The story of Volubilis

Locals still call these ruins Qasr Fara'on, Pharaoh's Palace, but this was a Berber-Roman city that may have been the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania. It grew from the 3rd century BC, and King Juba II, educated in Rome and married to Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, built here in the Roman taste. Under Rome the city spread over about 42 hectares and, at its peak in the late 2nd century, had around 20,000 inhabitants.

Its wealth came mainly from olives, and it paid for fine town houses with large mosaic floors; look for the chariot race driven by animals in the House of Venus. Around 285 the city fell to local tribes, and Rome never returned, yet people lived here for at least another 700 years. In the late 8th century it became the seat of Idris, founder of the Idrisid dynasty.

About half the site has been excavated, and UNESCO lists it as an exceptionally well preserved Roman colonial town.