Leptis or Lepcis Magna , also known by other names in antiquity , was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean .
90-401: Established as a Punic settlement prior to 500 BC, the city experienced significant expansion under Roman Emperor Septimius Severus ( r. 193–211 ), who was born in the city. The 3rd Augustan Legion was stationed here to defend the city against Berber incursions. After the legion's dissolution under Gordian III in 238, the city was increasingly open to raids in the later part of
180-510: A praetor . The existing power structures, infrastructure, and urbanized culture continued largely unchanged. In 216 BC, two Sardo-Punic notables from Cornus and Tharros, Hampsicora and Hanno, led a revolt against the Romans. Punic culture remained strong during the first centuries of the Roman domination, but over time the civic elites adopted Roman cultural practices and Latin became first
270-554: A century, the population of Carthage rose to 30,000, meanwhile, the "mother city" of Tyre , once the economic and political capital of Phoenicia, began to lose its status in the seventh century BC. Phoenicia was eventually conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire , by which point Carthage had become the wealthiest and most powerful of all the Phoenician colonies. Around this time, a distinct culture began to emerge from
360-452: A choice to adopt Punic nomenclature for Romanized institutions without the actual, traditionally balanced magistracy. In those cases, a third, non-annual position of tribal or communal chieftain marked an inflection point in the assimilation of external African groups into the Roman political fold. The Roman approximation of the term, sufes , appears in at least six works of Latin literature. Erroneous references to Carthaginian "kings" with
450-539: A clade with ancient Canary Island inhabitants thought to be representative of the original founding population. Surprisingly, no individuals with large amounts of Levantine ancestry were detected in this group of Tunisian Punics. One possible explanation is that the colonial expansion of Phoenician city-states at the start of the Iron Age did not involve large amounts of population mobility, and may have been based on trade relationships rather than occupation. According to
540-625: A craniometric analysis indicated likely Mediterranean / European ancestry as opposed to African or Asian. In 2016, it was revealed that the individual belonged to the rare U5b2c1, which is the earliest evidence of this European lineage in North Africa. Mitochondrial analysis of 10 Punic samples from the necropolis of Tharros in Sardinia (5th – 3rd century BC) shows affinities with North African and Iberian populations. A recent genetic study has linked haplogroups E-M81, E-FGC18960 and E-V65 to
630-466: A decline, and by the middle of the 4th century, even before it was completely devastated by the 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
720-617: 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
810-586: 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
900-403: A regional hierarchy of sufetes. For example, some epigraphic evidence from Punic-era Sardinia is dated with four names: the years' magistrates not only on the island, but also at home in North Africa. Further inscriptional evidence of sufetes found in the major settlements of Roman Sardinia indicates that the office, having endured there for three centuries under Carthaginian sovereignty,
990-413: A sacred college of fifteen members. 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 . 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 amphitheater
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#17327870929091080-495: Is attested by Tertullian in his Apologeticus , where he reports that Tiberius crucified the priests of "Saturn" on the same trees they consecrated to the god. Tertullian also mentions the goddess Juno Caelestis as a romanization of Tanit. Carthage was rebuilt about 46 BC by Julius Caesar , and settlements in the surrounding area were granted to soldiers who had retired from the Roman army. People of Punic origin prospered again as traders, merchants and even politicians of
1170-495: Is named Labdah ( لَبْدَة ). The Punic city was founded in the second half of the 7th century 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 BC. Like most Punic settlements, Leptis became part of the Carthaginian Empire and fell under Rome 's control with Carthage 's defeat in
1260-559: Is not shared by all scholars. In modern academic writing, the term Punic exclusively refers to Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean. Specific Punic groups are often referred to with hyphenated names, like Siculo-Punic or Sardo-Punic . (This practice has ancient roots: Hellenistic Greek authors sometimes referred to the Punic inhabitants of central northern Africa ( Libya ) as Liby-Phoenicians .) Like other Phoenician people, their urbanized culture and economy were strongly linked to
