The city dates from  the Roman occupation of Tripolitania and was built during the 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD. And it was destroyed by the Vandals. Rebuilt during the Islamic conquest.

Sabratha was first settled by the Phoenicians as a trading post. The exact date of its foundation is largely a question of speculation, while Greek pottery has been found of the site dates from the 6^th century BC. The first literary reference to the settlement dates from the late 4^th century BC. Excavations have revealed and early walled village of mud huts near the area of the Temple  of Liber Pater. After the fall of Carthage, the Romans superimposed their ordered town plan over the original,  more haphazard settlement. The transformation was slower than that at Leptis Magna.

The early Roman city was concentrated around the forum with the Liber Pater and Serapis Temples, after which it spread inland on the familiar grid pattern culmingating in the theatre, which is Sabratha`s crowing feature. Sabratha did not enjoy such lavish imperial favor as Leptis and so its decline was not as dramatic. The city did not collapse until the vandals wrought their usual destruction, although its downward fortunes had already begun, due to an earthquake in 365Ad rather than the usual economic decline. When the Byzantine armies reclaimed North Africa from the Vandals, Sabratha was in a weakened state and new defensive walls were built, plus a fine church, which featured a mosaic floor after the Arabs arrived in Tripolitania and laid siege to Tripoli . when the Arabs finally took Tripoli, the inevitable happened. Riding through the night they took Sabratha completely by surprise and the city surrendered. Once established, the Arabs moved the market to Tripoli, depriving Sabratha of its means of economic survival.