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LEPTIS

LEPTIS a town of Hispania Baetica, mentioned only in the Bell. Alex. 57, where the word is perhaps only a false reading for LAEPA near the mouth of the Anas. [P.S]

LEPTIS1 (Liv. 34.62; Caes. B.C. 2.38; Hirt. Bell. Afr. 6, 7, 9, 62; Mela, 1.7.2; Plin. Nat. 5.4. s. 3), also called by later writers, LEPTIS MINOR or PARVA (Λέπτις μίκρα, Ptol. 4.3.10; Leptiminus or Lepte Minus, Itin. Ant. p. 58; Tab. Peut.; Geogr. Rav. 3.5 5.5: Eth Leptitani: Lemta, Ru.), a city on the coast of Byzacium, just within the SE. headland. of the Sinus Neapolitanus, 18 M.P. SE. of Hadrumetum, and 33 M.P. NE. of Thysdrus, and one of the most flourishing of the Phoenician colonies on that coast, notwithstanding the epithet PARVA, which is merely used by late writers to distinguish it from the still more important city of LEPTIS MAGNA It was a colony of Tyre (Sal. Jug. 19; Plin. l.c.), and, under the. Carthaginians, it was the most important place in the wealthy district of EMPORIAE and its wealth was such that it paid to Carthage the daily tribute of a Euboic talent. (Liv. l.c.) Under the Romans it was a libera civitas, at least in Pliny's time: whether it became a colony afterwards depends on the question, whether the coins bearing the name of LEPTIS belong to this city or to Leptis Magna. [p. 2.162][See below, under LEPTIS MAGNA] Its ruins, though interesting, are of no great extent. (Shaw, Travels, p. 109; Barth, Wanderungen, &c. p. 161.)

[P.S]

1 Derived from a Phoenician word signifying a naval station.

hide References (4 total)
  • Cross-references from this page (4):
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 19
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 5.4
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 34, 62
    • Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, 4.3
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