Heinblog: Volubilis

Volubilis was the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania and a large Roman city.

Ruins cat!

A Roman Medusa mosaic

Some of over 900 votive steles found at Volubilis

A family memorial stele with an unworthy brother's name hammered out.

Volubilis was very diverse. This is a epitaph in Greek for a rabi, from the 3rd century A.D.

A dedication in Greek to pre-Islamic Arab deities Theandrios and Manaf.

A memorial to a deceased Christian governor of post-Roman Volubilis from 605.

A stele with a relief of Anubis on it

A statue base with a relief of the local god Aulisua on it

Volubilis shared some cultural features with nearby Iberian civilizations before contact with the powerful civilizations of the ancient world.

Volubilis is full of mosaics

Carthaginians were influential in Volubilis, and when their empire fell Volubilis became the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania, a roman client state.

An olive press

The Capitoline Temple and Basilica

Mauretania was formally annexed by Rome in 44 A.D., and became a rich producer of grain and olive oil. It was connected by a road to the capital of the Roman province in Morocco, Tingis (Tangier).

Rome lost control over Volubilis during the Crisis of the Third Century, but it remained inhabited and continued to be developed until the arrival of the Arabs in the 8th century.

The founder of modern Morocco, Moulay Idris, established his dynasty here in 787, and later founded the city of Fes, the future capital of Morocco. He was assassinated in Volubilis on the orders of Harun al-Rashid. He is buried in Moulay Idris, the white city in the hills behind the basilica.