1350-482: Is only a corruption by one letter of the alphabet of what we would expect: What else should they reply except that they are " Chananei "? It has been argued by J.C. Quinn that this is a misreading, since although this term is "applied to Levantine people" in the Hebrew Bible, "there is no other evidence for self-identification as Canaanite, and so we might suspect him of learned optimism." However, this opinion
1440-529: Is still expected to exceed 2–3 m (7–10 ft) after 2000 years (and higher warming levels will see larger increases by then), consequently exceeding 2100 levels of sea level rise under RCP 8.5 (~0.75 m (2 ft) with a range of 0.5–1 m (2–3 ft)) well before the year 4000. Thus, it is a matter of time before the Leptis Magna ruins are threatened by rising water levels, unless they can be protected by adaptation efforts such as sea walls . Punic people The Punic people , usually known as
1530-550: Is the last ancient writer to indicate that the Punic language was widely spoken. The last remains of a distinct Punic culture probably disappeared somewhere in the chaos during the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The demographic and cultural characteristics of the region were thoroughly transformed by turbulent events such as the Vandals ' wars with Byzantines and the population movements that followed, as well as
1620-430: Is the scenario of high and continually increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the warming of over 4 °C., and is no longer considered very likely. The other, more plausible scenarios result in lower warming levels and consequently lower sea level rise: yet, sea levels would continue to increase for about 10,000 years under all of them. Even if the warming is limited to 1.5 °C, global sea level rise
1710-617: The 11th century BC , Phoenician merchants , sailors , and artisans begin to settle in western Sicily , having already started colonies on the nearby parts of North Africa . Within a century, they established major Phoenician settlements at Soloeis (Solunto), present day Palermo and Motya (an island near present-day Marsala ). Others included Drepana (Trapani) and Mazara del Vallo . As Carthage later grew in power, these settlements sometimes came into conflict with them, such as Motya, and Phoenician city-states in western Sicily were eventually fully integrated into Carthage by
1800-585: The 6th century BC . The Phoenicians integrated with the local Elymian population as shown in archaeology as a distinctive “West Phoenician cultural identity”. It is unclear when the Phoenicians began to seriously colonize North Africa. Writers in antiquity, such as Pliny the Elder , dated the beginning of the colonization efforts to the 12th and 11th centuries BC, as several legends describe interactions between Phoenician colonists and famous figures from
1890-861: The Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians ), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age . In modern scholarship, the term Punic , the Latin equivalent of the Greek-derived term Phoenician , is exclusively used to refer to Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean, following the line of the Greek East and Latin West . The largest Punic settlement
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#17327870929091980-552: The Hebrew Bible describing the sacrifice of children by burning to Baal and Moloch at a place called Tophet . The ancient descriptions were seemingly confirmed by the discovering of the so-called Tophet of Salammbô in Carthage in 1921, which contained the urns of cremated children. However, modern historians and archaeologists debate the reality and extent of this practice. Some scholars propose that all remains at
2070-583: The Levant . Literary sources report two moments of Tyrian settlements in the west, the first in the 12th century BC (the cities Utica , Lixus , and Gadir ) that hasn't been confirmed by archaeology, and a second at the end of the 9th century BC, documented in written references in both east and west, which culminated in the foundation of colonies in northwest Africa (the cities Auza, Carthage , and Kition ) and formed part of trading networks linked to Tyre , Arvad , Byblos , Berytus , Ekron , and Sidon in
2160-573: The Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century AD. After the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb , the geographer al-Bakri described a people who spoke a language which was not Berber , Latin, or Coptic , living in Sirte , where spoken Punic survived well past written use. Whether this refers to some remnant Punic population is uncertain; if it does, it represents the last known record of
2250-510: The Phoenician homeland. Although links with Phoenicia were retained throughout their history, they also developed close trading relations with other peoples of the western Mediterranean, such as Sicilians, Sardinians, Berbers , Greeks, and Iberians , and developed some cultural traits distinct from those of their Phoenician homeland. Some of these were shared by all western Phoenicians, while others were restricted to individual regions within
2340-483: The Punic Wars . Leptis remained highly independent for a period after about 111 BC. 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 inscriptions but images of Hercules and Dionysus . Soon Italian merchants settled in
