World famous as arguably the best preserved and most extensive Roman city in the world. Originally a Phoenician settlement probably founded in the 6th century BC under the aegis of Carthage, Leptis Magna became a great metropolis under the Romans, particularly during the reign of Septimus Severus (193-211 AD), who was born in the city. Following the end of the Severan dynasty, with the assassination of Alexander Severus in the year 235 AD, the city fell into decline although a period of rejuvenation occurred under Diocletian (284-305 AD) and Constantine (306-337 AD). When the Vandals conquered Tripolitania in the mid-5th century AD, it fell upon the Emperor Justinian to reclaim the land for Byzantium, which he achieved. In the 7th century, Tripolitania was conquered by the Arabs, and Leptis Magna never revisited its former glory.

Among the many sites of interest at Leptis Magna are the Severan Arch, the Palaestra or Sports Ground, the Nymphaeum, the Hadrianic Baths, the Colonnaded Street, the Severan Forum, the Severan Basilica, the Theatre, the Harbour, the Circus, the Temple of Liber Pater, the Temple of Rome and Augustus, the Arch of Trajan, the Arch of Tiberius and the Market.