LIBYA, Robert Polidori, A. Di Vita LOST CITIES OF ROMAN EMPIRE Könemann ed. 1999

of Greco-Roman cities long lost under the 

desert sands of North Africa, Situated on the 

Mediterranean coast in what is now Libya, 

these wealthy, elegant, and powerful cities, 

were the main urban centers of two neighbor -

ing provinces during the Roman empire: 

Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. Clinging to a thin 

strip of fertile land between the desert and 

the sea, the cities came to see themselves as 

"Rome in Africa, and through ose contact 

with the civilizations of ancient Greece, 

Carthage, and Egypt, they created a unique 

culture. Only Tripoli (ancient Oea) has been 

continually inhabited: the other cities, devas- 

tated by earthquakes and fatally weakened by 

the fall of the Roman empire, were abandoned 

to the encroaching sands. Major archeological 

research has now been underway for decades 

and continues today: there is still much to 

unearth. The discoveries at these sites offer a 

unique and fascinating view of both Africa and 

the Greco-Roman world: entire cities of mar- 

ble and white sandstone, with theaters and 

public baths, temples, fine houses decorated 

with frescoes and mosaics, shops and work- 

shops, streets lined with porticoes to provide 

shade from the intense African sun .. all 

painstakingly restored and documented. 

The main cities visited are Lepcis, Cyrene, 

Sabratha, Apollonia, and Ptolemais