Volubilis - Foundation and Roman Occupation

Foundation and Roman Occupation

Volubilis is built on a shallow slope below the Zerhoun hills, standing on a bluff above the Wadi Khoumane. It overlooks a rolling fertile plain north of the modern city of Meknes. The area around Volubilis has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times. Archaeological excavations at the site have found Neolithic pottery of comparable design to pieces found in Iberia. By the third century BC, the Phoenicians had a presence there, as evidenced by the remains of a temple to the Punic god Baal and finds of pottery and stones inscribed in the Phoenician language. The origins of its name are unknown but may be a Latinisation of the Berber word oualilit, meaning oleander, which grows along the sides of the wadi.

The city lay within the territory of the kingdom of Mauretania, which became a Roman client state following the fall of Carthage in 146 BC. The Punic influence lasted for a considerable time afterwards, as the city's magistrates retained the Carthaginian title of suffete long after the end of Punic rule. Juba II of Numidia was placed on the Mauretanian throne by Augustus in 25 BC and turned his attention to building a royal capital at Volubilis. Educated in Rome and married to Cleopatra Selene II, the daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Juba and his son Ptolemy were thoroughly Romanised kings, although of Berber ancestry; their preference for Roman art and architecture was clearly reflected in the city's design.

After the annexation of Mauretania by Claudius in 44 AD, the city grew substantially due to its wealth and prosperity, derived from the fertile lands of the province which produced valuable export commodities such as grain, olive oil and wild animals for gladiatorial spectacles. At its peak in the late 2nd century, Volubilis had around 20,000 inhabitants – a very substantial population for a Roman provincial town – and the surrounding region was also well inhabited, with over 50 villas discovered in the area. It was mentioned by the 1st century AD geographer Pomponius Mela, who described it as his work De situ orbis libri III as one of "the wealthiest cities, albeit the wealthiest among small ones" in Mauretania. It is also mentioned by Pliny the Elder and the 2nd century Antonine Itinerary refers to its location and names it as Volubilis Colonia. Its population was dominated by Romanised Berbers.

The city became the administrative centre of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana. It remained loyal to Rome despite the revolt of Aedemon in 40–44 AD and its inhabitants were rewarded with grants of citizenship and a ten-year exemption from taxes. The city was raised to the status of a municipium and its system of governance was overhauled, with the Punic-style suffetes replaced by annually elected duumvirs, or magistrates. However, the city's position was always tenuous; it was located on the south-eastern edge of the province, facing hostile and increasingly powerful Berber tribes. A ring of five forts located at the modern hamlets of Aïn Schkor, Bled el Gaada, Sidi Moussa, Sidi Said and Bled Takourart (ancient Tocolosida) were constructed to aid the city's defence. Sidi Said was the base for the Cohors IV Gallorum, while Aïn Schkor housed Spanish and Belgic cohorts. Sidi Moussa was the location of a cohort of Parthians, and Gallic and Syrian cavalry were based at Toscolosida. Rising tensions in the region near the end of the 2nd century led the emperor Marcus Aurelius to order the construction of a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) circuit of walls with eight gates and 40 towers. Volubilis was connected by road to Lixus and Tingis (modern Tangier) but had no eastwards connections with the neighbouring province of Mauretania Caesarensis, as the territory of the Berber Baquates tribe lay in between.

Rome's control over the city ended following the chaos of the Crisis of the Third Century, when the empire nearly disintegrated as a series of generals seized and lost power through civil wars, palace coups and assassinations. Around 280, Roman rule collapsed in much of Mauretania and was never re-established. The collapse was evidently foreseen by the inhabitants of Volubilis, who buried coin hoards and fine bronze statues under their villas for safekeeping, where they were eventually rediscovered by archaeologists nearly 1,700 years later. Only a fragment of Mauretania Tingitana remained under Roman control. In 285, the emperor Diocletian reorganised what was left of the province to retain only the coastal strip between Lixus, Tingis and Septa (modern Ceuta). Although a Roman army was based in Tingis, it was decided that it would simply be too expensive to mount a reconquest of a vulnerable border region.