Colonnaded Palace, Ptolemais

The Palazzo delle Colonne (Italian for "Palace of the Columns") is an Hellenistic-style mansion located in Ptolemais (modern Tolmeita), in the Cyrenaica region of Libya. Situated near the city's agora, the site is generally identified as the residence of the city's governor. Archaeological evidence suggests continuous habitation from the late Hellenistic period, in the 2nd or 1st century BC, through the Roman and Byzantine periods. Architecturally, the complex is divided into distinct functional quarters, including a lavish central sector with a grand peristyle and mosaics, a private thermal complex, a western wing likely used as women's quarters, and an area interpreted as housing for guards. Excavations at the site began in 1936 but were halted in 1942 due to the Second World War; the excavator later had to publish his findings from photographs and memory after vandals destroyed the records.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).