Editing Tripoli, Libya (section)

===Oea and Tripolitania===
{{Main|Oea|Tripolitania}}

The city was founded in the 7th century BC by the [[Phoenicia]]ns, who gave it the [[Libyco-Berber]] name Oyat ([[Punic language|Punic]]: 𐤅𐤉‬‬𐤏‬𐤕‬, ''wyʿt''),<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> suggesting that the city may have been built upon an existing native [[Berbers|Berber]] city.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} The Phoenicians were probably attracted to the site by its natural harbor, flanked on the western shore by the small, easily defensible [[peninsula]], on which they established their colony. The city then passed into the hands of the Greek rulers of [[Cyrenaica]] as '''Oea''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Ὀία, ''Oía''). Cyrene was a colony on the North African shore, a bit east of Tambroli and halfway to [[Egypt]]. The [[Carthaginians]] later wrested it again from the [[Greeks]].

By the later half of the 2nd century BC, it belonged to the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], who included it in their province of [[Africa Province|Africa]], and gave it the name of "Regio Syrtica". Around the beginning of the 3rd century [[Anno Domini|AD]], it became known as the [[Tripolitania (Roman province)|Regio Tripolitana]], meaning "region of the three cities", namely Oea (''i.e.'', modern Tripoli), [[Sabratha]] and [[Leptis Magna]]. It was probably raised to the rank of a separate province by [[Septimius Severus]], who was a native of [[Leptis Magna]].

[[File:Marcus Aurelius Arch Tripoli Libya.jpg|thumb|left|Roman [[Arch of Marcus Aurelius (Tripoli)|Arch of Marcus Aurelius]]]]

In spite of centuries of Roman habitation, the only visible Roman remains, apart from scattered [[column]]s and [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]] (usually integrated in later buildings), is the Arch of [[Marcus Aurelius]] from the 2nd century AD. The fact that Tripoli has been continuously inhabited, unlike ''e.g.'', Sabratha and Leptis Magna, has meant that the inhabitants have either quarried material from older buildings (destroying them in the process) or built on top of them, burying them beneath the streets, where they remain largely unexcavated.

There is evidence to suggest that the Tripolitania region was in some economic decline during the 5th and 6th centuries, in part due to the political unrest spreading across the Mediterranean world in the wake of the collapse of the [[Western Roman Empire]], as well as pressure from the invading [[Vandals]]. It is recorded by [[Ibn Abd al-Hakam]] that during the siege of Tripoli by a general of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] named [[Amr ibn al-As]], seven of his soldiers from the clan of Madhlij, sub branch of [[Kinana]], unintentionally found a section on the western side of Tripoli beach that was not walled during their hunting routine.<ref name="Ibn Abd al Hakam" /> Those seven soldiers then managed to infiltrate through this way without being detected by the city guards, then managed to incite a riot within the city while shouting Takbir, causing the confused Byzantine garrison soldiers to think the Muslim forces were already inside in the city and flee towards their ship leaving Tripoli, thus allowing Amr to subdue the city easily.<ref name="Ibn Abd al Hakam">{{cite web |last1=Khalid |first1=Mahmud |title=Libya in the shadows of Islam.. How did Amr ibn al-Aas and his companions conquer Cyrenaica and Tripoli? |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/midan/intellect/history/2020/10/5/%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B8%D9%90%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%81-%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%AD-%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88-%D8%A8%D9%86 |website=aljazeera |access-date=5 December 2021 |page=Ibn Abd al-Hakam: al-Maqrib, pp. 198, 199 |language=ar |date=2020 |quote=Ibn Abd al-Hakam: al-Maqrib, pp. 198, 199}}</ref>

According to [[al-Baladhuri]], Tripoli was, unlike Western North Africa, taken by the Muslims very early after [[Muslim conquest of Egypt|Alexandria]], in the 22nd year of the [[Hijri year|Hijra]], that is between 30 November 642 and 18 November 643 AD. Following the conquest, Tripoli was ruled by dynasties based in [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]] (first the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]], [[Banu Khazrun]], and later the [[Mamluk]]s), and [[Kairouan]] in [[Ifriqiya]] (the Arab [[Fihrids|Fihrid]], [[Muhallabids|Muhallabid]], and [[Aghlabid dynasty|Aghlabid]] dynasties). For some time it was a part of the [[Berbers|Berber]] [[Almohad Caliphate]], [[Hafsid dynasty|Hafsid Kingdom]], and [[Banu Thabit]] dynasty.