URBAN AND RURAL LANDSCAPE
In the summer of 1920 the excavations of Lepcis Magna started under
the direction of Pietro Romanelli, Renato Bartoccini, Giacomo Guidi and
Giacomo Caputo, who ran the Government Office for Monuments of Libya during
the Italian occupation. They brought to the light the ruins of a marvellous
town, which had been buried for centuries and, for certain aspects, had
been protected under thousands of cubic metres of sand and alluvial deposits
1. The excavations and explorations were carried on
also in the post war period both under the patronage of Italian archaeological
missions and by English and French experts. Today much of the habitat and
the monumental centre are still to be studied thus awakening the scientific
interest of many archaeological missions that are carrying out excavations
and surveys in the Libyan town (the latest excavations, co-ordinated by
professor Luisa Musso ot the Terza Università of Rome dates back
to April and May 1996) 2.
The most ancient findings date back to the end of the 6th century BC.,
even though tradition attributes the foundation of the town to Tyro or
Sidone, during the Phoenician colonisation, at the beginning of the first
millennium, thanks to its strategic position near the sea and to its big
natural harbour. Lepcis Magna owes its name 3 to the
Latin transcription of the Punic toponym Lbqy o Lpqy, which also referred
to a town, situated in the present Tunisia (the town of Lamta), that was
distinguished by the adjective Minor. Owing tribute to Carthage, with the
defeat of the latter during the Punic wars (146 BC.), it was annexed to
the Reign of Numidia under the rule of Micipsa, Massinissa's son. During
the long fight between the Roman Senate and Giucurta, Lepcis backed Quinto
Metello (108 BC), this becoming socia et amica of Rome. It underwent a
considerable urban development under Augustus, and Traiano gave it the
title of colony. Also very beautiful are the monuments built under Adrian
.
However, Lepcis (in 193 ac.) obtained the ius italicum by one of its most
famous sons, Settimio Severo. It was under the Severi that the town reached
its maximum splendour. Just think of the columned way which ran along the
Forum with a central lane of more than 20 metres width, that served for
the chariots circulation and that had two lateral porticoed lanes opened
to the central way. Think also of the Forum Novum , with its famous Basilica,
and the temple dedicated to the Gens Septimia, or the exceptional tetra
pylon , the big harbour and the circus, which show the Severi influence
and which would require a much deeper attention. It has been said that,
thanks to these actions, Lepcis Magna obtained a particular aspect, which
definitively distinguishes it from the other African towns and brings it
closer to the big metropolis of the Hellenistic and Roman East. However,
the aim of the author is to describe the frail traces of Christian building
during the short period of the Byzantine occupation. As it is well known,
after the serious crisis of the 4th century, that ended with the Austurian
invasion, Lepcis underwent Berber and Vandal invasions 4
(455 AC ca),and, during the first half of the 6th century had a
new period of splendour under the Byzantine occupation during the Justinian
revival. We must remember though that the town, that had been re conquered
by the descendants of the Roman Empire, was largely abandoned and covered
by the desert 5.For this reason the perimeter of the
walls, built during the 3rd century 6 was strongly
reduced by the Justinian militia and it encircled just one third of its
original extension 7, including the area of the Ancient
Forum, the Forum and the Ninfeo of the Severi, the Harbour . The only section
of walls, that was reused by the Byzantines, seems to be the one which
faced the sea 8. In other parts the walls were entirely
rebuilt, except for the structures of circle of the Forum Severiano and
those of some other buildings that were included in the new perimeter.
During the Byzantine occupation some big constructions were used as redoubts:
they had been saved from the Vandal invasion and were outside the area
encircled by the new walls: this is demonstrated by the excavations carried
out by Caputo in the area of the Theatre and some walls of the Market.
The Byzantine defences are characterised by the technique of the construction,
that is much more accurate in the execution than the one used for the walls
of Gallieno; even though it reused some blocks of the nearby monuments,
the selection was very accurate. These walls are much more stable, they
are made of well cut stones, linked by a very strong mortar, composed of
grinded shells. To the South of the Forum, an incredibly interesting portal
opened . It is one of the most important monuments of Lepcis Magna, explored
by Bartoccini in 1925 9. It is built with recovered
stone walls, on the two sides of the opening there are two rectangular
towers, made accessible from the internal part of the town through two
arched ways . A stone stairway, built up against the wall, opened the way
to the higher passages. The portal we have just described is similar to
those of Madaura and Theveste, both built in the same period, but also
to the doors of Fortilizi in Africa, such as Tobna and Timgad 10.
