libya in antiquity ii

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Libya in Antiquity

The Buildings of Roman Lepcis

Magna© Richard Cawley 2004

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Part One:

The Growth of Lepcis Magna

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Questions

• What do you know

about Libya in

general?

• Arab Country in NorthAfrica

•  Near Sahara Desert

• Capital City: Tripoli• Colonel Qadhafi

• Former Italian colony

• What do you know

about Ancient Libya?

• Many wealthy cities

• Part of Carthaginian

territory

• Became a Roman

 province• Conquered by Arabs in

late seventh century

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Session Aim

• To offer an introduction to the

early history and major buildingsof Roman Lepcis

End 

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Session Objectives

By the end of this session, you should be able to… 

• Understand, in broad outline, some of the key

features of Lepcis’ early history • Recognise some of the factors behind the

city’s early rise to prominence 

• Identify the main buildings of early RomanLepcis Magna

End 

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Finding Lepcis

Lepcis

Magna

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Early Lepcis

• Largest city in Ancient Libya• Founded mid-seventh century BCE by settlers

from modern Lebanon

• Earliest surviving archaeological remainsfound under the Old Forum

•  Neapolis (‘New City’) on harbour island 

• Two main languages: the native Libyan andPunic (a Semitic language, closely related toHebrew and Arabic)

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Agriculture

Lepcis is ‘…equal to any country in the world for cereal

crops and is nothing like the rest of Libya. The soil here

is black and springs of water abound so that there is nofear of drought and heavy rains –  for it rains in that part

of Libya –  do no harm when they soak the ground. The

returns of the harvest come up to the Babylonian

measures…the Cinyps region yields three hundred fold’ (Herodotus, 4.198)

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Trade & the Economy

• Agriculture enhanced by irrigation

• Grain surplus

• Terminus of trans-Saharan trade route• Local source of timber

• The olive trade

Coin of D. Clodius Albinus (193-197),

showing the Punic deity Baal Ammon, with

an ear of corn and wild animal

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Early Roman Lepcis

• Became an ‘ally’ of Rome in 112BCE 

• Fought for Pompey in Civil War against Julius

Caesar

• Fined 3,000,000 litres of olive oil per year by

Caesar

• Absorbed into the province of Africa

Coin of Pertinax (193), displaying the

legend SAECVLO FRVGIFERO (‘The

Age of Plenty’).

Most of Rome’s corn came from North

Africa

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Question Time

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• Questions

• In which modern countryis Lepcis?

• During which century wasLepcis most probablyfounded?

• Name Lepcis’ twolanguages

• What was the city’s mostimportant source ofrevenue?

• Answers

• Libya

• The mid-seventh centuryBCE

• Libyan & Punic

• The olive

Do you know the answers?

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Part Two:

The Buildings of Roman Lepcis

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The Market of Annobal Tapapius

Rufus

• Built in 8BCE, byAnnobal TapapiusRufus

• Constructed in Tholos Style

• Situated in the citycentre, along the ViaTrionfale (TriumphalWay)

• Built in imitation of a

new marketplace inRome itself (the Macellum)

• Controlled by the citymagistrates –  the Sufes (‘Judge’) 

The Market of Annobal Tapapius

Rufus

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The Market Today

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Question Time

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Do you know the answers?

• Questions

• What was the name of the

 person responsible for

 building the market at

Lepcis?

• Upon which building was

the market modelled?

• Who controlled the market

at Lepcis?

• When was the market

constructed?

• Answers

• Annobal Tapapius Rufus

• The Macellum at Rome

• The Sufes (or ‘Judge’) 

• 8 BCE

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The Tapapii Theatre

• Largest amphitheatre in theregion

• Constructed in 1-2 CE

• Staged plays

• Meeting place for the citycouncil

• Gathering place for religiousfestivals

• Built by Annobal Tapapius

Rufus• Restored during 2nd Century

CE by one Rusonianus*

The Tapapii Theatre

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Question Time

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Do you know the answers?

• Questions

• What was sepcial about theamphitheatre at Lepcis?

• Who built the Theatre?• Apart from entertainment,

what purposes did theTheatre serve?

• Who restored it?

• When was it restored?

• Answers

• It was the largest in theregion

• Annobal Tapapius Rufus• A meeting place for the city

council and a centre forreligious festivals

• Rusonianus

• During the second centuryCE

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The Imperial Baths of Hadrian

• Built by order of the emperor Hadrian in 137CE

• Constructed on alluvial soil reclaimed from the sea

• Monumental in scale

• Modelled on newly-built Imperial Baths at Rome

Plan of Hadrian’s

Baths

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The Imperial Baths: Decorative Art

• Marble Statue pair

• Emperor Hadrian’s drowned

lover Antinoos

• Statue 1:

• Copy of Apollo of Delphi

• Statue 2:

• Diadumenos the Athlete• Idealised portraits of

youthful, male beauty

Statue Statue 2

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The Baths Today

Picture 1: the East

Tepidarium Chamber

Picture 2: the Frigidarium

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Assignment

• Take 3 minutes to complete

the short multiple-choiceexercise

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Concluding Remarks:

The Subsequent History of Lepcis• Strong native traditions combined with the high

culture of Imperial Rome

• In 197 CE, Septimius Severus, a native of Lepcis

 became undisputed ruler of the Roman world –  leading to an era of unrivalled power

• Septimius massively expanded the city

• However, subsequent economic decline led to the city being almost completely deserted by the coming of

the Arabs in the later seventh century

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Conclusion

• Session Aim 

• Session Objectives 

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© Richard Cawley 2004