Leptis Magna

Contributor: Amelia Lamis
Published: 2026-10-01
Last modified: 2026-10-02

Place Description

The villas of Silin are part of a group of seaside residences built on the coast by the rich ship owners of Leptis Magna. At the beginning of the second century CE, the Roman rulers, trying to make a better landing place, succeeded only in silting up Leptis' harbor. Thus the Leptitans were forced to go out along the coast. There they created their own ports beside which they erected spacious and lavish residences built on high promontories, so that they could oversee their trades and manage the large estates extending behind their houses. For fifteen miles on both sides of Leptis Magna every marsa (as sandy beaches are called in Libya) had its landing place, and each promontory its villa. Goodchild set them on his map of the area. Salza Prina Ricotti studied two of these residences naming them Silin's villas, and Luisa Musso examined a third one, with results published for the first time.

Bibliography

  • Bartoccini, 1927. "Ville e terme romane a Misurata Marina," Africa Italiana 1 (1927), pp. 214-225. (worldcat)
  • Bartoccini, 1927. "Villa romana presso l'ex cimitero israelitico di Homs," Africa Italiana 1 (1927), pp. 226-232. (worldcat)
  • Bartoccini, R. 1958. Il porto romano di Leptis Magna, Supplemento al Bollettino del Centro Studi per la Storia dell Architettura 13. (worldcat)
  • Di Vita, A. 1966. La villa della Gara delle Nereidi presso Tagiura, Supplements of Libya antiqua, Roma. (worldcat)
  • Goodchild, R. G. 1954. Tabula Imperii Romani - Lepcis Magna, Oxford. (worldcat)
  • Guidi, G. 1933. La villa del Nilo a Leptis Magna, Africa Italiana 5. (worldcat)
  • Ricotti, E. S. P. 1970-1971. "Le ville marittime di Silin (Leptis Magna)," Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Rendiconti 43: 135-163. (worldcat)
  • Ricotti, E. S. P. 1972-1973. "I porti della zona di Leptis Magna," Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana diArcheologia. Rendiconti 45: 75-103. (worldcat)
  • Romanelli, P. 1916. Studi e ricerche archeologiche in Tripolitania nei primi quattro anni di occupazione italiana, Nuova antologia. (worldcat)
  • Romanelli, P. 1922. Antichità della regione di Gurgi (Tripoli), Notiziario archeologico 3. (worldcat)
  • Romanelli, P. 1929-30. La vita agricola in Tripolitania attraverso le rappresentazioni figurate, Africa Italiana 2, pp. 53-75. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places

3 garden articles in Leptis Magna have been published:
Libya / Leptis Magna

Villa of the Little Circus

The Villa of the Little Circus rose on a high promontory two kilometers to the east of the Maritime Odeon. It overlooked the end of a long, sandy and curving beach. This once ...
Libya / Leptis Magna

Silin, villa of the Maritime Odeon

The villa of the Maritime Odeon was surveyed and mapped by Salza Prina Ricotti in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is an ample and luxurious residence with a large area (Fig. 1,...
Libya / Leptis Magna

Villa of Wadi Iala

The villa was excavated and restored in the 1970s and 1980s by the Libyan Department of Antiquities, under the then superintendent for Leptis Magna, Omar al-Mahjub. The complex ...