Tripolitania

Tripolitania, the ancient Oea, currently known as Tripoli ( Trabolus ); the historical capital city of Libya. Also known as the Mermaid of the Mediterranean.

The city was founded by the Phoenicians in 500 BC and remained a Phoenician style city until the Romans took it over after the fall of Carthage in 146 BC. Tripolitania fell under the Vandals in the mid 5th. century and by the Arabs during the 7th. century.

Tripoli remained as a commercial city and a harbour acting as the northern cross-roads linking Germa to the Mediterranean shores.

In the heart of the old Tripoli, a status of the Roman Marcos Urelius who died in the year 192 stands and can be visited, while 32 Bronze Phoenician coins found in Wadi Sulfaljeen south of Tripoli are on display in the Museum. Ashes of human remains have been discovered in clay and glass cemetery and an underground cemetery was also discovered near Tripoli harbour. This Cemetery is quiet similar to those found near Misurata.

Tripoli has a lot to offer; from the very old ruins of the Romans, the Muslims, and the Turks to the contrasts of a cosmopolitan modern city. at least a couple of days are required to tour the old city and its small and narrow street, the old Market and the Museum.