Leptis Magna or What Rome must have looked like - Part II

(continued from Leptis Magna or What Rome must have looked like - Part I)

At the end of Leptis Magna's Market, the Cardo continues through a rectangular Byzantine city gate to reach the Old Forum resting on Punic remains. 

This Old Forum automatically triggers visions of what may have been visible in Rome! The square is surrounded on all sides by temples, one for every god that matters, it seems. Immediately to the left is a temple that was converted into a church. Clockwise, followed by a portico and altar to Antoninus Pius, the Temple of Liber Pater, the Temple of Augustus and Rome, the Temple of Hercules, and a stele to Caius, son of Hanno. To the right are the Curia and an Old Basilica, in front of which is a small temple to the goddess Cybele. In the middle of this carefully paved Forum is a Baptistery. 

The sand-covered street behind the Old Forum is an invitation to climb to the dune top, where the beautiful deep blue Mediterranean shines as it has done over the centuries. All is calm! 

Today, the Wadi Lebda is only a small river or a dry riverbed, but in its heyday, it was Leptis Magna's harbor, complete with quays and jetties. We can still see the holes into which poles were inserted and used by the ships to tie their anchor ropes. This port was short-lived. The river had been very skillfully diverted, and several dams were built upstream to prevent the sand from siltting up the harbor. However, the harbor mouth was oriented in such a way that the undercurrent from the sea drew the sand in, and the harbor silted up anyway. Surprisingly, great master builders like the Romans could make such a mistake! 

Yet, this port appears as if it could be used again once the harbor is filled with water! The quay follows the river's course with a curvature towards the sea. There are also downward steps at regular intervals to enable the loading and unloading of the ships. At the head of the peninsula stood a lighthouse. 

In the days of Septimius Severus, an impressive colonnaded street, 420 meters long, ran parallel to the Wadi Lebda from the city center down to Leptis Magna's harbor. 

This Via Colonnata was 40 meters wide and paved with white marble slabs. It was flanked on both sides by a ten-meter-wide portico, reducing the central avenue to 20 meters. The Stoas were supported by 125 grey-green cipollino columns resting on a white marble base and crowned with white marble Pergamese capitals. The red-tiled roofs provided shade in summer and protected the citizens from the rain in winter. It must have been a sight for sore eyes! 

What remains today is a non-inspiring dirt road with bits of columns and carved stones. But the side street provides a helpful visual tool as half a dozen similar cipollino columns still stand tall. 

Behind these columns rises the high outside wall of the Severan Basilica, built by Septimius Severus and completed by his son, Caracalla, in 216 AD. This two-story monument measures 92x40 meters. The hall is crowded with two rows of two-story monolithic columns made of red Aswan granite set on white marble bases and carrying white marble Corinthian capitals. 

Like all Basilicas, this was originally a court of law converted into a church in Byzantine times. Quite unique in the present case is an apse at each end. Both apses are framed by white marble pilasters and half-columns decorated with high reliefs of plants and animals. On the north side are carved figures of Dionysus with satyrs and Maenads, whereas the south side shows the Twelve Labors of Hercules. On a sunny day, the depth of the skilled artwork really shows. In the middle of the apses are two substantial red granite columns with white marble Corinthian capitals topped with griffons that supported the roof. Like all other buildings in Leptis Magna, the walls were constructed using local limestone that was readily available. The roof would be made of wood. There may well have been windows underneath that roof to let the daylight in. At the center of the Basilica, there is also a kind of pulpit that is only partly visible. In an adjacent room on the south side of the Basilica, the Byzantines built a cruciform Baptistery. 

This Basilica is another illustration of the glory of Rome, considering its size, the use of precious marble and granite, and the craftsmanship of the details, of which there are many. 

The Basilica's west side corresponds to the Imperial Forum's short side, the Forum Novum Severianum, a gigantic square of 60x100 meters. The high walls of the surrounding buildings accentuate the size. Originally, a portico ran around the Forum, supported by Pergamese columns as found on the Via Colonnata. They are only visible on the Basilica side, where part of the portico is occupied by a row of shops. 

