| | | Volubilis
UNESCO World Heritage Site : 1997
Volubilis (Morocco)
| | | | Volubilis (Arabic: وليلي Walili) is an archaeological site featuring the best preserved Roman ruins in this part of northern Africa . In 1997 the site was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. | | Volubilis : Virtual tour |  | 21 sections and 19 items |
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Volubilis : Building(s) (17)
|  | Aqueduct
approx. between 80 and 100
The aqueduct was built at 80/100 AD and was constantly renovated and restored throughout its history. It would get it water supply from a water tank near the Tangier Gate.
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|  | Basilica
near 168
The Basilica was used as a Court house and built at the at same time as the triumphal arch around 168 AD.
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|  | Capitol (1)
219
The Capitol was built by Emperor Macrinus in 217 AD on the south end of the Basilicas. To the east of it there was a market.
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|  | Galen's Baths
Next to the House of Orpheus are the remains of Galen's Baths, the city's main public baths restored by the Emperor Gallienius in the second century AD.
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|  | House of Orpheus (2)
In the middle of the quarter is the House of Orpheus, a large complex of rooms that were part of a large mansion of one of the city's richest merchants.
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|  | House of the Acrobat
House of the Acrobat, also known as the house of Athelete, has an impressive mosaic depicting an athlete presented with a trophy for winning a desultory race, a competition in which the rider has to dismount and leap back on his horse in full gallop.
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|  | House of the Columns (2)
The House of the Columns is so named because of the columns of differing styles, which include spirals, around the interior court.
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|  | House of the Cortege of Venus (3)
The first mosaic is about Diana Bathing. Diana in Roman Godess, she was known as a maiden huntress, protector of all that is wild and free.
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|  | House of the Ephebus
The layout of the house of the Ephebus is very similar to the House of Orpheus, with a central court, private and public rooms and an olive press in the rear of the building. The finest of its mosaics is a representation of Bacchus being drawn in a chariot by panthers.
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|  | House of the Labours of Heracles (8)
This house is located on the Decumanus Maximus (main street). However the entrance is on the sideway. It has this name because the mosiac that show the 12 tasks of Hercules.
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|  | Knight's House
The Knight's House has a mosaic of Dionysus discovering Adriana on the Nexos Beach. There is a Cupid between them. Dionysus is also known as Bacchus.
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|  | Oil Press
There are 58 oil-pressing places in town. Each one has the following : a mill for crushing the olives, a press composed of a counterweight, a cross bar, a pulley for the upright supports of the cross bar and a basin.
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|  | Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves.
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|  | Guide, map and satellite view of Volubilis (2)
Volubilis lies 31km north of Meknès, between Fez and Rabat along the N13 road. The nearest town is Moulay Idriss (3 km). The place is quite crowded in summer, except early in the morning.
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|  | Stone penis
The stone penis indicated the way to the brothel
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|  | Decumanus Maximus and Tangier Gate (1)
The main street is called Decumanus Maximus. It extends from Tangier Gate all the way to the west. This street passes beneath the Triumphal Arch. It used to be flanked by shops and houses along its course along with an acqueduct .
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|  | Forum of Volubilis
The forum is triangular shaped 1300 square meter in size. It has few columns and on top of one of them a bird has made a nest as you can see. The Forum is the center of political, social and ecconomical life of the city. The forum is north east of the Basilicus.
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| | Volubilis : Hours | |
summer :
08:00 am - 07:00 pm
others months
08:00 am - 06:30 pm,
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| | Volubilis : Visit Guide | |
Volubilis lies 31km north of Meknès, between Fez and Rabat along the N13 road. The nearest town is Moulay Idriss (3 km). The place is quite crowded in summer, except early in the morning. | | Volubilis : Description | |
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Excavations
Volubilis' structures were damaged by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, while in the 18th century part of the marble was taken for constructions in nearby Meknes.
In 1915, archaeological excavation was begun there by the French and it continued through into the 1920s. Extensive remains of the Roman town have been uncovered. From 2000 excavations carried out by University College London and the Moroccan Institut National des Sciences de l'Archéologie et du Patrimoine under the direction of Elizabeth Fentress, Gaetano Palumbo and Hassan Limane revealed what should probably be interpreted as the headquarters of Idris I just below the walls of the Roman town to the west. Excavations within the walls also revealed a section of the early medieval town. Today, a high percentage of artifacts found at Volubilis are on display in the Rabat Archaeological Museum.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volubilis
Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License | | Volubilis : History | |
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Roman period
In antiquity, Volubilis was an important Roman town situated near the westernmost border of Roman conquests. It was built on the site of a previous Carthaginian settlement from (at the latest) the third century BC, but that settlement overlies an earlier neolithic habitation.
Volubilis was the administrative center of the province in Roman Africa called Mauretania Tingitana. The fertile lands of the province produced many commodities such as grain and olive oil, which were exported to Rome, contributing to the province's wealth and prosperity. Archaeology has documented the presence of a Jewish community in the Roman period.
After the Romans
The Romans evacuated most of Morocco at the end of the 3rd century AD but, unlike some other Roman cities, Volubilis was not abandoned. However, it appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake in the late fourth century AD. It was reoccupied in the sixth century, when a small group of tombstones written in Latin shows the existence of a community that still dated its foundation by the year of the Roman province. Coins show that it was occupied under the Abbasids : a number of these simply bear the name Walila.
The texts referring to the arrival of Idris I in 788 show that the town was at that point in the control of the Awraba tribe, who welcomed the descendant of Ali, and declared him imam shortly thereafter. Within three years he had consolidated his hold on much of the area, founded the first settlement at Fez, and started minting coins. He died in 791, leaving a pregnant Awraba wife, Kenza, and his faithful slave, Rashid, who acted as regent until the majority of Idris II. At this point the court departed for Fez, leaving the Awraba in control of the town.
The local Latin language survived for centuries, and was not replaced before the Arabs conquered North Africa in the late 7th century.
People continued to live in Volubilis for more than 1,000 years more. Volubilis was first abandoned in the 18th century - when it was demolished in order to provide for building materials for the construction of the palaces of Moulay Ismail in nearby Meknes. If that demolishing had not arrived, Volubilis could have become one of the best preserved Roman sites anywhere.
Excavation
Many of the remaining buildings within the city were destroyed by an earthquake in 1755 and in the 18th century some of its marble was removed for use in construction at Meknes. However French archaeologists began to excavate in 1915 and found vast remains of the Roman settlement. | | Volubilis : More pictures | |
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