We arrived too late that day to visit the National Museum in Tripoli, which now houses the mosaics from Leptis Magna. They were carefully moved, piece by piece, into the museum’s rooms to protect them from destruction and looting. After dinner that evening, we walked around the old town of Tripoli.
The next morning, we set off to see Sabratha, the third city of Tripolitania. As in Leptis Magna, our guide was very knowledgeable. He spoke with great enthusiasm about the city’s various districts and individual structures. The excellent mosaics of Sabratha were also relocated to the National Museum, which we hoped to visit later that evening.
After the Romans conquered Sabratha, they completely rebuilt it in their own traditional style. The city grew wealthy from the trade of ivory, grain, and slaves. In 365 AD, Sabratha was struck by a powerful earthquake, and it was subsequently subjected to repeated attacks by wild tribes. In the 7th century, Sabratha was conquered by the Arabs and lost its significance. The city gradually vanished from the face of the earth and was forgotten. Sabratha, buried under sand, was discovered after Italy seized these lands from Turkey in 1911. The Italians made an aggressive effort to establish their historical claim to the region viewing the presence of ancient Roman ruins as validation of that right. In 1943, Italian-German forces were defeated, and Tripolitania came under British control until Libya gained its independence in 1951.
After we left for Sabratha, a sudden downpour struck Tripoli, flooding the city center. Our guide, Ali, received photos and videos with cars submerged up to their roofs. Meanwhile, in Sabratha, there wasn’t a single drop of rain or even a cloud in the sky. When we went back to Tripoli, our driver was constitutionally incapable of keeping pace with the flow of traffic. He constantly cut off other vehicles, squeezed into the smallest gaps between them, and darted down side streets, hoping to get ahead, only for those streets to lead to dead ends. We circled around and ended up back on the main road, having lost both time and our place in the queue. Traffic lights seem to be there just for decoration, no one paid attention to them. Driving in the oncoming lane doesn’t bother anyone, either. Eventually, we managed to get out of the traffic jams and returned for the night to the Cleopatra Hotel, a place that came to feel like home. It’s a pity we never got to see the Roman mosaics at the National Museum because of the downpour.
