Travel in Sabratha - Libya - Africa - Culture

Located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, Sabratha is a large and prosperous trading city filled with many attractions.

Sabratha was first established as a trading colony by the Carthaginians, a people of Phoenician ancestry who built their own empire before the Romans became the dominant power on the Mediterranean Coast of Africa. Sabratha was a logical place to found such a trading port since it has a natural sandy

harbour on an otherwise long, rugged coastline devoid of indentations.

Sabratha has much to recommend it as a place to live and work. It is not as large as its neighbouring cities of Leptis and Oea, and hence it is quieter and cleaner than they are. In addition, Sabratha has some of the most extensive public bath works in all of North Africa. It is also graced with many splendidly constructed stone buildings. Fine stone roads lead to the many busy trading docks by the sea and into the heart of the city’s forum, near the public markets and baths.

There are also several beautiful temples in Sabratha. Among them, there is a large temple to Liber Pater, the pre-classical Roman god of Fertility. Liber Pater presided over planting and fructification and was later associated with the Greek God Bacchus, also called Dionysus by the Romans. There is also a temple to Serapis, the Egyptian god of the Lower world whose cult spread to Greece and Rome. The goddess Isis has a large temple here as well. Isis is in essence almost identical to the Phoenician goddess Astarte. Isis was considered Egyptian, though her roots are Roman. She was viewed as a goddess of Fertility who was both sister and wife to Osiris, the Egyptian god of the Afterlife.

Sabratha is a city of many fountains. The water works have been extensive under Roman rule and both large and small, beautifully sculpted and carved fountains are everywhere in public places. Sabratha have a large public bath house located near the shoreline. From the bath complex there is a magnificent view of Sabratha’s busy harbour and shipping docks. It is interesting to sit there basking in the light of Ra and watching the boats and large ships manoeuvring about or resting at anchor in the sheltered waters of the harbour.

Sabratha also boasts one of the finest outdoor amphitheaters and Roman built theatre buildings in Africa. It has three ornately columned stories filled with many doors for the actors to enter and exit through. This beautiful theatre was a very popular attraction for Sabratha’s citizens in millennia past, and it is still being used today to host various entertainment events in this region.

There are long stretches of clean white sand beaches here fringed by many palm trees and grasses a little further inland. These make Sabratha a lovely and peaceful place to relax and unwind while enjoying the balmy climate and lovely scenery. It is almost certain that even in ancient times, this portion of the North African shore offered the same serenity that it does now. That is why so many modern day tourists still visit here, in addition to wishing to see the extensive and well maintained ruins and museums in the area.