2430-642: The Roman Empire . The emperor Septimius Severus had Punic ancestry. As Christianity spread in the Roman Empire, it was especially successful in northwest Africa , and Carthage became a Christian city even before Christianity was legal. Saint Augustine , born in Thagaste (modern-day Algeria ), considered himself Punic, and left some important reflections on Punic cultural history in his writing. One of his more well known passages reads: Augustine
2520-514: The Roman consuls , with the notable difference that Roman consuls were also commanders-in-chief of the Roman military, a power apparently denied to the sufetes . The term sufet was not, however, reserved for the heads of the Carthaginian state. Towards the end of their Western Mediterranean dominance, political coordination between local and colonial Carthaginians was likely expressed through
2610-505: The Semitic root (present in Arabic ) LFQ , meaning "to build" or "to piece together", presumably in reference to the construction of the city. This name was hellenized as Léptis ( Ancient Greek : Λέπτις ), also known as Léptis Megálē ( Λέπτις μεγάλη , "Greater Leptis") distinguishing it from the "Lesser Leptis" closer to Carthage in modern-day Tunisia . It was also known by
2700-458: The Trojan War , such as Aeneas . Archaeological evidence, on the other hand, generally implies that the colonies began in the 8th century BC as, barring a few exceptional sites, any material evidence of Phoenician habitation before this time period is lacking. The Phoenician colonial system was motivated by economic opportunity, not expansionist ideology, and as such, the Phoenicians lacked
2790-616: The prestige language , and later the speech of the majority of the inhabitants. The island of Ibiza derives its name from Phoenician : 𐤀𐤁𐤔𐤌 , ʾBŠM , "Dedicated to Bes ". (Latin Ebusus ). A city, the Sa Caleta Phoenician Settlement , which has been excavated, was established in the mid-seventh century. Diodorus dates this foundation to 654 BC and attributes it to the Carthaginians. From
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2880-434: The tophet were sacrificed, whereas others propose that only some were. Tunisia was among the areas settled during the first wave of Phoenician expansion into the west, with the foundation of Utica and Hippo Regius taking place around the end of the twelfth century. Further Phoenician settlements, were established in the following centuries, including Hippo Diarrhytus and Hadrumetum . The foundation of Carthage on
2970-480: The tophet , and by a marked degree of cosmopolitanism . Carthage gained direct control over the Cap Bon peninsula, operating a sandstone quarry at El Haouaria from the middle of the seventh city and establishing the city of Kerkouane in the early sixth century. The region was very fertile and allowed Carthage to be economically self-sufficient. The site of Kerkouane has been extensively excavated and provides
3060-571: The 16th century, but are obsolete and there is no proper noun in current use. "Punic" derives from the Latin poenus and punicus , which were used mostly to refer to the Carthaginians and other western Phoenicians. These terms derived from the Ancient Greek word Φοῖνιξ ( "Phoinix" ), plural form Φοίνικες ( "Phoinikes" ), which was used indiscriminately to refer to both western and eastern Phoenicians. Latin later borrowed
3150-469: The 3rd century. Diocletian reinstated the city as provincial capital, and it grew again in prosperity until it fell to the Vandals in 439. It was reincorporated into the Eastern Empire in 533 but continued to be plagued by Berber raids and never recovered its former importance. It fell to the Muslim invasion in c. 647 and was subsequently abandoned. After being abandoned, the city
3240-662: The 5th century BC, Hanno the Navigator played a significant role in exploring coastal areas of present-day Morocco and other parts of the African coast, specifically noting details of indigenous peoples, such as at Essaouira . Carthaginians pushed westerly into the Atlantic and established important settlements in Lixus , Volubilis , Chellah , and Mogador, among other locations. Being trade rivals with Magna Graecia ,
3330-669: The 6th century, the city was fully Christianized. 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 . Numerous new churches were built in the 6th century, but the city continued to decline, and by the time of the Arab conquest around 647 the city
3420-428: The 8th century BC, Phoenicians founded several cities and strongholds on strategic points in the south and west of Sardinia , often peninsulas or islands near estuaries, easy to defend and natural harbours, such as Tharros , Bithia , Sulci , Nora and Caralis ( Cagliari ). The north, the eastern coast and the interior of the island continued to be dominated by the indigenous Nuragic civilization , whose relations with
3510-651: The Carthaginians had several clashes with the Greeks over the island of Sicily in the Sicilian Wars from 600 to 265 BC. The Carthaginians eventually also fought Rome in three Punic Wars between 265 and 146 BC but they were defeated in each one. In the First Punic War , they lost control of Sicily. In the Second Punic War , an invasion of Italy by Hannibal was unsuccessful in forcing
