SABRATHA Sabratha is situated to the west of Tripoli a site considered as one of the most beautiful places on the western Libyan shores . Sabratha, as a famous city in the human history, witnessed an early connection with the external world the phoenician traders since the beginning of the first millennium B.C.. Certainly some of the natural factors, such as the soil, abundance of the rain and the natural harbor, encouraged people at that time to gather in Sabratha site and form a united society especially when the named site had been

chosen as a harbor and a trade centre by the phoenicians. Generally all of these reasons had encouraged the emigrants from the phoenician centres to settle in Sabratha . If we follow the historical events of this city, we will find that Sabratha came under the sway of Carthage since the fifth century B.C and until date of the collapse of this city after its defeat by the Romans. By that time (as the other cities in the Roman world did) the manner of imitation in the various aspects of the public lif. It is worth to note here that Sabratha reached its highest points of prosperity during the reign of (Antonine).

The organized settled life continued till the 4th cetury A.D.,when the riots and civil wars prevailed the region as a whole until the <<Vandal>> invasion in 455A.I.. In Sabratha,organized excavations have been carried out since 1922 discovering a large part of the ancient city including teples, monumental mausoleums, baths, houses and large streets which divided the city into quarters, in addition to the squares and fountains. The theatre is still one of the most important monuments in the city, it was established during the second century A.D.,with huge limestone blocks similar to the Roman theater,s style.

The punic monumental mausoleum (from 3 rd. & 2nd century) of 18 M. high, is considered a unique example of the punic monuments not only in Libya but also in north Africa as a whole . Regarding Sabratha Amphitheatre, it was founded at the 2nd century A.I..It was famous for bloody games which usually ended in the death of one of the fighters. In addition to the above mentioed monuments, Sabratha is fomous for its public baths such as sea baths which go back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.I..