#WorldatFive 🌎: With the country locked in civil conflict, Libyan sites such as Leptis Magna are at risk from lovestruck teens and greedy developers, writes @louiseelisabet thetimes.co.uk/article/looter…
High above Libya’s Mediterranean coast, the wind whipped salty and cold around the marble columns of the amphitheatre at Leptis Magna. For more than 2,000 years, this once-great Roman city has been one of the most spectacular surviving sights of the ancient world
Yet here, 75 miles from Tripoli, there are no ice-cream stalls or perspiring tourists in sunhats. Just the great ruins, built in stone the colour of freshly baked bread
When I visited last month my skin prickled in the vast stillness, writes @louiseelisabet. It was an abandoned, perfect imprint of a great civilisation — except for the black graffiti sprayed by teenagers along the rear wall of the 16,000-seat amphitheatre 
“I will keep loving you in my heart, until my heart stops beating. M+R= love,” one read.
“Not again,” shouted Hussein Abu Ouza, one of a dozen guards at the site. “These young guys, they’re just out of their minds”
“Not again,” shouted Hussein Abu Ouza, one of a dozen guards at the site. “These young guys, they’re just out of their minds”
Ten years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya remains plagued with instability and conflict. Despite the efforts of local archaeologists its breathtaking cultural heritage has suffered along with it
Tourism has all but disappeared. Can it pick up again? Or will Libya's ancient treasures be looted and destroyed before the world gets to see them? Read more in today’s #WorldatFive thetimes.co.uk/article/looter…
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