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Lepcis Magna: Nymphaeum
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Lepcis Magna: Phoenician
colony, later part of the Carthaginian
empire, the kingdom of Massinissa,
and the Roman empire. Its most famous son was the
emperor Septimius
Severus (193-211).
Nymphaeum
East of the Palaestra,
the Colonnaded
Street begins, which connected the Hadrianic Baths and the Palaestra
to the Port
of Lepcis
Magna. At the beginning of the Colonnaded Street was an oval
Plaza. The southeastern part of it was a Nymphaeum, a wall-like fountain.
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The arch to the left on the photo above was at the beginning of the
Colonnaded Street; if you passed through it, you would be on the southeastern
sidewalk. The arch to the right, which is only partly visible, was the
beginning if the sidewalk along the street between on the one hand the
Palaestra and Hadrianic Baths and on the other hand the Wadi Lebda. Colonnaded
Street and Plaza were constructed during the reign of Septimius
Severus (193-211).
Of course the Nymphaeum was beautifully decorated. There were two levels
of marble columns, made of cipollino from Euboea (lower level) and red
granite from Egypt (upper level); in the niches, there must have been statues.
Essentially, this fountain was like the wall behind the stage of a Roman
theater.
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The walls must have been covered with plates of expensive marble, and
of course there must have been statues of the Nymphs, the goddesses of
the sources. The central apse, where these sculptures must have stood,
were destroyed by a flash flood in 1986. The balustrade on this photo is
a later addition. |
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Across the plaza was an exedra (a semi-circular
area), of which hardly anything remains, except for several columns of
grey, Egyptian granite. However, what survives is the inscription of an
expensive silver statue dedicated to Septimia Polla, a sister of the father
of the emperor Septimius Severus. It is included in J.M. Reynolds &
J.B. Ward Perkins,
Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania (1952 London),
#607. The amount of silver equals almost 52 kg. |
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SEPTIMIAE
POLLAE Lvci
SEPTIMI SEVERI
IIVIRi FLAMinis
PERPetui
FILiae Pvblivs
SEPTIMIVS
GETA HERes
SORORI
SANCTISSIMAE
EX ARGento
Pondo
CXXXXIIII
S vnciae
X
Semis DECRETO
SPLENDIDISSIMI
ORDINIS POSVIT
EX TESTAMENTO
EIVS HVIC
DONO
VICESIMAM ET
ARGenti Pondo
IIII
S vnciae X Semis
AMPLIVS QVAM
LEGATVM EST
ADIECIT
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To Septimia
Polla, daughter of Lucius
Septimius Severus,
duumvir, forever priest,
has Publius Septimius
Geta, heir of his most sacred
sister, erected this [statue]
from 144½ pounds
of silver
and 10½ ounces
of the most splendid
quality, as decreed
in her will.
To this gift
was added one twentieth
and 4½ pounds, 10½
ounces of silver
more than
had been bequeathed. |
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©
Jona Lendering for
Livius.Org,
2007
Revision: 4 June 2007 |
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