Volubilis (and Moulay Idriss)

“Volubilis (called by the Arabs the Castle of the Pharaohs) is the only considerable Roman colony so far discovered in Morocco. It stands on the extreme ledge of a high plateau backed by the mountains of the Zerhoun. Below the plateau, the land drops down precipitately to a narrow river-valley green with orchards and gardens, and in the neck of the valley, where the hills meet again, the conical white town of Moulay Idriss, the Sacred City of Morocco, rises sharply against a wooded background.”

Excerpt From: Wharton, Edith. “In Morocco.” (1920)

I was glad my own impressions of Volubilis did not differ greatly to those of Edith who travelled here in 1917.

Nowadays Moulay Idriss, which faces the Roman ruins up the valley, looks a good deal less pristine than it once did. From a distance, however, the city which only granted entrance to non-Muslims in the 1920s, is picturesque.

It is hard to believe that at Moulay Idriss Wharton witnessed the bloody religious dance of the Hamadcha Sufi sect. I am unsure if the dances are as frenzied as they were back then but Moulay Idriss hardly seems an outpost of Moslem zealotry. It has lots of pizza shops and men hanging around in smokey cafes, satellite dishes adorning its roof tops, chi-chi tourist guest houses and a regular public bus service running on the hour to Meknes.

Wharton describes the gruesome spectacle...

“the dancers hacked in their own skulls and breasts with hatchets and sharpened stones. The dance was a blood-rite, a great sacrificial symbol, in which blood flowed so freely that all the rocking feet were splashed with it.”

Excerpt From: Wharton, Edith. “In Morocco.”

Volubilis by contrast is a stunning and easy to get to by grand taxi. It cost us about $5 each way.

Thankfully all of the recent Europeans holiday makers have vanished now that the new year has passed and we largely had the ruins to ourselves.

We visited the Archaeological Museum in Rabat a couple of days ago to see the Roman bronzes which had been taken there from Volubilis for "protection".

The only security on show was a lazy attendant who spent the whole time gas bagging with a female toilet attendant. The CCTV cameras were out of order and I took photos to my heart's content. There seem to be no alarms, no surveillance at all and we were the only visitors walking the museum halls which has a number of emergency exits to the street. Such a place would be a professional art thief's dream.

When we get to the House of the Ephebus, which must have once been an impressive mansion on the main road into the city, I remember the bronze of the youth found there and housed in Rabat.

There are other impressive bronzes and Edith Wharton mentions one in her book worth quoting - the "sloughi" - or African hunting dog. Here is a photo I managed to take...

Apart from the hound, Wharton notes the fabulous Triumphal Arch on the Decumanus Maximus (main way) and fragments of the "bascilica" which my guide book tells me was most likely a courthouse (see the first photo).

“Little remains to Volubilis in the way of important monuments: only the fragments of a basilica, part of an arch of triumph erected in honour of Caracalla, and the fallen columns and architraves which strew the path of Rome across the world. But its site is magnificent; and as the excavation of the ruins was interrupted by the war it is possible that subsequent search may bring forth other treasures comparable to the beautiful bronze sloughi (the African hound) which is now its principal possession.”

Excerpt From: Wharton, Edith. “In Morocco.”

Wharton is wrong, however, about there being little of importance remaining at Volubilis itself.

There are several beautiful mosaics which may not have been unearthed at the time of her visit.

We were alarmed by the way the mosaics have been left open to the elements. Some are naturally showing signs of degradation.

The most impressive is that to be found in The House of Orpheus which shows the God playing his lyre to subdue a range of African animals, amongst them elephants, monkeys, leopards, tigers, rhinos, ostriches, ibex and bears.

I read most African animals in North Africa disappeared in the space of about two hundred years after the Romans settled. Apart from exporting top notch olive oil to the imperial capital, Volubilis also supplied Rome with tens of thousands of wild animals for slaughter in the colloseum.

Gladitorial spectacles as well as the slaughter of animals and Christians, was as popular in Africa it was in Rome.

This small ceramic piece from the site (c. 3 AD) depicts a gladiator.

There are several other mosaics at Volubilis worth noting. Heracles performs his twelve labours. This is no great work of art. Perhaps the almost comical depictions suggest something about provincial tastes of less refined Romans at the time who paid to have this stuff adorning their homes?

Here is Heracles bashing an Amazon ...

But then there are some very refined and exceptional pieces.

At the so called House of Venus we came across the Goddess, Diana Bathing...

I was surprised by what Volubilis had to offer, thinking that the ruins would be little more than rubble. It was a long day, a rewarding day, and coming back to another night of this ...

...I really can't complain about any of the aches and pains that result from such efforts, can I?

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