Tripoli's Ruins
by Maj Seda
Title
Tripoli's Ruins
Artist
Maj Seda
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Roman City of Leptis Magna
The source of many of the stones that were used to create The Ruins at Virginia Water is Leptis Magna, a Roman city cited on the shores of the Mediterranean near Tripoli, in present day Libya.
Founded before the birth of Christ, Leptis Magna flourished during the first and second centuries AD. The site developed into a fine, classical Roman city with a theatre, colonnades, temples and a market.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Leptis Magna was occupied briefly by the Byzantines but today is an abandoned site, still largely buried in the sand.
In 1816 Colonel Hanmer Warrington, Consul General in Tripoli, persuaded the local Governor that the Prince Regent (later George IV) should receive a series of stones from Leptis Magna as a gift, and permission was given to the British officer, Commander WH Smythe to remove columns and stones.
22 granite columns, 15 marble columns, 10 capitals, 25 pedestals, 7 loose slabs, 10 pieces of cornice, 5 inscribed slabs and various fragments of figure sculpture, some of grey limestone were shipped to England.
After a stay at the British Museum it was decided to transfer the stones to Windsor Great Park and they were transported on gun carriages, in twelve loads, between August and October 1826
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March 6th, 2013
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