LEPTIS MINOR
Tunisia.
So named to distinguish it from Leptis Magna in Libya, this is a sheltered
site on a cove between Hadrumetum and Thapsus on the
shore of the Sahel hinterland, known for its rich agriculture. It was linked to Thysdrus, the olive capital in the
center of the region. This situation on the border of a
fertile, well-populated region favored the establishment
and growth of the city. Originally a Carthaginian trading post, it became the important city mentioned by the
ancient writers, its extensive ruins bearing witness to its
prosperity.
No systematic excavations have ever been undertaken.
Moreover, the present-day village of
Lemta being close
by, the ruins have continuously been pillaged or destroyed. The site lies between the ravines of the wadi
Lemta and the wadi Bou Hajar, and stretches down to
the coast. Among the remains that can be recognized by
their construction or by inscriptions are an amphitheater,
a theater on the side of a hill, baths, large cisterns (some
of them fed by an aqueduct, others by a dam and reservoir
on the wadi Bou Hajar), quays and a long jetty
and, especially, the forum, which can be identified by a
number of dedicatory bases. From these bases, too, we
learn of a cult of Liber Pater which was organized in the
municipal curiae. Another important ruin called El Knissia—presumably, therefore, a church—with fine columns
of cipolino did not survive destruction, and hardly any
trace remains of the necropolis that surrounded it. Finally, on the shore there is a monument built of a masonry
of large stones and with a big round tower, possibly a
Byzantine fortress that was later turned into an Arab
ribat.
The sectors that have suffered the most despoiling are
the necropoleis, whose grave gifts (a lamp and pottery)—which are all that remained—bear witness to the great
antiquity of the site and the prosperity of the region up
to the end of the Classical era.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Hannezo & L. Molins, “Notes archéologiques sur
Lemta,”
BAC (1897) 290-95.
A. ENNABLI
