Market
Along the cardo maximus, but along a slightly diverging axis, stands the market, the construction of which dates back to the Augustan age. Within a rectangular porticoed courtyard stand two circular structures surrounded by an octagonal portico in which the stalls were arranged in ancient times. The entrance was on the long western side and was moved to the short southern side in the Severan period. Three more entrances, secondary, with short flights of steps, were opened on the long eastern side, one of which, L-shaped, marked the corner of the complex. In the area between the two central octagons is a copy (the original in the Museum of Leptis Magna) of the table indicating the official units of measurement in use in the 3rd century AD. Indicated, from top to bottom, are the Punic arm of 51.5 cm, the Greco-Roman foot of 29.6 cm and the Ptolemaic arm of 52.5 cm, the latter evidently used by the numerous Egyptian merchants who frequented Leptis Magna.