The beauty of this Imperial Forum may be found among the arches that span the top space between the columns. The area above each column and between the arches is filled with roundels depicting reliefs of the head of Medusa or a Nereid. A row of arches has been reconstructed on the left (long) side of the Forum, resting on Pergamese capitals. In total, at least 73 of these large medallions have been found. All Medusa heads are different and look at you from deeply furrowed eyebrows. A Nereid head is clearly placed at the end of the row. 

Opposite the Basilica on this same Forum stood the Temple of the Gens Septimia, dedicated to the worship of the Septimius family. It is said to have been built following the typical Roman pattern, high on top of a podium, and decorated with columns of red Aswan granite. No wonder this Forum is meant to be a replica of Trajan's in Rome. Septimius Severus' message was clear: his native city could not be inferior to Rome! 

I arrive at the other end of the Via Colonnata, in a vast oval square originally surrounded by the 72 columns of the Stoa. Overlooking this space stood a Nymphaeum several levels high. The back wall was entirely covered with marble, and the many niches were decorated with the most graceful statues. In and around the fountain stood many columns and other marble artifacts. The large water basin that ran alongside the street had several fountains. The scant remains still testify to the monumentality of this construction. 

Opposite the Nymphaeum is the empty space of an unpaved Gymnasium. The adjacent Baths of Hadrian skillfully fill the area towards the Wadi Lebda and the Nymphaeum. 

Those who have seen the Baths of Caracalla in Rome will recognize the sense of grandeur, although the remains of these thick walls are less telling. The bathing areas themselves, however, are better preserved: the Frigidarium, Tepidarium, and Caldarium, all carefully lined with white marble. Unique are the two Sudatoria connected to the Caldarium. This was a kind of sauna where pipes distributed the heat along the walls and under the floor. The complex also had two pools with adjoining latrines, and the pavement consisted of large white marble tiles. 

Unlike Roman constructions elsewhere made with bricks, the local limestone of Leptis Magna was also used for these Baths. Another striking feature is the porches on either side of the Tepidarium, where the sloping walls ensured more efficient air circulation and ventilation. Most statues from these Baths have been moved to the Museum in Tripoli – worth a visit of its own! 

[Read more at Leptis Magna or What Rome must have looked like - Conclusion]

Alexander missed Eratosthenes by less than a century

Eratosthenes was born in Cyrene in c.275 BC, less than fifty years after the death of Alexander the Great. I can’t help wondering about the impact this mathematician, astronomer, and geographer would have had on Alexander and his campaign had both men known each other!

When Eratosthenes was about forty years old, Ptolemy III appointed him as chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria – a position he occupied until he died in c.195 BC. The Library was attached to the Museum, and together they were meant to be a university and research center. One may wonder whether the initial idea came from Alexander himself or was developed by Ptolemy I Soter. 

On the other hand, Eratosthenes was the first to write a chronology of Greek history and literature. Some people do live an amazingly well-filled life! 

The reason for bringing Alexander into the picture is double. Firstly, he was the founder of his major city of Alexandria, in 331 BC. His architect, Dinocrates of Rhodes, had roughly been planned, who complied with Alexander’s wish to create a megapolis. That is precisely what happened as the two main streets were designed to be 30 meters wide and all the other streets 15 meters. They were oriented in such a way as to profit from the sea breeze, while at the same time, they would provide shelter from the wind.  

The city walls were impressive also and ran over a distance of 15 kilometers. A mole had to be constructed to link the island of Pharos to the mainland. As a result, Alexandria would have two large harbors protected from the northerly winds. From experience in Libya, I can confirm that the strength of those winds cannot be underestimated! 

The second reason for mentioning Alexander is because of the great merit of Eratosthenes to be the first to draw a map of the world based on the imaginary lines of longitude and latitude, which enabled him to calculate the circumference of the earth.  

