 July 2009, in Arabic</ref> of Libya, was the westernmost of the ancient "three cities" of Roman Tripolis, alongside Oea and Leptis Magna. From 2001 to 2007 it was the capital of the former Sabratha wa Sorman District. It lies on the Mediterranean coast about Template:Convert west of modern Tripoli.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The extant archaeological site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.

History

File:Monnaie - Bronze, Sabratha, Syrtique - btv1b113188359 (1 of 2).jpg
A coin of Sabratha with the Punic name Template:Smallcaps

Sabratha's port was established, perhaps about 500Template:NbspBCE, as the Phoenician trading-post of Tsabratan (Template:Langx, Template:Smallcaps, or Template:Lang, Template:Smallcaps).Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp This seems to have been a Berber name,<ref name="CB">Septimius Severus page 2</ref> suggesting a preëxisting native settlement. The port served as a Phoenician outlet for the products of the African hinterland. Greeks called it Sabrata (Template:Langx), Sabaratha (Template:Langx), Sabratha (Template:Langx) <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and also Abrotonon (Template:Langx).<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §A9.7</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the demise of Phoenicia, Sabratha fell under the sphere of influence of Carthage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Following the Punic Wars, Sabratha became part of the short-lived Numidian kingdom of Massinissa before this was annexed to the Roman Republic as the province of Africa Nova in the 1st century BC. It was subsequently romanized and rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuriesTemplate:NbspCE.

Emperor Septimius Severus was born in nearby Leptis Magna, and Sabratha reached its monumental peak during the rule of the Severan dynasty he founded, expanding nearly twice its previous size. The city was badly damaged by earthquakes during the 4th century, particularly the quake of 365. It fell under control of the Vandal kingdom in the 5th century, with large parts of the city being abandoned. It enjoyed a small revival under Byzantine rule, when multiple churches and a defensive wall (although only enclosing a small portion of the city) were erected. The town was site of a bishopric.<ref>Francois Decret, Early Christianity in North Africa(James Clarke & Co, 2011) p83</ref> Within a hundred years of the Muslim invasion of the Maghreb, trade had shifted to other ports and Sabratha dwindled to a village.

Archaeology

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Archaeological Site of Sabratha

Besides its Theater 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 Khoms). However, these are most clearly preserved in the colored patterns of the seaward (or Forum) baths, directly overlooking the shore, and in the black and white floors of the theater baths. There is an adjacent museum containing some treasures from Sabratha, but others can be seen in the national museum in Tripoli.

File:Theatre, Sabratha.JPG
Theatre, 2006

In 186 AD, Emperor Commodus dedicated a temple in Sabratha honoring Hercules and his father, Marcus Aurelius. The temple featured a podium structure with porticoes and apsidal rooms at the southern ends. Excavations revealed wall fragments with marble-clad lower sections and painted upper parts.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> One scene in the western apse showed Commodus being carried to heaven on an eagle, about to join the gods. The eastern apse's decoration is less clear, but fragments suggest an armed Dea Roma (a personification of Rome).<ref name=":0" />

Research history

Sabratha has been the place of several excavation campaigns since 1921, mainly by Italian archaeologists. It was also excavated by a British team directed by Dame Kathleen Kenyon and John Ward-Perkins between 1948 and 1951.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1943, during the Second World War, archaeologist Max Mallowan, husband of novelist Agatha Christie, was based at Sabratha as an 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.<ref>Janet Morgan (1984) Agatha Christie: a Biography</ref>

Erosion and weathering damage

According to an April 2016 report, due to soft soil composition and the nature of the coast of Sabratha, which is mostly made up of soft rock and sand, the Ruins of Sabratha are undergoing dangerous periods of coastal erosion. The public baths, olive press building and 'harbor' can be observed as being most damaged as the buildings have crumbled due to storms and unsettled seas. As the most common building material in Sabratah, calcarenite, is highly susceptible to physical, chemical and biological weathering (particularly marine spray), the long-term conservation of the monuments is endangered.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Rising sea levels can also compromise the integrity of the site.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

This erosion of the coast of Ancient Sabratha can be seen yearly with significant differences in beach layout and recent crumbled buildings. Breakwaters set in the vicinity of the harbor and olive press are inadequate and too small to efficiently protect the Ancient City of Sabratha.

Modern Sabratha

The city is home to Sabratha University. Wefaq Sabratha is the football club, playing at Sabratha Stadium.

As noted in the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson, the Sabratha Theater was considered as a possible location where the Beatles could hold their final live concert as a group (they instead performed their last concert on the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Climate

Sabratha has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh). Template:Weather box

File:Romans-in-libya-circi-1950-001 6205513374 o.jpg
Part of the International Fairgrounds in Tripoli (under Italian rule)

Panorama

Archaeological site

The theater

Museum

References

Citations

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Bibliography

Further reading

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