Sabratha

Sha'biyah

* This name is listed on the World Heritage List. ª The region is classified by UNESCO.

Sabratha (Arabic صبراتة, DMG Sabratha, Sabratha also ) is a city in Libya, 70 kilometers west of Tripoli, with 102,037 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2005). Administratively, the city and its closer surroundings formed the former Munizip Sabratha wa - Surman. Since 2007 it belongs to the Munizip az- Zawiya.

History

Sabratha was next Oea and Leptis Magna one of the three cities of the ancient Tripoli ( Tripoli ) and has well-preserved and elaborately reconstructed ruins from the Roman era. These include, inter alia, the theater 32.80536512.4852220, the Temple of Isis and the Agora. In 1982, the excavation site by UNESCO was included in the list of world cultural heritage.

The city was founded in the 7th century BC by the Phoenicians from Tyre and quickly fell under the control of Carthage. Sabrata quickly gained prosperity because it had one of the few natural harbors in Tripolitania and at the same time lay at the intersection of the coastal road with a south leading through the Sahara trade route. Therefore, the Carthaginians taught here in the 5th century BC a trading post one, was driven over the locals with the trade. But it was during the Roman rule (since 46 BC) the city experienced as a trading center a real economic boom. The culmination of this development took place at about 200, were decorated as many public buildings with expensive marble. At that time, lived up to 20,000 people in the city.

The decline began with the fall of the Roman Empire, as invasions of the camel nomads agriculture affected and a severe earthquake shook the city in the year 365. Finally, the Vandals took over the city. After the conquest by the Muslims in the 7th century Sabrata rapidly lost importance as Oea under the name Tripoli new center of Tripoli was.

Titular

Sabratha is now a titular of the Roman Catholic Church.