Pythagoras was the first to declare that the earth was a sphere, but he could not calculate its size. This is what Eratosthenes did. At noon on the summer solstice, he recorded simultaneous measurements at  Alexandria and at Syeme (close to Aswan) 5,000 stadia further south. The sun stood straight overhead in Syeme but not in Alexandria. Using a stick to measure the shadow, Eratosthenes found none in Syeme, whereas, in Alexandria, it cast a shadow with 7 degrees. Both cities lie near the same longitude line encircling the earth, 360 degrees. At this point, Eratosthenes calculated that 7 degrees are about 1/50 of 360 degrees. In other words, this means that the distance between the two cities must be 1/50 of the entire meridian. Hence, he multiplied the 5,000 stadia by 50, and he obtained an estimate of the earth’s circumference of 250,000 stadia. To simplify calculations, he rounded this figure up to 252,000, which is evenly divisible by 360. Although scholars cannot agree on the length of a stadium, their best estimate is 157 meters. As a result, Eratosthenes’ calculation of the earth’s circumference was 39,250 kilometers against 40,000 kilometers today.

 

That is an astonishing result given the lack of instruments and means Eratosthenes had at his disposal. 

Now imagine that less than a century earlier, all Alexander knew was that the earth was flat and surrounded by the Outer Ocean. How would he have looked at our planet, and how would this knowledge influence his campaigning? Had he known, his plans could have been designed in quite a different way!

Looting of antiquities in Egypt

In recent years, we have been made aware of the widespread looting in war zones, especially in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. However, looting in other countries has not subsided either, and Egypt is no exception.

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities started with the good news that they were working on inventorying some 5,000 artifacts from their Alexandria seaside warehouses. Until now, countless antiquities were stored in Egyptian warehouses, but the artifacts were never studied or documented. What a shame! How on earth can they keep track of what they have and what is being stolen or displaced?

[A fragment of an ancient Egyptian artifact is displayed at the opening of the Repatriated Objects exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, January 14, 2016. (photo by REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih)]

The problem is familiar, for the Archaeological Museum of Cairo started with the inspection and sorting of their basement not so long ago! Incredible but true. Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities has revealed that there are no less than 72 archaeological warehouses, 35 of which belong to a museum, 20 are labeled as expedition warehouses, and another 17 are small on-site warehouses spread all over the country. So far, only 14 of these warehouses have been “inspected” – whatever that means.

It seems that a mere fraction of Egypt’s antiquities made it to a museum; all the other treasures resulting from decennia of excavations have simply been stored awaiting registration and restoration. Some speak of hundreds of thousands of neglected artifacts about which nothing is known and are making an easy target for thieves. This means there is much more to see and learn from these artifacts than in any museum. Who knows, some Alexander statue or cartouche may still be hidden somewhere?

Of course, these warehouses are guarded, but these people are unarmed, and often they cannot prevent theft. How authorities can still establish how many artifacts are being stolen from different locations is quite remarkable. The following is only a short list:

On September 12, 2013, 238 items were stolen from the Mit Rahina at Giza

On December 31, 2013, 96 small and rare antiquities disappeared from Aswan

On May 27, 2015, three fake lanterns replaced the originals that were removed from Old Cairo

On December 23, 2015, nine antiquities from the Pharaonic era disappeared from Buto

On February 11, 2016, 157 artifacts from the Saqqara era were stolen in Giza.

On April 30, 2016, a statue from the Middle Kingdom was replaced by a fake one at Mit Rahina in Giza

Decent security with modern means like camera surveillance must be implemented, especially when you realize that some of these warehouses have never been inspected. So it is no surprise to see treasures disappear to the black market. It is no news that when artifacts are documented in international libraries, it becomes much easier to recover them. 

One of the main problems, however, is the limited financial resources of the responsible ministries, and the decline in tourism combined with the difficult economic situation is not helping either.