The Tombs at Ghirza

Some of the most famous Roman ruins in Libya are the tombs at Ghirza. We were not able to locate these until my final year, 1977, when one of our students told me his father had agreed to lead us to them.

It was a very long rough journey and visibility at the site was not wonderful, because we were on the edge of a sandstorm. Also, our guide decided that he did not want to camp out for the night, as we had planned and agreed. So we had only an hour at the site before we had to take him home.

Ghirza in the late afternoon sun

The Roman settlement at Ghirza was founded when Emperor Septimius Severus settled a group of army veterans there as part of his plan to stabilize the southern frontier of Tripolitania. Dams were built to regulate the flash floods that are common in the dester, and the settlers were soon able to grow olives, figs, vines, almonds, dates and even cereals.

The settlement comprised 40 buildings, of which six were fortified farms.

A fortified farm at Ghirza

However, it is the tombs in the settlement's two cemeteries that are the main attraction to modern visitors.

The northern cemetery has several large tombs, many in good condition in spite of the effects of age and earthquakes.

Three mausolea

A tomb in excellent condition except for graffiti

One tomb had interesting carvings of war scenes, clearly showing that the occupant had served in the Roman army.

The tombs in the southern cemetery were more modest and were in the form of obelisks.

Note:

Several times on our drive to Ghirza, our guide seemed unsure of the way. I asked him about this later and he admitted that he had found it difficult to remember the route. It turned out that he hadn't been to Ghirza for 40 years, and all of his previous trips had been on horseback!