Editing Leptis Magna (section)

== History ==
[[File:LY-Leptis Magna.png|thumb|right|260px|Map of Leptis Magna]]

===Punics===
The [[Punic people|Punic]] city was founded in the second half of the 7th century{{nbsp}}BC. 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 515{{nbsp}}BC.{{sfnp|Brogan|Wilson|2012}} Like most Punic settlements, Leptis became part of the [[Carthaginian Empire]] and fell under [[Roman Republic|Rome]]'s control with [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]]'s defeat in the [[Punic Wars]]. Leptis remained highly independent for a period after about 111{{nbsp}}BC.

===Roman Republic===
The [[Roman Republic]] sent some colonists together with a small garrison in order to control the city. The city prospered and was even allowed to coin its own money in silver and bronze. Reflecting its blend of cultures, its coins bore [[Punic language|Punic]] inscriptions but images of [[Hercules]] and [[Dionysus]].{{sfnp|Head|1911}} Soon Italian merchants settled in the city and started a profitable commerce with the Libyan interior.{{sfnp|Bullo|2002|pp=167–171}} The city depended primarily on the fertility of its surrounding farmland, where many olive-presses have been excavated. By 46{{nbsp}}BC, 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.{{sfnp|Brogan|Wilson|2012}}

===Roman Empire===

Kenneth D. Matthews Jr. writes:{{sfnp|Matthews|1957|p=37}}
{{Blockquote|During the reign of [[Augustus]], Leptis Magna was classified as a ''[[Free city (classical antiquity)|civitas libera et immunis]]'', or a free community, over which the governor had an absolute minimum of control. As such Leptis retain its two ''[[suphetes]]'' at the head of its government, with the ''mhzm'', similar to the Roman ''[[aediles]]'', as minor magistrates. In addition there were such sacred officials as the ''ʾaddir ʾararim'' or ''praefectus sacrorum'', the ''nēquim ēlīm'', and probably a sacred college of fifteen members.}}

[[Image:Forum leptis magna.JPG|thumb|The Severan Forum]]
[[File:Arch of Septimius Severus, Leptis Magna12.jpg|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 (Roman province)|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 [[Roman amphitheatre|amphitheater]] was constructed. The settlement was elevated to ''[[municipium]]'' in AD 64 or 65 and to ''[[Colonia (Roman)|colonia]]'' under [[Trajan]] ({{reign|98|117}}). The first known [[Diocese of Leptis Magna|bishop of Leptis Magna]] was a certain priest called [[Pope Victor I|Victor]] who became pope in 189.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bongmba |first1=Elias Kifon |title=Routledge Companion to Christianity in Africa |date=22 December 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-50584-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSxACwAAQBAJ |access-date=29 April 2024 |language=en |chapter=Christianity in North Africa}}</ref>

Leptis achieved its greatest prominence beginning in AD{{nbsp}}193, as the hometown of emperor [[Septimius Severus]]. Septimius favored his hometown above all other provincial cities, and the buildings and wealth he lavished on it made Leptis Magna the third-most important city in Africa, rivaling Carthage and [[Alexandria]]. In AD{{nbsp}}205, 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 (Roman)|forum]] and the rebuilding of the docks. The natural harbor had a tendency to silt up, but the Severan changes made this worse, and the eastern wharves are extremely well preserved, since they were scarcely used.

Leptis prospered through [[trans-Saharan trade]] in various valuable goods, including [[ivory]], wild animals for the [[gladiator]]ial arena, gold dust, [[Carbuncle (gemstone)|carbuncle]], precious woods like [[ebony]], and [[ostrich]] feathers.<ref name=":0" />

Leptis overextended itself during this period.  During the [[Crisis of the Third Century|Crisis of the 3rd Century]], when trade declined precipitously, Leptis Magna's importance also fell into a decline, and by the middle of the 4th century, even before it was completely devastated by the [[365 Crete earthquake|365 tsunami]], large parts of the city had been abandoned.  [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] recounts that the crisis was worsened by a corrupt Roman governor named Romanus, who demanded bribes to protect the city during a major tribal raid.  The ruined city could not pay these and complained to the emperor [[Valentinian I]].  Romanus then bribed people at court and arranged for the Leptan envoys to be punished "for bringing false accusations".  It enjoyed a minor renaissance beginning in the reign of the emperor [[Theodosius I]].

===Vandal Kingdom===
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. The people of Leptis and the Vandals both paid a heavy price for this in AD{{nbsp}}523 when a group of Berber raiders sacked the city.

