Lepcis (or Leptis) Magna (Lebda)
Lepcis Magna, also known as Leptis Magna or Lebda, is an ancient coastal city located in what is now Libya, specifically in the Roman province of Africa. Founded by the Carthaginians around 500 BC, it prospered under Roman rule, benefiting from rich agricultural resources and trade. The city was notably transformed during the reign of Emperor Augustus, who reorganized its coinage and administrative structures, although it did not receive Roman citizenship at that time. Lepcis Magna is recognized for its remarkable Roman architecture, including a theater, an amphitheater, and a colonnaded marketplace, many of which were enhanced under the local emperor Septimius Severus, a native of the city.
Despite its flourishing period, the city faced declines due to invasions, natural disasters, and environmental challenges such as sand dune encroachment. These factors contributed to its eventual abandonment, but they also helped preserve its impressive ruins. Today, Lepcis Magna stands as one of the most significant Roman archaeological sites in the world, showcasing the city's rich history and cultural legacy through its well-preserved structures and artistic elements, including intricate carvings and monumental buildings dedicated to Roman deities.
Subject Terms
Lepcis (or Leptis) Magna (Lebda)
A coastal city in the Roman province of Africa (now Libya), the easternmost of the three cities that give the region its name of Tripolitan(i)a (the others were Oea [Tripoli] and Sabratha)
Situated between the Greater and Lesser Gulfs of Syrtes (Sirte, Gabes), beside a natural harbor at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda, Lepcis Magna was founded by the Carthaginians, not later than 500 BC and perhaps a good deal earlier.
Under Roman rule it continued to flourish, deriving prosperity from the olives and grain in its hinterland and from ivory brought by camel caravans across the Sahara from central Africa. The issue of coinage under Augustus (31 BC–AD 14) suggests that he reorganized and transformed the city (though without granting it citizenship), and inscriptions of the same period bear witness to a priest (flamen) of the cult of the deified Julius Caesar (8 BC). These inscriptions are written in neo-Punic, but were followed by Latin counterparts recording a `patron’ of the city and a certain Annobal Rufus, son of Himilcho Tapapus, who combined the offices of flamen and chief civic official (here known, in the Carthaginian fashion, as suffete).
In AD 69 Tacitus records strained relations between Lepcis Magna and another of the Three Cities, Oea. Lepcis Magna received Roman colonial status from Trajan (98–117)—it is uncertain whether this involved a veteran settlement—and Septimius Severus (193–211), who was a native of the place, confirmed and increased its privileges. It became the seat of a bishop in the third century, but its territory suffered devastation from the tribe of the Austuriani in 363/5; though the city, protected by walls of the late third or fourth century, held out successfully against their attacks. Further destruction, however, came from the Vandal conquest c 455. Decline was accelerated by disastrous winter floods and by the encroachment of sand dunes, which finally covered the town—but preserved its buildings, which thus constitute one of the most remarkable Roman sites in the world.
The substantial remains of the Augustan city include a colonnaded marketplace (macellum) with two circular halls (8 BC), a theater (AD 1–2, partly reconstructed), and the Old forum (with adjacent temples). A temple of Rome and of the deified Augustus (adorned with extensive imperial statuary) dates from the time of Tiberius (14–37). A large amphitheater (linked to a hippodrome by a cutting) was built into a quarry (56). A shrine to the Great Mother (Magna Mater) is a product of the Flavian epoch (72); and a massive bath building is attributable to the reign of Hadrian (127), while the local senate house (curia) belongs to the same period.
But it is the constructional activity of Septimius Severus, the greatest of its native sons, that gave the city its lavish distinction. These buildings include a four-way triumphal arch (following others of Vespasian [69–79] and Trajan [98–117]) set across the junction of the main street and the coast road, and dedicated on the occasion of Severus' visit in 203. He also created a new colonnaded street, running beside a second forum, which measured one thousand by six hundred feet and was flanked by porticos and shops and a huge three-aisled basilica. This commercial and judicial meeting hall, dedicated by Caracalla (216) in replacement of an earlier building (and converted into a church in the sixth century) is one of the finest and best preserved of such edifices in the entire Roman world. Its marble pilasters were richly carved with reliefs illustrating the exploits of Dionysus (Bacchus, Shadrap) and Hercules (Melkart), the patron deities of Lepcis Magna and the Severan house respectively. Severus also reconstructed the harbor on a grandiose scale, though the scheme was apparently unproductive owing to silting. The vaulted Hunting Baths, of third-century date, have survived almost intact, beneath the sand dunes; a wall painting suggests that they belonged to a corporation of hunters who supplied wild beasts to the amphitheaters of Africa and Italy.