Soon after the concquest of the African provinces, Justinian gave the control
of Tripolitania to Sergio, naming him Dux; Sergio decided to live in Lepcis
11. The place chosen for the quartering of the troops
was probably the Forum Novum. Infact, some interventions near the temple
of the Gens Septimia - the building of new entrances and the closing of
some structures - show a reorganization of this place . Moreover, the lateral
tabernae, between the Forum and the columned way, are built over 60-80
cm of debris 12 formed by the ruins of some walls
of the Forum itself, that was abandoned after the vandalic invasion.
Christianity must be arrived in Tripolitania passing through Cirenaica
where powerful Jewish communities were present 13.
The first Bishop we know is Archaeus, who spread the Gospel in the town
of Lepcis Magna at the end of the II century 14.
His name probably belongs to a stranger. In the Council of Garthage of
year 411, in which the great Donatist schism found its bases, participated
also the Bishop of Lepcis, who, together with the Bishop of Oea (today's
Tripoli), proclaimed himself in favour of the separation from the Catholic
liturgy, unlike their colleague of Sabratha 15. Donatism,
although condemned by imperial proscriptions and by numerous Fathers of
the Church, among them also Augustine, went on spreading also after Donat's
death (355) , and, after violent fights, it was at last tolerated. We must
remember the groups of North African day labourers, known as Circoncellioni.
Their name, within the Donatist movement, was in reality Agonistics (milites
Christi); they represented the armed branch of the schismatic movement.
They were oppressed peasants, who claimed better economic conditions and
tax allowances from the established power 16. Most
of them were exterminated by Constant during his African Campaign in 347-359.
The Donatist Church continued to spread in some North African regions until
the Islamic invasion, and Donatist communities were found in Numidia up
to year 722 17.
The most representative monument of Christian building in Lepcis Magna
is, in our opinion, the church that Emperor Justinian built in the central
part of the Severi Basilica 18, dedicating it to Thetokos
. This news was reported by Procopius in his book De Aedeficiis
19. Originally, it was a building with a nave 20
and two aisles, with galleries over the aisles and an apse in the
centre of each short side of the nave 20. In each
corner of the Basilica were little rectangular rooms, from which, through
a stairway, the overhanging galleries could be reached; these rooms communicated
through narrow passage obtained between the apse and the external wall.
The building should have been almost intact at the moment of its conversion
into a church, and no important structural modifications were carried out.
Only one of the two apses, the southern one , was reused, while the northern
apse, in disuse, was despoiled of its marble panelling 21.
In fact, the decorative display of the original Basilica had to be gorgeous;
we may still find the pillars engraved by artists coming from Aphrodisia
of Caria .
The southern apse, utilised as a presbyteral area, raised on the pavement
of the Basilica of about 80 cm., was projected within the nave, through
a platform of the same height. Inside there is a presbyteral enclosure,
composed of six pedestals, recovered from the northern apse and between
them, on both sides of a central opening, four engraved little pillars
were settled, they probably had come from the Severi tetra pylon, that,
located outside the Byzantine town, had to be almost entirely covered with
sand and completely abandoned. The central opening of the presbyteral enclosure
was composed of a marble lintel, supported by two cipolin supports, and
led directly to the nave and the pulpit.
The altar is not conserved, but it must have been in the centre of the
presbyteral area where there is a marble slab well inserted in the centre
of the pavement. The niches obtained in the apse were readapted, through
the use of steps, in seats where the officiating clergy found place. Immediately
in front of the presbyteral platform, there is the pulpit, a structure
composed entirely of recovered marble blocks . Two stairways led to the
level, where the priest talked to the believers, composed of two angular
capitals despoiled from the Severi arch, supported by little marble columns.
