Image Details

Corbis

Another gathering place, the basilica (shown here, compare with photo of Leptis Magna’s Standing Market) was constructed in the early third century C.E. when the Leptis-born emperor Septimius Severus (193‒211 C.E.) embarked on a rebuilding program in the city. Over 100 feet high and paneled with colored marble, the colonnaded room had apses at both ends of a central nave. Four centuries later, the Christian emperor Justinian built a church over the basilica, following the outlines of the original structure.