Leptis or Lepcis Magna, () also known by other names in antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean.

Established as a Punic settlement prior to 500 BC, the city experienced significant expansion under Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (), who was born in the city. The 3rd Augustan Legion was stationed here to defend the city against Berber incursions. After the legion's dissolution under in 238, the city was increasingly open to raids in the later part of the 3rd century. Diocletian reinstated the city as provincial capital, and it grew again in prosperity until it fell to the Vandals in 439. It was reincorporated into the Eastern Empire in 533 but continued to be plagued by Berber raids and never recovered its former importance. It fell to the Muslim invasion in and was subsequently abandoned.

After being abandoned, the city was remarkably preserved as it lay buried beneath layers of sand dunes. In the 1920s, the city was unearthed by Italian archaeologists during Italy's occupation of Libya. Its ruins are within present-day Al-Khums, Libya, east of Tripoli. They are among the best-preserved Roman sites in the Mediterranean.

Names

The Punic name of the settlement was written () or (). This has been tentatively connected to the Semitic root (present in Arabic) , meaning "to build" or "to piece together", presumably in reference to the construction of the city.

This name was hellenized as Léptis (), also known as Léptis Megálē (, "Greater Leptis") distinguishing it from the "Lesser Leptis" closer to Carthage in modern-day Tunisia. It was also known by the Greeks as Neápolis (, "New Town"). The latinization of these names was Lepcis or Leptis Magna ("Greater Leptis"), which also appeared as the "Leptimagnese City" (). The Latin demonym was "Leptitan" (). It was also known as UlpiaTraiana as a Roman colony, after Emperor Trajan of the Ulpia gens. Its Italian name is LeptiMaggiore, and in Arabic it is named Labdah ().

History

thumb|right|260px|Map of Leptis Magna

Punics

The Punic city was founded in the second half of the 7th centuryBC. Little is known about Leptis during this time, but it appears to have been powerful enough to repel Dorieus's attempt to establish a Greek colony nearby around 515BC. Like most Punic settlements, Leptis became part of the Carthaginian Empire and fell under Rome's control with Carthage's defeat in the Punic Wars. Leptis remained highly independent for a period after about 111BC.

Roman Republic

In 111 BC, during the Jugurthine War, the city sent envoys to the Roman Senate asking for the friendship and alliance of Rome, to which it provided assistance against Jugurtha, and obtained in 107 BC the deployment of four cohorts and some colonists from the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus. At the end of the war, however, the city remained part of the Numidian kingdom, obtaining the status of civitas foederata and retaining its autonomy, until it was included in the Roman province of Africa after the civil war between the Caesarians and the Pompeians. The city nonetheless became part of the Roman domains as libera et immunis, gaining the right to mint coins in silver and bronze. Reflecting its blend of cultures, its coins bore Punic inscriptions but images of Hercules and Dionysus. The 40-20s BC saw large amounts of Italians begin to settle in North Africa mostly from being dispossessed from their land. Italian merchants also began to settle in Leptis Magna and started a profitable commerce with the Libyan interior. The city depended primarily on the fertility of its surrounding farmland, where many olive-presses have been excavated. By 46BC, its olive oil production was of such an extent that the city was able to provide three million pounds of oil annually to Julius Caesar as tax.

Roman Empire

Kenneth D. Matthews Jr. writes:

thumb|The Severan Forum

thumb|right|[[Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna)|Arch of Septimius Severus]]

Leptis Magna remained as such until the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, when the city and the surrounding area were formally incorporated into the empire as part of the province of Africa. It soon became one of the leading cities of Roman Africa and a major trading post. The city grew rapidly under Roman administration. During the reign of Nero, an amphitheater was constructed. The settlement was elevated to municipium in AD 64 or 65 and to colonia under Trajan (). The first known bishop of Leptis Magna was a certain priest called Victor who became pope in 189.

Leptis achieved its greatest prominence beginning in AD193, as the hometown of emperor Septimius Severus. Severus came from a distinguished, wealthy family of equestrian rank in the city. His grandfather was a prominent local magistrate in Leptis Magna, which was elevated to colony status under Emperor Trajan. In 205 AD, he and the imperial family visited the city and bestowed great honors. Among the changes that Severus introduced were the creation of a magnificent new forum, the construction of a massive basilica and the rebuilding of the docks. Severus also granted the ius Italicum, and the inhabitants of the city also became known as Septimiani in his honor. During the early 3rd century AD, the city was in its period of greatest splendor, reaching a population of about 100,000 inhabitants at its height. and is no longer considered very likely. The other, more plausible scenarios result in lower warming levels and consequently lower sea level rise: yet, sea levels would continue to increase for about 10,000 years under all of them. Even if the warming is limited to 1.5°C, global sea level rise is still expected to exceed after 2000 years (and higher warming levels will see larger increases by then), consequently exceeding 2100 levels of sea level rise under RCP 8.5 (~ with a range of ) well before the year 4000. Thus, it is a matter of time before the Leptis Magna ruins are threatened by rising water levels, unless they can be protected by adaptation efforts such as sea walls.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="140">

Image:Leptis magna pillar.jpg|Some of Leptis Magna yet to be excavated

Image:Leptis Magna - Marktgebäude (macellum).jpg|Market place

Image:Leptis Magna amphitheatre - panoramio.jpg|Amphitheater

Image:Libya_5458_Leptis_Magna_Luca_Galuzzi_2007.jpg|Arch of Septimius Severus

Image:Archaeological Site of Leptis Magna-108958.jpg|Severan Basilica

Image:Leptis Magna view.JPG|View on Leptis Magna from the theater wall

Image:Market Leptis Magna 03.JPG|Measure converter, Market (founded 8 or 9 BC) (Phoenician colony)

Image:Severan Basilica 02.JPG|Decorative columns inside Basilica of Septimius Severus

File:Villa of the Nile Mosaic fishermen.jpg|Angling in the 1st century AD. Villa of the Nile Mosaic, Leptis Magna, Tripoli National Museum

</gallery>

See also

  • Libya in the Roman era

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Lepcis Magna - The Roman Empire in Africa, documenting the archaeological site and excavations undertaken in the 1990s, including teams from King's College London and the UCL Institute of Archaeology
  • Lepcis Magna article on Livius.org
  • Lepcis (Leptis) Magna Images, a gallery of photographs taken at the site in February 2008
  • Neapolis/Lepcis Magna on Pleiades, a collaborative scholarly gazetteer to the ancient world