It is difficult to tell what transformations have undergone the angular
"chapels", because the explorations have completely removed all
the debris deposited inside the monument. We know, through the exploration
notes, that 80 to 130 cm. of debris had accumulated, as it is also shown
by the baptismal basin located in the north west room. It is a typical
cruciform font of the VI century, conceived for an immersion rite.
In the Forum Vetus there is a second church, with annexed Baptistery, brought
to the light in the years 1925-26 by the explorations of Bartoccini 22.
It was built exploiting the podium of a temple dating to the end of the
I century a.C., wrongly attributed by the Italian archaeologist to the
worship of the Magna Mater. No element of the elevation of the ancient
pagan temple is still standing.
The christian building, of rectangular shape, has a typical basilical plant,
with a nave and two aisles, separated by longitudinal arches, with only
one apse, internally circular, externally linear with north-east orientation
. In the opposite side of the presbyteral area there is a narthex, while
on the left side of the central body a room opens with back stairs which
had to reach the superior level. There were five doors through which one
could get into the building, two of them were at the sides of the apse
and one on each remaining side. Entirely built with reutilized blocks,
the structure was well conceived in its external curtain, while the internal
walls, which had to be plastered and probably frescoed, look less accurate.
The nave is divided into five spans. The central one is larger than the
others and may have been covered with barrel vaults, supported by transversal
ribs, which rested on colomns arranged in pairs. These, obtained by blocks
of Corsican grey granite, lay on bases of dark grey marble, as the Corinthian
capitals which complete them. It is very interesting the likeness of these
elements with those employed in the Constantinian restoration of the Basilica
Vetus, from which they may have been recovered.
The presbyteral area was, also in this case, higher than the pavement and
located on a platform, accessible through steps and closed by the apse.
In the centre of this platform the four bases of a canopic jar remain to
witness the presence of the altar. A throne must have been in the centre
of the apse, where a trace of a stone support still remains.
The narthex, built over a preceeding street, which had to serve the temple
on which the christian building is located and the "Sacristy"
were added to the main body of the church in a secon time, although it
is not possible to give a precise date 23. Both buildings
are vaulted and built with the same recovery material of the church.
The Baptistery is 30 metres far from the apse, at the centre of the paved
area of the Old Forum. It is an open enclosure with a crucificial font
in the centre, also conceived for immersion .The building is dated back
to the VI century, both for the typical shape of its font , and for its
caracteristic mortar, composed of grinded shells, that fastens the side
walls of the structure and shows evidence of the Justinian interventions.
It is not easy to give the church a chronological setting. Goodchild and
Ward Perkins 24 propose to date it back to the first
half of the V century, according to the presence of graves, in the area
around the entrance door of the left aisle. These graves, that have never
been studied, are, according to the two English experts, pre-Byzantine,
as they consider the presence of graves in builtup areas in the first years
of the Justinian reoccupation very unlikely.
Also the building techniques, so different from that of the opposite Baptistery,
makes us lean to date the building back to the period of the vandalic invasion.
A third church can be found near the Severi colonnade. The explorations
started under the direction of Caputo, but were interrupted by the war.
The site is now almost totally buried because of a great fload occurred
in the year 1945.
It is a set composed of three groups of connected structures . A small
Basilica with nave and two aisles and a sole apse at the centre of the
nave, bordered by two side chapels. On the north east side a series of
rooms are located, among these, there is the Baptistery, while in the south
west side, there is a wide yard which was used as graveyard. The entire
building is composed of re-employed sandstone blocks and in part it embodies
pre'existent structures. The nave and aisles were separated by columns,
completed by re-employed Ionic capitals, which had to support the longitudinal
arches.
It remains a pulpit, similar to that of the Severi Basilica, and ome traces
of ornaments in the inside of the church, such as a tile in the north-west
wall, with a red cross painted on white field, bordered by an alpha and
an omega, at the end of the two atms. At the east angle of the left aisle
there is a door that leads to the square Baptistery. In the centre of the
room there is a cruciform font, with a central basin for immersion, which
can be reached through steps on the four sides. Other rooms open on the
same side of the aisles, but are yet to be completely explored. Thanks
to these elements it is possible to date the church back to the VI century.
It is probably one of the four churches which were built by Justinian in
Lepcis 25.
