Side Trip to Volubilis

Side Trip to Volubilis

Volubilis was the capital of the Roman province of Mauritania (Land of the Moors), Rome's southwesternmost incursion into North Africa. Favored by the confluence of the Rivers Khoumane and Fertasse and surrounded by some of Morocco's most fertile plains, this site has probably been inhabited since the Neolithic era.

Volubilis's municipal street plan and distribution of public buildings are remarkably coherent examples of Roman urban planning. The floor plans of the individual houses, and especially their well-preserved mosaic floors depicting mythological scenes, provide a rare connection to the sensibilities of the Roman colonists who lived here 2,000 years ago.

If you prefer to see Volubilis on your own (less informative, more contemplative), proceed through the entrance and make a clockwise sweep. After crossing the little bridge over the Fertasse River, climb up to the plateau's left edge, and you'll soon come across a Berber skeleton lying beside a sculpture with his head pointed east, a deliberate placement suggesting early Islamization of the Berber populace here.

Remains of Roman olive presses are visible to the left, 2 of some 55 such presses identifiable at Volubilis, proof of the importance of the olive-oil industry that supported the 20,000 inhabitants of this 28-acre metropolis. The first important mosaics are to the right in the imposing House of Orpheus: a dolphin mosaic and a mosaic depicting the Orpheus myth in the tablinum, a back room used as a library and receiving room. Past the public Baths of Gallienus, in a room to the right, are a dozen sets of footprints raised slightly above floor level. If you find this strangely reminiscent of European water-closet engineering, well, that's what this was: a communal bathroom. The wide paved street leading up to the capitol, the basilica, and the forum is the Cardus Maximus, the main east-west thoroughfare of any Roman town. Across the forum from the basilica were the market stalls. The triumphal arch -- built in AD 217, knocked down by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and restored in 1932 -- is down to the left at the end of Decumanus Maxiumus, the main north-south street. The eroded medallions on the arch represent the emperor Caracalla and his mother, Julia Donna. As you look south through the triumphal arch, the first building to the left is known as the House of the Dog, since a bronze dog sculpture, now on display in Rabat, was discovered here. The House of the Athlete, with a mosaic depicting an acrobat performing an equestrian trick, is right after the House of the Dog. Just south is the entrance to the town brothel, or Lupanar, identifiable by an impressive phallus carved out of stone.

The town's greatest mansions and mosaics line the Decumanus Maximus from the town brothel north to the Tangier Gate, which leads out of the enclosure on the uphill end. Some of the most famous include the House of Ephebus,just west of the triumphal arch, named for the nude ivy-crowned bronze sculpture discovered here (now on display in Rabat). The cenacula, or banquet hall, has colorful mosaics with Bacchic themes. Continuing up the Decumanus Maximus, the small spaces near the street's edge held shop stalls, while mansions -- 10 on the left and 8 on the right -- lined either side. The house of Dionysus and the Four Seasons is about halfway down the Decumanus Maximus; its scene depicting Dionysus discovering Ariadne asleep is one of the town's most spectacular mosaics. The House of the Bathing Nymphs is named for its superb floor mosaics portraying a bevy of frolicking nymphs in a surprisingly contemporary, all but animated, artistic fashion. On the main street's right side, the penultimate house has a marble bas-relief medallion of Bacchus. As you move back south along the next street below and parallel to the Decumanus Maximus, there is a smaller, shorter row of six houses. The fourth one down contains Volubilis's best set of mosaics and should not be missed. This is the House of Venus,with mosaics portraying a chariot race, a bathing Diana surprised by the hunter Actaeon, and the abduction of Hylas by nymphs. The path back down to the entrance passes the site of the Temple of Saturn, across the riverbed on the left.