When in Rome (or Volubilis)

Three miles from Moulay Idriss (the town where we were staying) is a place called Volubilis. Back in the time before Christ when the Romans ruled this part of the world, Volubilis was established as a Roman city. It was about the farthest southwest city in the Roman Empire.

When Volubilis was established before the time of Christ, this part of the world was called Mauretania, and Volubilis was its administrative center. Volubilis was a city complete with public baths and public toilets, triumphal arches, parliament buildings, residences, and everything you'd expect to find in a city of 20,000. These days, the only creatures to call Volubilis home are the wildlife, like these storks.

But back in the day this place was a big deal. The Romans left in 285 AD, but for centuries after they left people continued to live here, and even to speak Latin.

Volubilis was occupied until the 11th century. At that time Fes became the local administrative center, and the people who had lived in Volubilis moved to the newly established city of Moulay Idriss.

In the 18th century there was an earthquake which did the kind of damage you'd expect from an earthquake. In the 1830s the French began to excavate Volubilis, and by 1997 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Because Volubilis is enormous it's that much more magnificent. Some of the ruins have been reconstructed in part (such as these columns, which look like they're glued together—because they are) so we can get an idea of what it used to look like here. 

Many of the public buildings and the private residences of the wealthy citizens (olive growing was big business) had mosaics on the floor. It's astonishing that after 2000 years so many survive. (It's also astonishing that they're currently exposed to the elements.) See this mosaic above?

This gives you some perspective. I believe this one was in a residence.

Here's another mosaic. There were so many mosaics I couldn't begin to count, and I took pictures of a bunch of them but by no means of all of them.

The mosaics in these pictures have all been excavated and some of them have had some restoration work done.

But for every masterpiece like this one, there's another mosaic that's still yet to be excavated and is underneath weeds. We saw a lot of that. The excavation and restoration is a continuing project.

Volubilis is quite literally an outdoor museum. Even though we knew we were going to see Roman ruins, it was still a surprise. (And by "we" I mean me and Brad; Peter and Jessa had already visited here.) Who would think you could see Roman ruins on this scale ..... in Morocco?