Another Christian building, probably a Baptistery, has been located
near the Severi harbour, in front of the steps of the temple of Jupiter
Dolicheno . Mostly buried by the fload of the year 1945, it is not possible
today to admire it. Anyway it was a very simple structure, with an irregular
plant which ended with a rectangular exedra on the opposite side of the
entrance, reached by a series of steps.
As far as Christian evidences in Lepcis are concerned, we must speak of
some engraved blocks, found by Bartoccini in 1923 26,
during a superficial cleaning of the area around the east pier of the harbour,
near the small Severi temple, that was probably transformed into a church.
Another Christian building was located near the Chalcidicon, in the insula
n.8 of the III Region. It is a room which faces the street, whose interior
has not yet been explored; the entrance, free of ruins, is bordered by
two cipolin columns, on which crosses and birds of clear christian symbology
are engraved.
Arab sources about the concquest of Tripolitania, started in 643 (22AH)
and lead by 'Amr Ibn al 'As, do not mention Lepcis Magna 27.
The town had probably already gone to ruin because of the assaultsof the
Lawatans, who wanted to revenge the slaughter accomplished by Dux Sergius
in 544 28.
El Bekri, who lived between 1028 and 1094, in a description of North Africa,
informs us that the town was little more than a castle, where about one
thousand arab knights lodged 29.
Al Idrisi, who wrotein the XII century, tells, on the contrary, that the
decay and the end of Lepcis Magna was due to the Arabs. He also writes
"There are only two castles that are woth noting, where the Berbers
of the Houwara tribe established their residence. Apart from these castles,
it is possible to see, in Labda, a great and densely populated fort, on
the seashore. There are also other buildings and a market is frequently
held there" 30.
El Abdani, in the XIII century, says that the town had gone to ruin. In
its surroundings lived some Arab tribes, in the gsur (castles) of Ras el
Hamman, built by Emir Sulaym, between 1080 and 1099, on the ruins of a
roman building (probably a defensive outpost), and Merkeb 31,
located on the coast a few kilometres from Lepcis.
Archaeological evidence confirms the historical datum. In fact evidence
of Arab presence, within the town, is very modest. Some structures of this
period were identified by Professor Caputo before the war, in the Severi
Square.
Other sporadic recoveries have been carried out near the Byzantine Door
and near the Flavio Temple. This area, for its position between the Forum
Vetus and the harbour had to remain, somehow, in function. The explorations
of the Archaeological mission of the University of Perugia, carried out
by Enrica Fiandra, between 1964 and 1968, in the area of the Flavio temple,
that was excluded from the Justinian restoration, explored layers subsequent
to the IV century 32, of which on of the most superficial
can be dated IX century. In fact in its interior a coin of the Aghlabita
dinasty (800 909 a.c.) and pottery of probable Islamic production, still
to be completely studied, have been found.
The sand and the floods of the Wadi Lebda with the passing of time covered
the ancient, marvelous town. Its marbles were carried to the palaces of
the new powerful western monarches, in London and Versailles of the XVII
century.
1 R.G. Goodchild, in Archaelogici I, 1946 (1948),
2072.
2 The participants have benn: the author, archaeologists Fabrizio Felici,
Sergio Fontana, Massimiliano Munzi, Massimo Pentirci, antropologist Licia
Usai and architect Niccolo' Masturzo.
3 On the local iscriptions the name Lepcis was used. However it was pronounced
Lepchis and it was then transformed in Leptis in the Greek and Latin literary
texts.
4 Ch. Courtis, Les Vandales et l'Afrique, Paris 1955
5 Procopio di Cesarea, Aedeficiis, VI,4, 1-5
6 Procopio affirms that the "town, that was once very big and with
a very high population, became mainly desert".
7 Eugenio Manni, L'Impero di Gallieno, Roma, 1949, p.58. The author
attributes the fortifications of the 3rd century to the intervention of
Emperor Gallieno, also because of the reading of an inscription contained
in a block of stonediscovered by Aurigemma in 1914, at about thirty meters
from the Mausoleo of Gasr Shaddad. This inscription was dedicated to Valeriano,
the Emperor's son. We must take into account the fact that, to the honour
of Gallieno's wife, Leptis and its inhabitants had the title of Saloniani,
as R.G. Goodchild remembers in one of its contributions, Recent exploration
and discoveries in Tripolitania, Reports and Monographs of the Department
of Antiquities in Triplitania II, 1949, pp.39-41.
