WALILI...VOLUBILIS

     This is a Roman city located near the holy city of Moulay Idriss where is buried the founder of the dynasty Idrisside Idriss 1st. Walili is the Berber name of the city and which originated the flower of bindweed. The presence of oil press reflects intense commercial activity based on olive oil. 

     Excavations have shown the occupation of the site since the Neolithic era but its development will be launched at the second century before J-C. The kingdom of Mauretania was occupied by the Romans in 42 AD and it was only after the murder of Caligula that Volubilis became the capital of the Roman administration in Mauretania. The Roman occupation ended in 429 with the invasion of Vandals from Spain. The Islamization of the Maghreb began with the Abbasid who settled in 681 at Volubilis. Idriss first settled there in 789 after his flight from Baghdad to escape the Abbasid and the defeat of the Battle of Fakh. 

     Volubilis became Walila. Idriss II son of Idriss 1st founded the city of Fes in 818, what caused the decline of Volubilis. UNESCO declared this site as a universal heritage. 

Today we can still admire the olive groves and fields of the remains of this Roman period: 

- a forum 

- Thermal baths 

- A wall with 8 gates 

- Rich mansions with mosaics 

- The hulieries and bakeries

Source : moroccobiz