Originality and Identity of Architecture of the Early Imperial Era at Lepcis Magna: the Arch of Trajan

The Arch of Trajan at Lepcis Magna commemorates the granting of colonial status to the city in AD 109-10, and can be considered as the architectural manifestation of the search for a new identity by the local community, which sought to develop an important role for itself within the framework of the Roman Empire. The complexity of the architecture, which derives from the merging of different influences (on the one hand from Southern Italy and Rome, on the other from Alexandria and Cyrene) together with Punic elements, is to be read as a reflection of the state of social, political, and commercial flux of the time.