Leptis Magna was an ancient city on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what is now northwestern Libya . Its name is also spelled Lepcis Magna. The city was founded by the ancient Phoenicians , who dominated Mediterranean Sea trade by about 1100 B.C. The Phoenicians probably established trade with people on the northwestern coast of Africa around the 900’s. They eventually set up trading posts and colonies there. One such post was at the site of Leptis. Its sheltered harbor provided a base for conducting profitable trade with caravans passing through the Sahara Desert.
By about 500 B.C., the Phoenician colony of Carthage and the city-states of Greece dominated commercial and naval power in the western Mediterranean. Carthage lay northwest of Leptis, in what is now Tunisia . Its culture and religion heavily influenced Leptis for hundreds of years.
In 46 B.C., the Romans took control of northwestern Libya. They called the region Tripolitania. Under Roman rule, Leptis featured an amphitheater, theater, circus, public baths, temples, and numerous workshops and warehouses. Many of these structures remain. Leptis became a leading Roman city under Emperor Septimius Severus , who ruled from A.D. 193 to 211. Severus had been born at Leptis. While emperor, he showered attention and wealth on the city. He ordered the construction of a new basilica (large administrative or judicial hall) and forum (public square) at Leptis. He brought in sculptors from as far away as Asia Minor (now Turkey) to decorate these works. In 203, the city dedicated a monumental arch to honor Severus.
Severus had the harbor at Leptis remodeled and a 100-foot (30-meter) lighthouse built. Trading ships loaded with such African goods as gold, olive oil, and ostrich feathers sailed from Leptis. The city’s population grew as large as 100,000 under the Romans.
The West Roman empire declined in the 300’s and 400’s as a result of invasions by Germanic tribes. Likewise, Leptis suffered attacks by African tribes and Germanic invaders called Vandals . By the early 500’s, the city’s population had shrunk to a few hundred. Its buildings had fallen into disuse and its fortification walls had been destroyed. Leptis enjoyed a brief revival under the Byzantine (East Roman) Emperor Justinian I , who ruled from 527 to 565. But it had been nearly abandoned by the time Muslim Arabs conquered northern Africa in the 600’s.
In the 1600’s, the French King Louis XIV had marble columns from Leptis incorporated into the Palace of Versailles and St. Germain des Prés Church in Paris . In the 1800’s, some ruins of Leptis were moved to England . Today they stand in Windsor Great Park, in Windsor.
The Italian government restored the ruins at Leptis in the 1920’s and 1930’s. At that time, Libya was an Italian colony. In 1982, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) made Leptis a World Heritage site in recognition of its great cultural importance.