3600-647: The Greek term a second time as "Phoenix" , plural form "Phoenices" , also used indiscriminately. Numismatic evidence from Sicily shows that some western Phoenicians made use of the term "Phoinix", but it is not clear what term (if any) they used for themselves; they may have called themselves 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍𐤌 ( knʿnm , " Canaanites "). A passage from Augustine has often been interpreted as indicating that they called themselves Canaanites ( Chanani in Latin ), Augustine writes: When our rural peasants are asked what they are , they reply, in Punic, " Chanani ", which
3690-492: The Greeks as Neápolis ( Νεάπολις , "New Town"). The latinization of these names was Lepcis or Leptis Magna ("Greater Leptis"), which also appeared as the "Leptimagnese City" ( Latin : Leptimagnensis Civitas ). The Latin demonym was "Leptitan" ( Leptitanus ). It was also known as Ulpia Traiana as a Roman colony, after Emperor Trajan of the Ulpia gens . Its Italian name is Lepti Maggiore , and in Arabic it
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3780-464: The Leptan envoys to be punished "for bringing false accusations". 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
3870-600: The Mediterranean and beyond, to Atlantic Iberia, the British Isles , the Canaries . Technical achievements of the Punic people of Carthage include the development of uncolored glass and the use of limestone from lakeside deposits to improve the purity of smelted iron . The Punic religion was a direct continuation of the Phoenician variety of the polytheistic ancient Canaanite religion . At Carthage,
3960-595: The Punic population of Ibiza was primarily male dominated. According to Olalde et al. (2018): According to Fernandes et al. (2020): According to Marcus et al. (2020): Two other studies published in 2021 in the journal Annals of Human Biology also show a strong genetic proximity with the populations of North Africa of several individuals from Sardinia and Italy. According to Sarno, Cillion, de Fanti, et al. (2021): Accorging to de Angelis, Veltre, Romboni, et al. (2021): In 2022, 30 ancient individuals from Carthaginian and Etruscan port cities around
4050-455: The Punic sphere. The western Phoenicians were arranged into a multitude of self-governing city-states. Carthage had grown to be the largest and most powerful of these city-states by the 5th century BC and gained increasingly close control over Punic Sicily and Sardinia in the 4th century BC, but communities in Iberia remained outside their control until the second half of the 3rd century BC. In
4140-491: The Romans as Sardus Pater and apparently an indigenous deity) received worship as the son of Melqart and was particularly associated with the island. The Carthaginians appear to have had both part-time and full-time priests, the latter called khnm (singular khn , cognate with the Hebrew term kohen ), led by high priests called rb khnm , as well as lower-ranking religious officials, called "servants" or "slaves" of
4230-626: The Romans to surrender and the Carthaginians were subsequently defeated by Scipio Africanus in Spain and at the Battle of Zama in northern Africa in 202 BC, marking the end of Carthage's position as a major Mediterranean power. Finally, in the Third Punic War , Carthage was destroyed in 146 BC. Victory in the Punic Wars enabled Roman settlement of Africa and eventual domination of
4320-504: The Sardo-Punic cities were mixed, including both trade and military conflict. Intermarriage and cultural mixing took place on a large scale. The inhabitants of the Sardo-Punic cities were a mixture of Phoenician and Nuragic stock, with the latter forming the majority of the population. Sardinia had a special position because it was central in the western Mediterranean between Carthage, Spain, the river Rhône , and Etruria . Iglesiente
4410-634: The addition of Steppe-related ancestry . A second cluster contains seven individuals who are genetically similar to Bronze Age Sicilian and central Italian populations, as well as some individuals from the Hellenistic Iberian Greek colony of Empúries . A last individual, who projects near modern Mozabite and Moroccan populations in PCA space can be modelled with a combination Morocco Early Neolithic and Anatolia Neolithic ancestry. When compared to other ancient individuals, this individual forms
4500-484: The admixture of local customs with Phoenician traditions, which also gave rise to a nascent sense of national identity. Tyre's status and power continued to diminish under Neo-Assyrian, and subsequently Neo-Babylonian , vassalage, and by the sixth century BC, its voluntary submission to the Achaemenid Empire had severely circumscribed what little power it retained. Its status as the pre-eminent Phoenician city
4590-442: The authors: Suphetes In several ancient Semitic-speaking cultures and associated historical regions, the shopheṭ or shofeṭ (plural shophetim or shofetim ; Hebrew : שׁוֹפֵט , romanized : šōp̄ēṭ , Phoenician : 𐤔𐤐𐤈 , romanized: šōfēṭ , Punic : 𐤔𐤐𐤈 , romanized: šūfeṭ , the last loaned into Latin as sūfes ; see also Ugaritic : 𐎘𐎔𐎉 , romanized: ṯāpiṭ )
