Our friends Fred and Denise Cook told us not to miss Volubilis. Volubilis was originally a Berber city founder around 300 bc. It was subsequently ruled by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. In the first century AD it was conquered by the Romans and developed to Roman standards.
It fell to the local Berber tribes around 285 BC and was not reconquered by the Romans. About 850 AD it was pretty much abandoned. The city stood largely intact until the 17th century when a major earthquake destroyed a large part of the city.
After the earthquake a lot of the stones were used for the construction of the nearby city of Meknes. During the French occupation of Morocco archaeological digs began in the area and some reconstruction was done.
It is famous for several well preserved mosaic floors throughout the city. These are extensive and while the colors are fading as they are exposed to the sun they are still beautiful.
It is nice to be able to approach these mosaics up close, but Ton and I were wondering if more effort should be made towards protecting them from the elements so the colors don’t continue to fade. Also several of the mosaics were covered in dirt that had blown in from the surrounding fields.
Visible from Volubilis is the white city of Moulay Idriss Zerhouan. It is an important pilgrimage site for moslems as it is the first city that adopted Islam. The mausoleum of the first Islamic ruler of Morocco Idris I is located there. He was assassinated in Volubilis by order of the Sultan of Baghdad.
As we have travelled around Europe, and North Africa we have visited a lot of Roman sites. Ton asked my favorite so far and it was easy for me. I liked Agrigento in Sicily. She also favored Agrigento. Partly because it is not just a Roman site, but also has Greek ruins in it. We may be biased because the day we went there we almost had it to ourselves. Pompei is another incredible Roman site, but it was so full of people it was difficult to enjoy.
Volubilis was never a major city in any of the empires it existed in. It was always a kind of provincial town under the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Berbers, Romans, and Moroccans and was abandoned as a settlement by 850 AD. But the ruins today gave us an appreciation of how people lived in the past.
