|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Leptis
Magna, or Lepcis Magna as it is sometimes spelled, was a prominent
city of the Roman Empire. Its ruins are located east of Tripoli in
Libya. The city appears to have been founded by Phoenician colonists
sometime around 1100 BC, although it didn't achieve prominence until
Carthage became a major power in the Mediterranean Sea in the 4th
century BC. It nominally remained part of Carthage's dominions until
the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC, and then became part of
the Roman Empire, although from about 200 BC onward it was for all
intents and purposes an independent city. It remained as such until
the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, when Leptis Magna
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 the Roman Empire and a major trading post. Leptis achieved
its greatest prominence beginning in 193, when a native son, Lucius
Septimius Severus, became emperor. He favored his hometown above
all other provincial cities, and the buildings and wealth he lavished
on it made Leptis Magna the third most-imporant city in Africa, rivaling
Carthage and Alexandria. In 205, he and the imperial family visited
the city and received great honors. During the Crisis of the Third
Century, when trade declined precipitously, Leptis Magna's importance
also fell into a decline, and by the middle of the fourth century,
large parts of the city had been abandoned. It enjoyed a minor renaissance
beginning in the reign of the emperor Theodosius I. In 439,
Leptis Magna and the rest of the cities of Tripolitania fell under
the control of the Vandals when their king, Gaiseric, captured
Carthage from the Romans and made it his capital. Unfortunately for
the future of Leptis Magna, Gaiseric ordered the city's walls demolished
so as to dissuade its people from rebelling against Vandal rule. But
the people of Leptis and the Vandals both paid a heavy price for this
in 523, when a group of Berber raiders sacked the city. Belisarius
recaptured Leptis Magna in the name of Rome 10 years later, and in
534 he destroyed the kingdom of the Vandals. Leptis became a provincial
capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, but never recovered from the
destruction wreaked upon it by the Berbers. By the time the Saracens
overran Tripolitania in the 650s, the city was abandoned except for
a Byzantine garrison force. Today, the site of Leptis Magna is the
site of some of the most impressive ruins of the Roman period. |
|
|
|
