Along with Leptis Magna and Oea, otherwise known as modern Tripoli , sabratha was part of the Tripolitania, part of the Roman trade network of North Africa.
Excavations which began between 1923-1936 and continued in the 1950s have uncovered the cities Phoenician origins, roman heyday and Christian Byzantine twilight years
Phoenician Sabratha
Sabratha was originally a Phoenician settlement. Its name, variously recorded in pre roman times as ‘Sabrat’, ‘Sabrathan’ and in Greek, Abrotonos, means ‘grain market’, a reflection of its importance as a trade centre.
Archaeologists have identified the original settlement site under the roman forum. The earth floors of the first Phoenician huts were found covered with layers of sand. This indicates a period of abandonment before a more permananet settlement was established. Finds included Punic storage jars and Greek vases dated to the 6th and 5th centuries BC.
In the 5th century, a permanent village was established, consisting of mud brick huts surrounded by a defensive wall. The settlement quickly outgrew the space within its walls with houses quickly spilling out beyond its defences, a testimony to the rapid prosperity of Sabratha. This early trade was based on agricultural products such as olive oil and grain, which the city exported. A market place quickly grew up, on the eventual site of the Roman forum.
Roman Sabratha
Sabratha was absorbed by Roman Empire in 146BC after the fall of the Punic empire. The Roman’s enlarged the city, reorganising the haphazard Punic streets into a grid pattern . The first buildings constructed were commercial and administrative: the forum, basilica and several temples to both Roman and local deities.
This focus on the city’s business area reflects the Roman recognition of Sabratha’s importance to trade, which they nurtured. Now the city’s exports were centred around the export of ivory, slaves and wild animals from the African interior, as well as all important grain. Its increased prosperity was such that it achieved libertas in 7 BC and was allowed to mint its own coins before achieving the status of a roman colony in 157AD.
The city’s heyday began, with the construction of more monumental temples such as the Temple of Hercules in 186AD, as well as places of entertainment.
Christianity, the Vandals, the Byzantine Empire and Decline
Sabratha became an important centre for North African Christianity, becoming a bishopric in 253AD. The city’s prosperity was affected by the third century earthquake which damaged the trade of nearby Leptis Magna but from which Sabratha recovered before being overcome by the vandals in 455BC.
The city briefly became part of the Byzantine Roman Empire in 533AD. It’s defences were reconstructed and many churches built, the impressive mosaic pavements of which survive today. But with the fall of the eastern empire, Sabratha faded away until its rediscovery.
Sabratha’s Ancient Architecture
Notable features of Sabratha’s architecture include:
- The Theatre. Built in 2nd c AD, this is the most complete theatre in roman world. It has 25 entrances and could accommodate an audience of 5000
- The Mausoleum of Bes. Named after a Phoenician god who protected against ill luck and guarded expectant mothers and the dead, parts of this 3rd C BC tomb were used to rebuild the cities defences in the Byzantine period
- The Forum. Site of the original settlement, centre of roman public life and later site of two Byzantine Christian churches and cemetery.
- The Basilica of Apuleius or forum basilica became a Christian church in 440AD although it was originally the city’s law court. It was the site of the witchcraft trial of the Roman writer Apuleius in 157 AD.
- The Temples: Famous examples include the forum temples of Roman Liber Pater and the Temple of Serapis, the Antonine temple , Capitolium, and the Temple of Hercules
- The City Baths. Five sets of baths have been excavated in Sabratha including the monumental Seaward Baths , the Theatre Baths, the Baths of Neptune
- The Christian churches.
Sources
Sabratha: A Guide for Visitors by Philip Ward. Darf Publishers: London
Sabratha (2005) Dar Al-Anies Publishing
Natasha Sheldon - A writer since 2000, Natasha Sheldon holds a BA Hons in ancient history and archaeology and MA in ancient history and historiography.
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