A Roman city on the Libyan coast that survived because the desert buried it. Founded as a Punic settlement in the seventh century BC, it was made spectacular by Septimius Severus, who was born there and who from AD 193 rebuilt his home town on the scale of a capital: basilica, forum, theatre, arch. It was abandoned around the seventh century AD and the sand dunes rolled over it, which is exactly why the standing stone is in the condition it is. UNESCO World Heritage since 1982. The threat now is the sea rather than the sand: the 2022 IPCC report flags flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the century under high emissions, considered unlikely on current projections but enough that sea walls are being discussed. About 130 km east of Tripoli.
Khoms, Libya
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