===Byzantine Empire===
[[Belisarius]], general of Emperor [[Justinian I]], recaptured Leptis Magna in the name of the Roman Empire ten years later, and [[Vandalic War|in 533–4]] it was re-incorporated into the empire. Leptis became a provincial capital of the Eastern Empire, but never recovered from the destruction wreaked upon it by the Berbers. In 544, under the prefecture of Sergius, the city came under intensified attack of Berber tribes, and after some successes, Sergius was reduced to retreating into the city, with the  [[Leuathae]] tribal confederation camped outside the gate demanding payments. Sergius admitted eighty deputies into the city to present their demands, but when Sergius moved to leave the conference he was detained by the robe by one deputy and crowded by others. This provoked an officer of the prefect's guard to kill the deputy laying hands on the prefect, which resulted in a general massacre. The Berbers reacted with an all-out attack and Sergius was eventually forced to abandon Leptis and retreat to Carthage.{{sfnp|Beechey|Beechey|1828|pp=54–56}}

===Islamic conquest===
By the 6th century, the city was fully Christianized.{{sfnp|Mommsen|1909|loc=Chapter XIII. The African Provinces}}{{Failed verification|date=August 2020}} During the decade 565–578 AD, Christian missionaries from Leptis Magna even began to move once more among the Berber tribes as far south as the [[Fezzan]] in the Libyan desert and converted the [[Garamantes]].{{sfnp|Prevost|2007|pp=462–463}} Numerous new churches were built in the 6th century,{{sfn|''Livius.org''|loc=[https://www.livius.org/articles/place/lepcis-magna/photos/lepcis-magna-byzantine-church/ Photos: Lepcis Magna, Byzantine Church]}} but the city continued to decline, and by the time of the [[Islamic conquest of the Maghreb|Arab conquest]] around 647 the city was mostly abandoned except for a Byzantine garrison force and a population of less than 1,000 inhabitants. By the 10th century, the city of [[Al-Khums]] had fully absorbed it.{{sfnp|Bullo|2002|pp=185–188}}

===Excavation===
Today, the site of Leptis Magna is the site of some of the most impressive ruins of the Roman period.

[[File:Leptis Magna ruins, Virginia Water (1) (geograph 3935706).jpg|thumb|Leptis Magna ruins, in the [[United Kingdom]], by the [[Virginia Water Lake]]]]
Part of an ancient temple was brought from Leptis Magna to the British Museum in 1816 and installed at the [[Fort Belvedere, Surrey|Fort Belvedere]] royal residence in England in 1826. It now lies in part of [[Windsor Great Park]].{{sfn|''The Atlantic'', 10 January 2018}} The ruins are located between the south shore of [[Virginia Water]] and Blacknest Road close to the junction with the [[A30 road|A30]] London Road and [[Wentworth Estate|Wentworth Drive]].
[[Image:Leptis Magna Theatre.jpg|thumb|The Roman theatre]]
When Italians conquered [[Italian Libya]] in the early 20th century, they dedicated huge efforts to the rediscovery of Leptis Magna. In the early 1930s, Italian archeological research was able to show again the buried remains of nearly all the city.{{sfnp|Musso|2010}}{{Page needed|date=August 2020}} A 4th to 3rd century{{nbsp}}BC necropolis was found under the [[Roman theatre (structure)|Roman theatre]].

In June 2005, it was revealed that archaeologists from the [[University of Hamburg]] had been working along the coast of Libya when they uncovered a 30 [[Foot (length)|ft]] length of five colorful [[mosaic]]s created during the 1st or 2nd century. The mosaics show with exceptional clarity depictions of a warrior in combat with a deer, four young men wrestling a wild bull to the ground, and a gladiator resting in a state of fatigue and staring at his slain opponent.  The mosaics decorated the walls of a cold plunge pool in a ''balneae'' within a [[Roman villa]] at Wadi Lebda in Leptis Magna. The gladiator mosaic is noted by scholars as one of the finest examples of representational mosaic art ever seen—a "masterpiece comparable in quality with the [[Alexander Mosaic]] in [[Pompeii]]."  The mosaics were originally discovered in the year 2000 but were kept secret in order to avoid looting. They are currently on display in the [[Leptis Magna Museum]].{{sfn|''The Times'', 13 June 2005}}

There were reports that Leptis Magna was used as a cover for tanks and military vehicles by pro-Gaddafi forces during the [[Libyan Civil War (2011)|First Libyan Civil War]] in 2011.{{sfn|''The Times'', 14 June 2011}} When asked if the historic site could be targeted in an airstrike, [[NATO]] refused to rule out the possibility of such an action, saying that it had not been able to confirm the rebels' report that weapons were being hidden at the location.{{sfn|CNN, 14 June 2011}} Shortly after the war, Libyan archaeologist Hafed Walda reported that Leptis Magna, along with nearby Rasaimergib Fort and the western [[Tripolis (region of Africa)|Tripolis]] of [[Sabratha]], had "so far seen no visible loss" from either fighting on the ground or [[2011 military intervention in Libya|bombings conducted by international forces]].{{sfn|AP, 4 November 2011}}

In the midst of the [[Libyan Civil War (2014–present)|Second Libyan Civil War]] and the disappearance of governmental and international support for the site, people living in the area organized to voluntarily protect and maintain Leptis Magna.{{sfn|AFP, 23 December 2016}}{{sfn|Reuters, 28 November 2017}}