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#17327870929094680-517: The best-known example of a Punic city from North Africa. Punic control also extended inland over the Libyans . Punic influence on inland regions is seen from the early 6th century, notably at Althiburos , where Punic construction techniques and red-slip pottery appear at the time. Armed conflicts with the Libyans are first attested in the early 5th century, with several revolts attested in
4770-547: The buildings and wealth he lavished on it made Leptis Magna the third-most important city in Africa, rivaling Carthage and Alexandria . In AD 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 and the rebuilding of the docks. The natural harbor had a tendency to silt up, but the Severan changes made this worse, and
4860-766: The central Mediterranean, in Tunisia, Sardinia, and central Italy were sequenced. In Tunisia a highly heterogeneous population was observed in Kerkouane , spanning from modern Mozabite populations to modern Sicilian populations, consisting of three primary genetic clusters. One of the genetic groups includes four individuals who have genetic continuity with preceding Maghrebi neolithic farmers, suggesting that these individuals represent an autochthonous North African population. One individual can be modeled with 100% Morocco Late Neolithic farmer ancestry, while three individuals can be modeled predominantly with this component, along with
4950-711: The chief gods were Baal Hammon (purportedly "Lord of the Brazier ") and his consort Tanit , but other deities are attested, such as Eshmun , Melqart , Ashtart , Reshef , Sakon, and Shamash . The Carthaginians also adopted the Greek goddesses Demeter and Kore in 396 BC, as well as the Egyptian deities Bes , Bastet , Isis , Osiris , and Ra . Different Punic centres had their own distinct pantheons; in Punic Sardinia, for example, Sid or Sid Babi (known to
5040-521: The citizens" to do so. By the time of the Punic Wars , the government of Ancient Carthage was headed by a pair of annually elected sufetes . Livy 's account of the Punic Wars affords a list of the procedural responsibilities of the Carthaginian sufet , including the convocation and presidency of the senate, the submission of business to the People's Assembly, and service as trial judges. Their number, term, and powers are therefore similar to those of
5130-433: The city and started a profitable commerce with the Libyan interior. The city depended primarily on the fertility of its surrounding farmland, where many olive-presses have been excavated. By 46 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. Kenneth D. Matthews Jr. writes: During the reign of Augustus , Leptis Magna
5220-405: 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. By
5310-522: 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 523 when a group of Berber raiders sacked the city. Belisarius , general of Emperor Justinian I , recaptured Leptis Magna in the name of the Roman Empire ten years later, and in 533–4 it was re-incorporated into the empire. Leptis became
5400-408: The continuity of Punic inhabitance in Sardinia, the sufet' s prevalence in interior regions of Roman Africa, which were previously unsettled by Carthage, suggests that settlers and Punic refugees endeared themselves to Roman authorities by adopting a readily intelligible government. Three sufetes serving simultaneously appear in first century CE records at Althiburos, Mactar, and Thugga, reflecting
5490-496: The course of the Punic wars (264–146 BC), the Romans challenged Carthaginian hegemony in the western Mediterranean, culminating in the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, but the Punic language and Punic culture endured under Roman rule, surviving in some places until late antiquity . The English adjective "Punic" is used in modern academic writing to refer to the western Phoenicians. The proper nouns "Punics" and "Punes" were used in
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#17327870929095580-509: The diffusion of the Phoenician language in the Western Mediterranean. According to Penninx (2019): Recent genetics studies based on Ancient DNA showed that Punic people from Sardinia, Ibiza, South Iberia and Italy had strong genetic relationships to ancient north African and eastern Mediterranean sources. Zalloua, P., Collins, C.J., Gosling, A. et al. in 2018 showed that Eastern Mediterranean and North African influence in
5670-513: 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 gladiatorial arena, gold dust, carbuncle , precious woods like ebony , and ostrich feathers. Leptis overextended itself during this period. During the Crisis of the 3rd Century , when trade declined precipitously, Leptis Magna's importance also fell into
5760-406: The entire Mediterranean Sea. The destruction of Carthage did not mean the end of the Punic people. After the wars, the city of Carthage was completely razed and the land around it was turned into farmland for Roman citizens. There were, however, other Punic cities in northwest Africa, and Carthage itself was rebuilt and regained some importance, if a shadow of its ancient influence. Although the area
