Volubilis — Selene's Forgotten Pact

Your quest for the forgotten pact begins at the Volubilis archaeological site's welcome area, a gateway to a city that was the probable capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania under King Juba II, in the 2nd century BC. Archaeological excavations carried out by France in the early 20th century revealed the past splendor of this city, occupied since prehistory, then by Phoenicians and Carthaginians before the Roman establishment in 44 AD under Emperor Claudius. From the first information panel, the initial clues guide you through the layers of history, laying the groundwork for your investigation in this Fès-Meknès region, where Morocco's Roman past is palpable.

At the ramparts of Volubilis, you observe the remains of robust urban defenses. These walls, still partially visible, testify to the strategic importance of the Roman city in Mauretania. As you follow these fortifications, you decode messages left by a secret agent of the era, who leveraged Volubilis's location at the foot of the Jebel Zerhoun. This mountain range, a natural landmark dominating the archaeological site, served as a natural boundary and territorial control point during the Roman period, offering a unique perspective on the Empire's protection and expansion challenges.

Continue your progress on an authentic Roman road, whose regularly arranged stone slabs are a testament to Roman civil engineering from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. This network of paved roads connected Volubilis to other urban centers of Roman Mauretania, facilitating trade and military movements. Your mission then takes you towards the Zerhoun hills, where the breathtaking view of the Volubilis archaeological site allows you to locate the stages of your 1.5 km journey. It is here, in this emblematic landscape of the Fès-Meknès region, that you decipher a crucial clue related to the Empire's roads.

At the Roman well in Volubilis, you examine the remains of pipelines and water supply techniques, critical infrastructure for the urban functioning of a city of such importance. These archaeological elements demonstrate the level of technical development of Roman Mauretania. In the adjacent olive grove, a coded message is hidden among the centuries-old trees, evoking Volubilis's economic prosperity and the residential architectural structures with mosaics and atriums from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD that attested to this wealth.

The hiking trail finally leads you to the commemorative stele, the culmination of your Volubilis exploration. The funerary steles and lapidary inscriptions in Latin dating from the Roman era (1st-3rd centuries AD) are direct testimonies of daily life and the social hierarchy of the ancient city. By deciphering the ultimate inscription, you reconstruct Selene's forgotten pact and understand the impact of Volubilis, this major archaeological site in Morocco, on the history of Roman Mauretania. This adventure will have introduced you to Meknes, a nearby administrative city, and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Volubilis from a new perspective.