Midway in the low African coast which intervenes between the Tunisian projection and the Cyrenaic one, about Long.

14ｺ 22' E.
of Greenwich, are ruins, near a village called Lebda, which, it is generally agreed, mark the site of this ancient city.

Leptis Major was a colony from Sidon, and occupied originally a small promontory, which projects from the coast in a north-easterly direction, and attains a moderate elevation above the plain at its base.

Towards the mainland it was defended by a triple line of wall still to be traced, and on the sea-side by blocks of enormous strength, which are said to resemble those on the western side of the island of Aradus.[597] In Roman times the town, under the name of Neapolis,[598] attained a vast size, and was adorned with magnificent edifices, of which there are still numerous remains.

The neighbourhood is rich in palm-groves and olive-groves,[599] and the Cinyps region, regarded by Herodotus as the most fertile in North Africa,[5100] lies at no great distance to the east.
Ten miles east, and a little south of Leptis Minor,[5101] was Thapsus, a small town, but one of great strength, famous as the scene of Julius Caesar's great victory over Cato.[5102] It occupied a position close to the promontory now known as Ras Dimas, in Lat.