mail: Bill Thayer

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Images from 1965

A general view of the town, now out in the middle of nowhere.

I took these black-and‑white pictures when I was 15, and found them in February 1998, in some papers inherited from my mother. (I should clean house more often.) Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, the photos of the mosaics, especially, are pretty good; but most of all, there is very little of Roman Africa on the Web, so I hope this contribution is useful. I've put everything I have on this page: each of the small images opens up to an image the same size as the one above.

Volubilis appears on Ptolemy's map of Mauretania and is mentioned once in Pliny's Natural History at NH 5.1.5.

The Arch of Caracalla	The Basilica	Gordian's Palace (The street leads to the Arch of Caracalla)	The Capitolium
OK, the top row was easy; but what are the items above? Anyone who can identify these pictures (definitely of Volubilis, mind you) please drop me a line. . . .
A mysterious vatic figure: sibyl? oracle? Christian saint??	A flute-player	Medusa looking particularly fetching: not only her hair is serpents, but so is her elegant scarf tie!	My guess: one of the Winds
Mini-quiz for beginners: can you identify the scenes above and the person involved? For the answer (along with the larger pictures) click on any of them.
The Orpheus Mosaic looks like an excuse to depict the many animals Africa was known for.	The Dolphin Mosaic	a mill	an attractive shell-shaped architectural ornament

Images with borders lead to more information. The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)
UP TO:	Mauretania Tingitana	Roman Gazetteer	LacusCurtius	Home
OFF SITE:	Adventures of Morocco
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information.