The Greater Leptis (Leptis Major) lay at a considerable distance from the Lesser one.  Midway in the low African coast which intervenes between the Tunisian projection and the Cyrenaic one, about Long. 14º 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. 35º 39’, Long. 11º 3’, and was defended by a triple enclosure, whereof considerable remains are still existing.  The outermost of the three lines appears to have consisted of little more than a ditch and a palisaded rampart, such as the Romans were accustomed to throw up whenever they pitched a camp in their wars; but the second and third were more substantial.  The second, which was about forty yards behind the first, was guarded by a deeper ditch, from which rose a perpendicular stone wall, battlemented at top.  The third, forty yards further back, resembled the second, but was on an enlarged scale, and the wall was twenty feet thick.[5103] Such triple enclosures are thought to be traceable in other Phoenician settlements also;[5104] but in no case are the remains so perfect as at Thapsus.  The harbour, which lay south of the town, was protected from the prevalent northern and north-eastern winds by a huge mole or jetty, carried out originally to a distance of 450 yards from the shore, and still measuring 325 yards.  The foundation consists of piles driven into the sand, and placed very close together; but the superstructure is a stone wall thirty-five feet thick, and still rising to a height of ten feet above the surface of the water.[5105]

It is probable that there were many other early Phoenician settlements on the North African seaboard; but those already described were certainly the most important.  The fertile coast tract between Hippo Regius and the straits is likely to have been occupied at various points from an early period.  But none of these small trading settlements attained to any celebrity; and thus it is unnecessary to go into particulars respecting them.