Qualla: Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna)

Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna): Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kamiox, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1928, Italian archaeologist Giacomo Guidi brushed sand away from a stone fragment in the Libyan desert and found himself looking at the face of a Roman emperor. Beneath the dunes lay the shattered remains of a monumental four-way arch, completely fragmented, with only its base structure still recognizable. It would take years of excavation and reconstruction to reassemble what Guidi had found: a triumphal arch commissioned 1,700 years earlier by Septimius Severus, the first Roman emperor born in Africa, erected at the very crossroads of the city where he grew up.

Image: Kamiox | CC BY-SA 4.0

Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna): A Hometown Emperor

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit joepyrek from Richmond, Va, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Septimius Severus was not the kind of emperor Rome was accustomed to. Born in Leptis Magna around AD 145, he was the first emperor from the provinces since Hadrian and Trajan -- and the first from Africa. Declared emperor by his own troops, he proved himself through military conq...

Image: joepyrek from Richmond, Va, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna): Where Two Roads Cross

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Yelles M.C.A., CC BY-SA 3.0. Built as a tetrapylon -- a four-way arch, open on all sides -- the structure stood at the intersection of the city's two most important streets: the cardo, running north to south, and the Decumanus Maximus, the main east-west thoroughfare. This was no ordinary triumphal arch mean...

Image: Yelles M.C.A. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna): Stone Propaganda in Deep Relief

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. The arch's decoration represents some of the most elaborate sculptural work surviving from the Severan period. Eight Corinthian columns frame the openings, supporting a broken pediment -- an unusual architectural choice that drew not from Roman tradition but from eastern styles e...

Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0

Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna): Buried and Reborn

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Syed Wali Peeran, CC BY-SA 4.0. Leptis Magna and its arch survived for centuries after Severus's death in AD 211, but the city's fortunes declined. Barbarian invasions in the late 5th century left it in ruins. The Byzantine emperor Justinian appropriated sculpture from the arch for his basilica, scavenging impe...

Image: Syed Wali Peeran | CC BY-SA 4.0

Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna): An Emperor's Legacy in Sand

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chapultepec at English Wikipedia, Public domain. The arch at Leptis Magna tells a story that Rome's own versions do not. Severus built arches in the capital as well, but the one in his hometown reveals something more personal: a provincial boy made good, advertising his success to the people who knew him before the purple. The ...

Image: Chapultepec at English Wikipedia | Public domain