Leptis or Lepcis Parva was a Phoenician colony and Carthaginian and Roman port on Africa's Mediterranean coast, corresponding to the modern town Lemta, just south of Monastir, Tunisia.

[6][7] Leptis was established as a Tyrian colony, probably originally as a waypost on the trade route between Phoenicia and the Strait of Gibraltar.

It appears in the periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, written in the middle or latter part of the fourth century BC, as one of the cities in the country of the legendary lotus-eaters.

The Roman Senate appointed a commission to look into the matter, including Scipio Africanus, the general credited with Carthage's recent defeat.

Although Scipio was uniquely positioned to resolve the dispute, the commission left the rightful possession of Emporia undecided and Masinissa was able to organize much of the territory into the kingdom of Numidia.

ΛΕΠΤΙϹ);[5] later coins with Latin inscriptions may show its elevation to colony (colonia) status or may have originated in Leptis Magna.

Shortly afterward, Caesar moved his camp to Ruspina, leaving six cohorts at Leptis under the command of Gaius Hostilius Saserna.

Learning of the attack, Caesar rode to Leptis and went in pursuit of Varus with his remaining ships, recapturing one of the quinqueremes along with a trireme.

The city was largely destroyed during the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the latter part of the seventh century, although a ribat was built there, probably on the ruins of an earlier Byzantine fortress.

The diocese was also involved in the great conflict of African Christianity as Catholic and Donatist bishops for the town appear on the lists of participants in these councils.