Volubilis

VOLUBILIS(Οὐολουβιλίς, Ptol. 4.1.14), a town of Mauretania Tingitana, seated on the river Subur, and on the road from Tocolosida to Tingis, from the former of which places it was only 4 miles distant. ( Itin. Ant. p. 23.) It lay 35 miles SE. from Banasa, and the same distance from the coast. (Plin. Nat. 5.1. s. 1; Mela, 3.10.) It was a Roman colony ( Itin. Ant. l. c. ) and a place of some importance. Ptolemy calls the inhabitants of the surrounding district, Volubiliani (Οὐολουβιλιανοί, 4.1.10). In the time of Leo Africanus (p. 279, ed. Lorsbach) it was a deserted town between Fezand Mequinez, bearing the name of Valilior Gualili, the walls of which were 6 Italian miles in circumference. That position is now occupied by the town of Zanitat-Mula-Driss, on mount Zarhon. At some distance to the NW. are the splendid ruins of Kassr Faraun(Pharaoh's castle), with Roman inscriptions; but to what ancient city they belong is unknown. (Cf. Mannert, x. pt. 2. p. 486; Graberg di Hemsö, p. 28; Wimmer, Gemälde von Afrika, 1. p. 439.)
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