LOST CITIES

Lost Cities and their Emperors explores stunning ancient sites which have been caught up in recent wars and which have been cut off from the world. We examine how local people have sought to protect their precious heritage, sometimes putting their lives on the line. Some sites have been been miraculously preserved, while others have been t damaged. In order to explore these ancient cities in their contexts, we will also consider emperors associated with them, starting with Septimius Severus, Rome’s African Emperor who lavished his native city, Leptis Magna, with magnificent buildings.

Leptis Magna, a Phoenician city founded in the 7th century BC, is one of the most magnificent archaeological sites in the Mediterranean. Grown wealthy, from agriculture and olive oil, the city was hugely developed in the beginning of the 2/3 centuries AD when its most famous son, Septimius Severus, become emperor. The evocative remains include a stunning quadrifrons triumphal arch built in the style fashionable in the period, with broken pediments, a largely intact theatre which still includes the stage building, as well as a Hippodrome and Amphitheatre. The prosperity brought to the city because of its trade is witnessed in its remarkable harbour and the fruits of this wealth are witnessed in the remarkable mosaics from the city’s houses.

This remarkable city, aggrandised by the emperor Septimius Severus, who was so proud of his native town, has been lost to us for some time but has come through this period intact. Not all cities caught up in recent violence have been so fortunate.