The aim of this article is to demonstrate the connections between politicalhistory and the use of myth for political purposes at Leptis Magna, birthplaceof the African emperor Septimius Severus. The city, capital of the TripolitanianEmporia in North Africa, was extensively restructured by the emperor and hisson, Caracalla, after the civil wars of 193–7 AD. The urban renewalinvolved the harbour, perhaps very early in 198, and the Eastern area of thecity close to the bank of the wadi Lebdah (see figure 1). The inscriptions onthe buildings clearly refer to the period of their construction: the Forum NovumSeverianum was completed between 202 and 205; the Basilica was built between209–10 and completed under Caracalla in 215–16; a leadfistula from the Nympheum gives evidence that it wasfinished in 210. The inscription for the dedication of the tetrapylon arch ismissing. This imposing monument on the cross-way between thecardo and the decumanus maximus of the citywas the first visible to anyone approaching the city from the hinterland.Scholars now agree in placing its construction around 202–3, duringthe imperial family's stay in North Africa.