modern Labdah
Largest city of ancient Tripolis , located near modern Al-Khums, Libya.
Founded by the Phoenicians in the 6th century BC, it passed to Numidia in 202 BC but broke away in 111 BC to become an ally of Rome. The emperor Trajan made it a Roman colony. The waning of the Roman Empire caused its decline, and it was largely abandoned after the Arab conquest of AD 642. It has some of the best-preserved Roman ruins in North Africa.