5850-495: The fourth century (398, 370s, 310-307 BC). In the late 4th century, Aristotle reports that the Carthaginians dealt with local discontent by resettling poor citizens in cities in Libya. These settlements had to provide tribute and military manpower when required, but remained self-governing. There is some onomastic evidence for intermarriage between Punic people and Libyans in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. From
5940-531: The numbers or even the desire to establish an "empire" overseas. The colonies were therefore independent city-states, though most were relatively small, probably having a population of less than 1,000. Some colonies, such as Carthage , were able to grow much larger. Effectively establishing a monopoly on the continent's natural resources, the colonies' wealth exploded, which was compounded by an influx of Phoenician traders fleeing from increasing tributary obligations to foreign powers and trade interference. Within
6030-513: The people's existence. In 1994, a Punic burial crypt was discovered on Byrsa Hill, near the entry to the National Museum of Carthage in Tunisia. Inside this crypt were the remains of a young man along with a range of burial goods, all dating to the late 6th century BCE. An osteological analysis of the young man from Byrsa, or Ariche, as he has become known, determined that he was approximately 1.7 m tall and aged between 19 and 24 years, and
6120-536: The rebels' report that weapons were being hidden at the location. Shortly after the war, Libyan archaeologist Hafed Walda reported that Leptis Magna, along with nearby Rasaimergib Fort and the western Tripolis of Sabratha , had "so far seen no visible loss" from either fighting on the ground or bombings conducted by international forces . In the midst of the Second Libyan Civil War and the disappearance of governmental and international support for
6210-525: The same way as a Roman consul. For example, both offices served a one-year term in pairs of two. The officeholder's role as a diplomatic executive, representative of a collective citizenry, is evidenced by an inscription written by the šūfeṭ Diomitus at Sidon in the late third century BC. He boasts of his chariot race victory at the Nemean Games in Greece, perpetuating political favor as "the first of
6300-413: The sanctuary (male: ˤbd , female: ˤbdt or mt ), and functionaries like cooks, butchers, singers, and barbers. Sanctuaries had associations, referred to as mrzḥ in Punic and Neo-Punic inscriptions, who held ritual banquets. Some Phoenician communities practiced sacred prostitution ; in the Punic sphere this is archeologically attested at Sicca Veneria ( El Kef ) in western Tunisia and
6390-528: The sanctuary of Venus Erycina at Eryx in western Sicily. Punic sacred prostitution is mentioned by Latin author Valerius Maximus , who describes how Carthaginian women gained gifts by engaging in prostitution with visitors at Sicca Veneria. Various Greek and Roman sources describe and criticize the Carthaginian practice of sacrificing children by burning. Many ancient Greek and Latin authors describe some version of child sacrifice to "Cronos" (Baal Hammon). These descriptions were compared to those found in
6480-471: The sea. They settled over Northwest Africa in what is now Algeria , Morocco, Tunisia and Libya and established some colonies in Southern Iberia, Sardinia, Sicily, Ebusus , Malta and other small islands of the western Mediterranean. In Sardinia and Sicily, they had strong economic and political ties to the independent natives in the hinterland. Their naval presence and trade extended throughout
6570-557: The shofṭim were chieftains who united various Israelite tribes in time of mutual danger to defeat foreign enemies. In the various independent Phoenician city-states—on the coasts of present-day Lebanon and western Syria , the Punic colonies on the Mediterranean Sea , and in Carthage itself—the šūfeṭ, called in Latin a sūfes , was a non-royal magistrate granted control over a city-state, sometimes functioning much in
6660-421: The site of modern Tunis is dated to the late 9th century BC by Greek literary sources and archaeological evidence. The literary sources attribute the foundation to a group of Tyrian refugees led by Dido and accompanied by Cypriots . Archaeologically, the new foundation is characterised by the focus of religious cult on the gods Tanit and Baal Hammon , by the development of a new religious structure,
6750-511: The site, people living in the area organized to voluntarily protect and maintain Leptis Magna. Since they are located on the coast, Leptis Magna ruins are vulnerable to sea level rise . In 2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report included them in the list of African cultural sites which would be threatened by flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the century, but only if climate change followed RCP 8.5 , which
6840-482: The south shore of Virginia Water and Blacknest Road close to the junction with the A30 London Road and Wentworth Drive . 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. A 4th to 3rd century BC necropolis
