Map © Prioryman
From the Wikipedia entry for Volubilis:
Volubilis is a partly excavated Berber and Roman city situated near the city of Meknes, and commonly considered as the ancient capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. Built in a fertile agricultural area, it developed from the 3rd century BCE onward as a Berber, then proto-Carthaginian, settlement before being the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. It grew rapidly under Roman rule from the 1st century CE onward and expanded to cover about 42 hectares (104 acres) with a 2.6 km (1.6 miles) circuit of walls. The city gained a number of major public buildings in the 2nd century, including a basilica, temple and triumphal arch, dating to 217 CE. Its prosperity, which was derived principally from olive growing, prompted the construction of many fine town-houses with large mosaic floors.
The city fell to local tribes around 285 and was never retaken by Rome because of its remoteness and indefensibility on the south-western border of the Roman Empire. It continued to be inhabited for at least another 700 years, first as a Latinised Christian community, then as an early Islamic settlement. In the late 8th century it became the seat of Idris ibn Abdallah, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty and the state of Morocco. By the 11th century Volubilis had been abandoned after the seat of power was relocated to Fez. Much of the local population was transferred to the new town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, about 5 km (3.1 miles) from Volubilis.
The ruins remained substantially intact until they were devastated by an earthquake in the mid-18th century and subsequently looted by Moroccan rulers seeking stone for building Meknes. It was not until the latter part of the 19th century that the site was definitively identified as that of the ancient city of Volubilis. During and after the period of French rule over Morocco, about half of the site was excavated, revealing many fine mosaics, and some of the more prominent public buildings and high-status houses were restored or reconstructed.
The Archaeological Site of Volubilis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed for being "an exceptionally well preserved example of a large Roman colonial town on the fringes of the Empire".
Volubilis is another example of the many sites of Ancient Civilizations that I visited during my travels.
Here is a map of Volubilis:
All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.
We just drove through Meknes, I only saw the Bab el-Mansour gate to the Meknes medina.
The Historic City of Meknes is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Page last updated on Tue Sep 24 18:19:03 2019 (Mountain Standard Time)
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