8 R.G. Goodchild - J.B. Ward Perkin, "The Roman and Bizantine defences
of Lepcis Magna", in Papers of the British School at Rome,
n. s. 8, 1953, pp. 42-73; E. Zanini, Introduzione all'archeologia bizantina,
Urbino, 1995, pp. 194-95.
9 Bartoccini, "Il Recinto Giustinianeo di Leptis Magna", Rivista
della Tripolitania, II, 1925, pp. 63-72.
10 S. Gsell, Monuments de l'Algerie, II, 1901 pp. 344-84; D. G.
Pringle, "The Defences of Byzantine Africa from Justinian to the Arab
Conquest", British Archaeological Reports (IS 99), Oxford 1981.
11 Codex Iust. I 27, 2,1: Sancimus itaque, ut Dux limitis Tripolitanae
Provinciae in Lrptimagnensis civitate sedes interim habeas.
12 R. G. Goodchild - JB Ward Perkins, The Roman and Bizantine ...op.
cit., p. 60.
13 R. G. Goodchild - JB Ward Perkins, "The Christian Antiquities of
Tripolitania", in Papers of the British School at Rome, 1951,
p.1.
14 P. Romanelli, Le sedi episcopali della Tripolitania antica. Rendiconti
della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, IV, 1925-6, p.156.
15 F. Caabrol - H. Leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne
et de liturgie, IV, 2 1457-1505; P. Monceaux, Histoire littéraire
de l'Afrique chrétienne, Volume VI Paris 1922
16 W.H.C. Frend, "Religion and Social Change", in The Late
Roman Empire, Cambridge Journal, May 1949, pp. 487-96; for this reason,
E. Gibbon, the English historian who wrote in 1901 Authobiography,(London)
compares them to the camisardi of Langue d'oc of the beginning of XVIII
century.
17 A. Berthier, Les vestiges du Christianisme antique dans la Numidie
Centrale, Algiers, 1942
18 B. M. Apolloni," Il Foro e la Basilica Severiana di Leptis Magna",
I Monumenti italiani: reliefs collected by th R. Accademia d'Italia,
fasc. VIII-IX, Roma, 1936. P. Romanelli, "La basilica cristiana nell'Africa
settentrionale italiana", IV conference of Christian Archaeology,
pp.266-70
19 Procopius of Cesarea, De Aedif., VI, 4, 4-5
20 R. Bartoccini, Africa italiana, Journal of history and art published
by the Ministry of the Colonies, I, 1927, pp. 53-74; ibid. II, 1928-29,
pp.30-49.
21 R. G. Goodchild, JB. Ward Perkins, The Christian, op. cit., p.
22
22 R. Bartoccini, "Scavi nel Foro vecchio", in Rivista di
Archeologia Cristiana, VIII, 1931, pp.23-52
23 R.G. Goodchild - GB. Ward Perkins, The Christian, op. cit. wrote
there could have been some changes during the works. 24 R.G. Goodchild
- GB. Ward Perkins, The Christian, op. cit.
25 Procopio di Cesarea, De Aedif. VI, 4, 4
26 R. Bartoccini, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, VIII, 1931,
p. 52
27 Isabella Siostrom, Tripolitania in transition. Late Roman to Islamic
Settlement, Glasgow, 1993
28 Procopio di Cesarea, De Bello Vandalico, II, 21, 3
29 El Beckri, Description de l'Afrique Septentrionale, (ed. De Slane),
Algeri 1913, p.26.
30 Al Idrisi (edrisi), Descriptions de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne Translated
by Dozy and De Goeje, Leiden, 1866, p.154.
31 P. Romanelli, Leptis Magna, Roma, 1925, p.45
32 E. Fiandra, I ruderi del tempio Flavio. Vicende dal IV al IX secolo,
Lubia Antiqua, XI-XII, 1974-75, pp.147-50
Enrico Cirelli