6930-561: The word sufet to refer to Roman-style local magistrates serving in Africa Proconsularis , although a sufet appears as far-flung as Volubilis in modern-day Morocco . The institution is attested in more than forty post-Carthaginian cities, ranging from the Third Punic War to the second century CE reign of Commodus . Settlements governed by sufetes included Althiburos , Calama , Capsa , Cirta , Gadiaufala , Gales, Limisa , Mactar , Thugga , and Volubilis. Unlike
7020-596: The year 2000 but were kept secret in order to avoid looting. They are currently on display in the Leptis Magna Museum . There were reports that Leptis Magna was used as a cover for tanks and military vehicles by pro-Gaddafi forces during the First Libyan Civil War in 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
7110-607: Was Ancient Carthage , but there were 300 other settlements along the North African coast from Leptis Magna in modern Libya to Mogador in southern Morocco , as well as western Sicily , southern Sardinia , the southern and eastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula , Malta , and Ibiza . Their language, Punic , was a variety of Phoenician , one of the Northwest Semitic languages originating in
7200-466: Was a community leader of significant civic stature, often functioning as a chief magistrate with authority roughly equivalent to Roman consular powers. In Hebrew and several other Semitic languages , shopheṭ literally means "Judge", from the Semitic root Š-P-Ṭ , "to pass judgment". Cognate titles exist in other Semitic cultures, notably Phoenicia . In the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible ,
7290-474: Was an important mining area for the metals lead and zinc . The island came under Carthaginian dominance around 510 BC, after that a first attempt at conquest in 540 BC that ended in failure. They expanded their influence to the western and southern coast from Bosa to Caralis, consolidating the existing Phoenician settlements, administered by plenipotentiaries called Suffetes , and founding new ones such as Olbia , Cornus , and Neapolis ; Tharros
7380-405: Was classified as a 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
7470-425: Was constructed. The settlement was elevated to municipium in AD 64 or 65 and to colonia under Trajan ( r. 98–117 ). The first known bishop of Leptis Magna was a certain priest called Victor who became pope in 189. Leptis achieved its greatest prominence beginning in AD 193, as the hometown of emperor Septimius Severus . Septimius favored his hometown above all other provincial cities, and
7560-469: Was found under the 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 ft length of five colorful mosaics 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
7650-697: 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. Today, the site of Leptis Magna is the site of some of the most impressive ruins of the Roman period. Part of an ancient temple was brought from Leptis Magna to the British Museum in 1816 and installed at the Fort Belvedere royal residence in England in 1826. It now lies in part of Windsor Great Park . The ruins are located between
7740-486: Was partially romanized and some of the population adopted the Roman religion , while fusing it with aspects of their beliefs and customs, the language and the ethnicity persisted for some time. The cult to Baal Hammon, and the consequent sacrifice of children, though banned by Rome, continued openly under the guise of worshipping Saturn until at least the proconsulate of Tiberius Iulius Secundus in Africa (131–132). This
7830-418: Was probably the main centre. Carthage encouraged the cultivation of grain and cereals and prohibited fruit trees . Tharros, Nora, Bithia, Monte Sirai etc. are now important archaeological sites where Punic architecture and city planning can be studied. In 238 BC, following the First Punic War the Romans took over the whole island, incorporating it into the province of Corsica et Sardinia , under
7920-479: Was remarkably preserved as it lay buried beneath layers of sand dunes. In the 1920s, the city was unearthed by Italian archaeologists during Italy's occupation of Libya . Its ruins are within present-day Khoms , Libya , 130 km (81 mi) east of Tripoli . They are among the best-preserved Roman sites in the Mediterranean. The Punic name of the settlement was written LPQ ( Punic : 𐤋𐤐𐤒 ) or LPQY ( 𐤋𐤐𐤒𐤉 ). This has been tentatively connected to
8010-401: Was then usurped by its rival city-state, Sidon – but Sidon too was under Persian subjugation, leading the way for Carthage to fill the power vacuum as the leading Phoenician political power. With Phoenicia's decline, Carthage had become effectively independent from Tyre by 650 BC. Carthaginians carried out significant sea explorations around Africa and elsewhere from their base in Carthage. In
8100-462: Was utilized by the descendants of Punic settlers to refuse both cultural and political assimilation with their mainland Italian conquerors. Punic-style magistracies appear epigraphically unattested only by the end of the first century BCE, although two sufetes wielded power in Bithia as late as the mid-second century CE. Official state terminology of the late Republic and Roman Empire repurposed
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