By kind permission of the Department of Antiquities and of Professor Antonino Di Vita, Director of the Italian Mission, and with the financial support of the Society for Libyan Studies, the Oxford Craven Committee and the Cambridge Faculty Board of Classics, the authors spent three weeks in the early summer of 1974 studying the circus at Lepcis Magna. During the sixty years in which Italian archaeologists have been working at Lepcis, parts of the circus have been cleared or excavated on several different occasions. Work was begun in 1924-5 by R. Bartoccini at the monumental arch at the eastern end of the arena and on the seating on the north-east curve. He also uncovered the meta prima and the adjacent east end of the spina. Since 1960 a much larger area has been uncovered successively by E. Vergara-Caffarelli, F. Russo and A. Di Vita, as part of the larger project of clearing and restoring the whole of the amphitheatre-circus complex. Although work in most recent years has concentrated upon the complete clearance and restoration of the amphitheatre (which is cut into the hillside immediately south of the circus), two-thirds of the long south side of the circus has been revealed together with about half of the spina and most of the starting gates (carceres) at the west end.

From the 12 April 1974 to the 26 April 1974 the Libyan Society made it possible for me to visit the new irrigation project in Tauorga, Libya. The visit was a great help in completing a vital part of my Ph.D. research. It gave me the opportunity of studying the marketing situation for the planned output of the project, the working ability of the settlers, who are at present living in the decaying Tauorga oasis, and the expansion possibilities for agricultural production. I was also able to collect a great deal of statistical and peripheral information which has given me a much better understanding of the specific problems inherent in the project. The main results of my work in Libya are summarized below.

The basis for the income of the settlers in the Tauorga project is a 10 ha farm for each of the 300 families to be settled. The cropping pattern of each of these farms is 3·8 ha cereals, 2·2 ha beets, 2·0 ha alfalfa and 2·0 ha vegetables. Further, the farmers will keep on each farm 2 cows, 1 ox, 2 donkeys, 5 sheep and 10 to 15 fowls. The labour demand for these agricultural activities per farm per annum is estimated to be as follows:

The above table shows clearly that for a daily working time of 8 hours, at least 4 permanent full-time labourers will be required. Increasing the working day to 12 in order to reduce the number of labourers to 3, becomes unrealistic since the labourers would migrate to easier jobs, which are available in the urban centres. But it is unlikely that the 8-member families will have 4 able bodied workmen and much of the farmwork will probably have to be done by hired labour.

The medieval town of Sharwas – sometimes written Sharūs or Sarūs – figures in the writings of Ibn al-Warrāq (10th century A.D.), Ibn Hauqāl (10th century), al-Bakri (11th century), al-Idrīsi (12th century) and the anonymous author of the Kitāb al-Istibṣār (12th century). All are agreed that it was an important place, the chief settlement (umm qura) of the Jebel Nefusa. It had no congregational mosque (jāmic), but was one of the two towns in the Jebel provided with a minbār or pulpit. The name Abū Macrūf, as applied to the mosque and the surrounding ruins, does not appear in the medieval sources but certainly goes back many centuries in oral tradition. It refers to Abū Macrūf Wiyār ibn Jawād, a famous religious figure of the later 9th century who lived a short distance to the south-east of Sharwas and who was present at the battle of Mānū in A.H. 283/A.D. 896 - 7.

A preliminary note on Sharwas and its mosque has already appeared in the Second Annual Report of this Society (pp. 10 - 11). There are no less than sixteen monumental inscriptions carved on separate blocks of stone outside and inside the Mosque. Most important for the dating of the structure is the two line inscription (no. 1, pl. VIa) in the tympanum of the west doorway. This is in the ornamented variety of Kufic usually referred to as ‘floriated’ The style is decidedly ‘provincial’ and does little credit to the engraver. Nevertheless it is possible to discern, in such features as the trifoliate ending to the dāl of waḥdahu in the first line, points of resemblance to the later of the two monumental inscriptions from Ajdābiyah published in the Society's Third Annual Report (p. 5, Pl. VIIIb). This is dated A.H. 351/A.D. 962. If it is true, as there suggested, that the floriated style was introduced into Libya between c. 922 and 962 A.D., then the inscription over the doorway at Sharwas is unlikely to be earlier than the second half of the the 10th century, allowing for the town's somewhat isolated position in the Tripolitanian hinterland. It may, indeed, be as late as the 12th century, if the present Mosque postdates the destruction of Sharwas, c. 1100.

