Zliten

Zliten
Zliten; زليتن; Zlitan
	Toun
	Zliten Location in Libie
	Coordinates: 32°27′50″N 14°34′21″E / 32.46389°N 14.57250°E
Kintra	Libie
Region	Tripolitanie
Destrict	Misrata
Population
• Total	109,972
Time zone	UTC + 2

Zliten (Arabic: زليتن‎ Zlītan) is a toun in the Misrata Destrict o Libie. It is locatit on the soothren coast o the Mediterranean Sea wast o the Gulf o Sidra. It wis the caipital o the umwhile Zlitan Destrict.

Location

The name Zliten is gien tae baith the toun an the whole aurie. As a toun, Zliten is situatit 160 km (99 mi) east o the caipital, Tripoli, an aboot 35 km (22 mi) east o the auncient Roman ceiety o Leptis Magna. It is aboot 60 km (37 mi) wast o the ceety o Misrata an 40 km (25 mi) east o Al Khums. It haes spread ower an aurie o aboot 8 km² (3.1 sq mi). The destrict o Zliten is widespread an covers an aurie o 3,000 km² (1,200 sq mi). It is surroondit bi the Mediterranean frae the north, Misrata frae the east, Bani Walid frae the sooth an Khoms frae the wast.

Name

The etymology o the ceety's name in Arabic is a vera controversial subject. Some experts contend that it oreeginatit frae an auld Tamazight (Berber) designation, while ithers claim it is actually frae Arabic for the fig trees shadae as that wis whaur traders uised tae meet in passin atween Tripoli an Misrata. Oreeginally twa wirds, it wis later compundit intae ane wird.^[1]

History an cultur

Thare are mony auncient Roman steids in Zliten, such as the Villa o Omira ('Darbuk Omira' ), an the Castle in Al-Jumaa. The toun an aw contains the Mausoleum an Mosque o Sidi Abd As-Salam Al-Asmar, a revered Islamic saunt who livit an dee'd in Zliten durin the 15t century. Thare is some fine Arabic calligraphy in saundstane on tap o the ooter pillars o the biggin sayin al-mulk-'illah ("Iverything tae Allah").^[2] The toun is famous for its olives, palm trees an citrus fruits alang bonnie coastal shores. The Slat Abn Shaif Synagogue (Hebrew: בית הכנסת צלאת בן שאיף‎‎) in Zliten is a historic synagogue an Lag Ba'omer pilgrimage steid for Libie Jews. It is ower 900 year auld.