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Morocco Classical Antiquity Built: c. 3rd century BC UNESCO

Volubilis

Volubilis was a Berber and later Roman city in the fertile plain at the foot of the Zerhoun Mountains in what is now northern Morocco, and served as the administrative capital of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana from the 1st century AD until Rome's withdrawal from the region around 285 AD. The city flourished by supplying olive oil to the Roman Empire — its surrounding landscape was carpeted with thousands of olive presses — and its wealthy citizens built extravagant townhouses adorned with some of the finest polychrome mosaics found anywhere in the Roman world. After Rome's departure, Volubilis continued as a Latin-speaking Christian community for centuries, later came under Arab rule, and was finally abandoned after a catastrophic earthquake in 1755. Its ruins now stand in open Moroccan farmland, their remoteness and lack of later construction preserving an extensive street plan, triumphal arch, forum, basilica, and dozens of mosaic-floored mansions.

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Volubilis

Morocco

Longitude: -5.5547

Latitude: 34.0724

Historical Significance

Volubilis is the most westerly major Roman site in Africa and one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the Maghreb, offering exceptional insight into Roman provincial urbanism and the rich mosaic culture of North Africa at the empire's frontier. Its survival with extensive in-situ mosaics is almost without parallel, making it an invaluable site for the study of Roman art and the cultural life of a prosperous provincial city far from the empire's Italian heartland. UNESCO inscribed Volubilis as a World Heritage Site in 1997.

Facts

Fact 1

Mosaic Masterpieces

The mansions of Volubilis contain more than 30 large-scale in-situ mosaic floors, depicting scenes from Greek mythology including the Labours of Hercules, the triumph of Bacchus, and the judgment of Diana — among the finest and most extensive collections of Roman mosaics surviving anywhere in the world.

Fact 2

Olive Oil Economy

Surveys of the Volubilis plain have identified the remains of around 58 large olive presses within the city alone, with many more in the surrounding countryside, indicating that the production and export of olive oil was the engine of the city's extraordinary wealth.

Fact 3

Arch of Caracalla

The triumphal arch at Volubilis, erected in 217 AD to honour Emperor Caracalla and his mother Julia Domna, was reconstructed from fallen blocks in 1932 and now stands as the city's most recognisable landmark — its inscription recording the names of the city's benefactors in both Latin and in a local Punic script.

Fact 4

Moulay Idriss Connection

After the Arab conquest, the city's ruins provided a ready quarry of building materials for the nearby town of Moulay Idriss — founded by Idriss I, the father of the Moroccan state, who settled at Volubilis in 788 AD and whose tomb remains one of Morocco's most sacred pilgrimage destinations.

Fact 5

Frontier Garrison

At its peak, Volubilis was protected by a 2.6-kilometre wall with eight gates and 34 towers, garrisoned by auxiliary troops from across the Roman Empire including units recruited from Pannonia (modern Hungary) and Spain, reflecting Rome's reliance on provincial soldiers to defend its furthest frontiers.

Fact 6

Earthquake of 1755

The same catastrophic Lisbon earthquake of 1755 that destroyed much of Portugal also caused widespread damage across Morocco, and it was this event that finally reduced Volubilis's already-declining structures to their current ruined state — many of its columns having stood largely intact for over a millennium before then.

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