Among the more striking finds made during the Society's excavations at Sidi Khrebish is the upper part of an inscribed marble stele which had been re-used, unfortunately with the inscribed face upwards, as a paving stone in the basilica. It is of white marble, probably from the Greek islands, slightly tapered towards the top, measuring 0·46 - 0·47 m. in width × 0·97 in height and 0·19 in depth. A very simple moulding runs round all four sides some 15 cms. from the top. It is chipped along all edges, badly worn on the face, especially in the central area, and pitted and cracked as well, especially in the lower part, probably by an attempt to break it up. A section of unknown size has in fact been hacked off at the bottom.

The text is often hard to read and I am sure that more could be extracted from the worn areas with time and patience; but it seems desirable to offer a provisional publication as quickly as possible.

The Ptolemais aqueduct is of a type common in the ancient world. It consists of a concrete channel, several layers thick, though this seems to vary (see Pl. XIVa and sections), which is set in a framework of roughly-dressed, mortared stone. The channel itself rests in a bed of mortar which in turn is based either on stone foundations or the Gebel bed rock (see Pl. XIII and sections). The upper surface of the supporting framework was cemented on each side like the channel itself. Throughout the aqueduct's length the channel width varies considerably, but averages about 0·40 m.

The country through which the aqueduct passes on the north side of the Gebel Akhdar is arid, stony and covered with often dense scrub. A series of wadis running from the Gebel to the sea cuts the twenty-four kilometres between Wadi Habbun, where the aqueduct begins its course, and Tolmeita where it completes it. To carry the water for Ptolemais over these wadis bridges were constructed.

The condition of the aqueduct varies throughout its length. In some places, such as between Wadis Habbun and El-Meleca, it runs continuously for over one kilometre, but for the same distance on the east side of Sidi Belgasem it cannot be traced. Some pieces of it are complete and with only minor repairs would be ready for use but in other places only the channel or stone framework remain. Nevertheless it is possible to follow the aqueduct's course from Wadi Habbun to the city walls of Ptolemais. Only its actual source in Wadi Habbun, its course in Wadi El-Meleca, and in Wadi El Rumman, and its disappearance at the city walls raise questions as yet unanswered.

The ancient coinage of Libya comprises two quite distinct aspects. Firstly, in Cyrenaica there is the group of Dorian Greek cities first founded by colonists from Thera in the seventh century B.C., and of these cities we have a fairly continuous range of coins down to Roman times. Secondly, there is the group of Phoenician cities in Tripolitania, whose local coinage has a much more restricted span, covering only the late Roman republic and early empire.

The Cyrenaic coins, like those of most other regions of the Greek world, have a distinctive local character of their own. Among the representations found on these coins we may mention first examples of the flora and fauna of the country including the scorpion, the chameleon, the jerboa, the gazelle. But most typical of all is the silphium plant. This was an umbelliferous plant originally growing wild in Cyrenaica. In early times it formed one of the chief sources of wealth but by the Roman period was becoming extinct, perhaps due to over - exploitation — it has been noted that the plant is depicted less regularly and less realistically on coins even during Hellenistic times. Its nearest modern parallel is considered to be asafoetida, in particular the variety known as Ferula narthex found in Afghanistan. The silphium was valuable for its juice, extracted by an incision of the stem, and was used both medicinally and as a condiment, while the stalk provided vegetable food both for human and animal use. The plant which we see on the coins is depicted with greater or lesser realism showing in detail the leaves with their typical sheath - like bases and the umbels springing outwards; the stem is shown as thick as a tree trunk. But its size is difficult to estimate, and here the coins are not entirely helpful, as sometimes a gazelle is shown lying in front of a tree - sized plant, on others a gazelle seems to peer down at a small bush. But relative scale is not always a strong point with coin designers. In addition to the whole plant as normally shown, separate parts of it are also depicted, especially the heart - shaped fruit. The silphium and its export may during the time of the Battiad dynasty have been a royal monopoly. It used to be thought that on the famous Arkesilas vase we had a picture of the king supervising the weighing and storage of silphium, though more recent opinion favours the view that the commodity in question is bags of wool.