Volubilis

Roman · Morocco

Field notes

civilizations

RomanPhoenician-Punic

types

City

built

400 BCE

occupied

400 BCE — 1,710 CE

country

Morocco

The site

Volubilis is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco, near Meknes, that grew from a Berber and proto-Carthaginian settlement into what may have been the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania. Under Roman rule it swelled to roughly 42 hectares behind a 2.6-kilometer circuit of walls, gaining a basilica, temple, and triumphal arch. Its wealth came from olive growing, funding the fine town-houses whose large mosaic floors still glint underfoot. Occupied for two millennia and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it fell to local tribes around 285 and was never retaken by Rome.

Nearby sites

~135 km

Lixus

~225 km

Baelo Claudia

~341 km

Archaeological Ensemble of Antequera Dolmens

~377 km

Italica