Map of the Roman Empire - Tripolis

Tripolis
Q-8 on the Map

Tripolis - Hellenistic city in the maritime district of Phoenicia, formed from three older cities on the coast of Syria: Tyre, Sidon and Arados. Modern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Tripŏlis (Τρίπολις). Now Tripoli, Tarabulus; on the coast of Ph�nicia, consisted of three distinct cities, one stadium (600 feet) apart, each having its own walls, but all united in a common constitution, having one place of assembly, and forming in reality one city. They were colonies of Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus respectively. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.

Tripolis (Greek: Τρίπολις; meaning "three cities") was a maritime district in ancient Phoenicia. The center of the confederation of the three Phoenician cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus. Through the ages, it evolved to become the present Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Tripoli (Standard Arabic: طرابلس Ṭarābulus, and Arabic: طَرَابُلُس‎  Tr�blous, Greek: Τρίπολις Tripolis) is a city in Lebanon. Situated north of Batroun and the cape of Lithoprosopon, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District (in Lebanon the districts are subunits of governorates). The city is located 85 km north of the capital Beirut, and is the easternmost port of Lebanon. In ancient times, it was the center of a Phoenician confederation which included Tyre, Sidon and Arados, hence the name Tripoli, meaning "triple city" in Greek. Later, it was controlled successively by the Assyrian Empire, Persian Empire, Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Caliphate, the Seljuk Empire, Crusader States, the Mamluks, the Ottoman Empire and France. Tripoli had a number of different names as far back as the Phoenician age. In the Amarna letters the name "Derbly" was mentioned, and in other places "Ahlia" or "Wahlia" are mentioned (14th century BC). In an engraving concerning the invasion of Tripoli by the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II (888-859 BC), it is called Mahallata or Mahlata, Mayza, and Kayza. Under the Phoenicians, the name Athar was used to refer to Tripoli. When the Greeks settled in the city they called it "Tripoli", meaning "three cities".

Ancient History of Tripolis. There is evidence of settlement in Tripoli that dates back as early as 1400 BC. In the 9th century BC, the Phoenicians established a trading station in Tripoli and later, under Persian rule, the city became the center of a confederation of the Phoenician city states of Sidon, Tyre, and Arados Island. Under Hellenistic rule, Tripoli was used as a naval shipyard and the city enjoyed a period of autonomy. It came under Roman rule around 64 BC. In 551, an earthquake and tidal wave destroyed the Byzantine city of Tripoli along with other Mediterranean coastal cities. During the Roman and Byzantine periods, Tripoli witnessed the construction of important public buildings including municipal stadium or gymnasium due to strategic position of the city midway on the imperial coastal highway leading from Antioch to Ptolemais. In addition, Tripoli retained the same configuration of three distinct and administratively independent quarters (Aradians, Sidonians, and Tyrians). The territory outside the city was divided between the three quarters. - Wikipedia

Tripolis (Tripolitana), A maritime district of Phoenicia, comprehending the territories of the three towns, Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus. - Classical Gazetteer

Tripolis
TRI�POLIS (Τρίπολις, Ptol. 5.15.4: Eth. Τριπολίτης: Adj. Tripoliticus, Plin. Nat. 14.7. s. 9), an important maritime town of Phoenicia, situated on the N. side of the promontory of Theuprosopon. (Strab. xvi. p.754.) The site of Tripolis has been already described, and it has been mentioned that it derived its name, which literally signifies the three cities, from its being the metropolis of the three confederate towns, Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus [PHOENICIA, Vol. II. p. 606]. Each of those cities had here its peculiar quarter, separated from the rest by a wall. Tripolis possessed a good harbour, and, like the rest of the Phoenician towns, had a large maritime commerce. (Cf. Joannes Phocas, 100.4; Wesseling, ad Itin. Ant., p. 149.) Respecting the modern Tripoli (Tarablus or Tripoli di Soria); see Pococke, vol. ii. p. 146, seq.; Maundrell, p. 26; Burckhardt, p. 163, seq., &c.; cf. Scylax, p. 42; Mela, 1.12; Plin. Nat. 5.20. s. 17; Diod. 16.41; Steph. B. sub voce Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 372.) - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.