Assultan Museum

Welcome to Assultan Museum.

The site of Umm Assultan is often referred to as "the ancient city of Sert" (or Surt). Locally the place is still known as "Almadinah" or "Madina" (Town or City). The site was associated with the classical Iscinia and Macomades. The name Sert did not appear in history until the sixth century AD, after the arrival of Islam in Libya, when Muslim settlers built a mosque (see below) and fortified the old Macomades with walls and defence towers about 75 kilometres from the ancient site. The modern Sert itself was then established around 1835 AD when the Turks built the Fort of Sert near the area.

 

 

The welcome sign to the museum and the city of Sert (left). Libya map showing the main archaeological sites of Libya, starting from 100,000 years ago to 1800 AD. This map does not cover all the archaeological sites of Libya, but it includes only the archaeological cities and villages.

The main features of this museum are exhibits from the stone-age, namely stone tools and flints, stone and pottery pieces from the ancient site of Sert, Roman artifacts and coins from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, photos of excavated archaeological sites, Islamic exhibits from the old mosque discovered in the site, oil lamps, some information about the history of the Arabic Kufi style of writing, and a Libya map showing the main archaeological cities in Libya.

A stone with Islamic architectural motifs.

Stones with geometrical and Islamic designs inside a display cabinet.

Stone implements and flints from the Stone Age.

Glass shreds from the 10th century AD (left). Green glass jars from the 5th century AD (right).

Old wooden tools from the 5th (fifth) century AD, including a hair brush.

Unclassified Bones.

A large clay jar from Assultan Mosque.

Local or Libyan pottery, used for cooling drinking water.

Roman coins from the first and second centuries AD.

Photographs of the archaeological site of Umm Albarakeem, located about 9 KM north-east of Ben Jawwad.

This board from As-Sultan Museum gives some information about Arabic calligraphy, its types and development, particularly the Kufi style of Arabic writing. According to this board Arabic calligraphy was derived from the Nabataeans ( الأنباط ‎), also a Semitic people whose capital city was then Petra, in Jordan. The board shows some historical information about the origin of the Arabic Kufi (or Koufi) style of handwriting, which dates to the 3rd century AD - around the same time when the Arabic script made its first appearance as a derivative of Semitic script. It also classifies the types of Kufi as follows:

SERT

(Umm Assultan)

The following publication, titled "Sert, Its History & Archaeology", was published by the Archaeology Department of the Libyan Ministry of Education. The booklet gives some information about the history of the ancient site of Sert and its archaeology.

 

The Mosque

This mosque, discovered in the area of Sert, was built around the 10th century AD.

The dimensions of the mosque are 41 meters long by 31 meters wide (41m x 31m).

The north entrance to the city (right); the west entrance to the city (left).

These are the remain of the ancient city of Sert, which was fortified and had three towers. The area of the city was said to have been 184003 square meters.