By inclination, I am much more interested in modern history than in antiquity, yet each time I come to Leptis Magna, on the outskirts of Al Khoms in Libya, I am moved by the place. The setting alone, on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, gives the site a certain romance. Not only is it the largest Roman settlement in North Africa, it is also the best preserved. One can walk down paved streets, or sit in the vast communal public loo, or wander through the Hadrianic baths and really imagine what it was like when Leptis Magna was a thriving commercial and administrative centre. The fact that still today there are relatively few tourists means that is easy to go off down a side street and be completely on one’s own.
Though the settlement’s origins date back at least to the time of Phoenician dominance in the southern Mediterranean, it really came into its own during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, after Roman immigrants had moved in. It became a model for integrated town planning, as well as a showcase for ornate craftsmanship. It is clear that the upper classes, at least, lived extremely well there, especially from the time of Hadrian. Leptis also produced the one and only Libyan-born Roman Emperor — Lucius Septimius Severus, or the ‘Grim African’ — who was a brilliant military leader who inspired such devotion in his troops that they proclaimed him Emperor. He marched on Rome where he was able to vanquish resistance and was duly installed there in AD145. Even more magnificent public works were then carried out in his home town, including a basilica and a modern port, though Setimius Severus was not able to spend much time there once he assumed the highest office. He died in Eboracum (York) in AD211 after his last campaign in Caledonia (Scotland).
