I. LEPTIS MAGNA was one of the oldest and most flourishing of the Phoenician emporia established on the coasts of the greater Syrtis, the chief commercial entrepot for the interior of the African continent. It was founded by the Sidonians who were joined later by the people of Tyre. Herodotus enlarges on the fertility of its territory. It was tributary to Carthage to which it paid a contribution of a talent a day. After the Second Punic War Massinissa made himself master of it. During the Jugur thine War it appealed for protection to Rome Though captured and plundered by Juba, it maintained its allegiance to Rome, sup ported the senatorial cause, received Cato the younger with the remains of the Pompeian forces after Pharsalus in 48 B.C. After his victory Julius Caesar imposed upon it an annual contribution of 300,00o measures of oil Nevertheless, it preserved its position as a free city governed by its own magistrates. It received the title of municipium, and was subsequently made a colonia by Trajan while under Nerva the coast-road from Tacape (Gabes) to Leptis was constructed. Septimius Severus, who was born there, beautified the place and conferred upon it the Ins Italicum and the place as it stands is his creation. The ruins of Leptis are among the most imposing Roman remains in North Africa, and have been excavated in part by the Italians since 1911. The city walls have only been traced in a few places on the west, where what is visible is comparatively late; while on the north, towards the sea, there were no walls at all, so that the fresh breezes could, as at Oea (Tripoli) have access to the town. The ancient harbour, with its quays (well preserved and of several types) round a large basin, lay at the mouth of the small stream known as Wady Lebda ; on the western promontory a breakwater supported a lighthouse; on the eastern stood a tower and a temple Before the recent excavations, the most prominent ruins in the town were attributed to the Imperial palace, but they have turned out to be the forum, surrounded by a peristyle with an inscrip tion of Septimius Severus : on the east of the open space is a large basilica, some 30o ft. long and 125 wide, with an apse at
each end with finely carved pilasters. To the south-west three arches faced the entrance to a monumental street running north east, past the forum, to the coast, and to the south is a large mass of concrete with niches, perhaps a nymphaeum or monumental fountain.
To the north are streets on a more or less regular plan, and a theatre, another nymphaeum of the period of Severus, and a church of the Byzantine period. The thermae (baths) which lie to the south of the forum, were completed in A.D. 127. They are extremely well preserved, and their plan is interesting and well thought out : a large number of statues were found in them. To the south of them again is a large group of cisterns : while a road led from the north-west angle of the baths to a four`way arch, or Janus, which is of the time of Severus and probably be longed to the city walls of the imperial period. Some way off to the east, along the shore, is a large circus, and the site of the amphitheatre is close by.
The coins of Leptis Magna, like the majority of the emporia in the neighbourhood, present a series from the Punic period. They are of bronze with the legend 'pt (Lepqi).
See J. Toutain, "Le Limes Tripolitanus en Tripolitaine," in Bulletin archeologique du comite des travaux historiques (19o5) ; P. Romanelli, Leptis Magna (Rome, 1926) ; R. Bartoccini, Guide di Lepcis (Rome, 1927).