Iulia Valentia Banasa
{{Short description|Ancient Berber-Roman city in Morocco}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Colonia Iulia Valentia Banasa
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| image = Banasa grands bagn å Coûtchant.JPG
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| caption = Roman ruins of Banasa: great occidental thermae
| map_type = Morocco
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| coordinates = {{coord|34|36|06|N|06|06|56|W|display=inline,title}}
| location = Sidi Ali Boujenoun, Kénitra Province, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Morocco
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| type = Settlement
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| builder = Augustus
| material =
| built = Between 33 and 25 BC
| abandoned = Approximately 285 AD
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Iulia Valentia Banasa, corresponding to modern day Sidi Ali Boujnoun ({{langx|ar|سيدي علي بوجنون|}}){{Cite book |last=Maréchal |first=Sadi |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Public_Baths_and_Bathing_Habits_in_Late/o5fLDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=banasa%20sidi%20ali&pg=PA356&printsec=frontcover |title=Public Baths and Bathing Habits in Late Antiquity: A Study of the Evidence from Italy, North Africa and Palestine A.D. 285-700 |date=2020-01-20 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-41942-1 |pages=356 |language=en}} was a Roman-Berber city in northern Morocco. It was one of the three colonias in Mauretania TingitanaDictionnaire de l'Antiquité. 2005 founded by emperor Augustus between 33 and 25 BC for veterans of the battle of Actium, on top of a Mauretanian village. The site was in fact already occupied by the local Amazigh people from the 4th century BC, or perhaps earlier.{{Cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=banasa|language=en|title=BANASA (Sidi Ali bou Djenoun) Morocco|access-date=August 20, 2021}}
Characteristics
Beautiful mosaics decorated the buildings and now most are shown at the Rabat Archaeological Museum.{{Cite web |url=http://www.minculture.gov.ma/fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76%3Asites-antiques-du-maroc&catid=44&Itemid=104&lang=fr#Banasa |title=Banasa |access-date=2014-06-12 |archive-date=2018-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328164900/http://www.minculture.gov.ma/fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:sites-antiques-du-maroc&catid=44&Itemid=104&lang=fr#Banasa |url-status=dead }} Four bathhouses were discovered in Banasa.
Some of the other major Roman companion cities to Iulia Valentia Banasa of this early era are Chellah and Volubilis, the latter of which shares the features of basilica and regular street pattern.{{cite web |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |year=2007 |title=Chellah |publisher= The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17910}}
Objects recovered at Banasa may be seen at the Rabat Archaeological Museum.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
Gallery
File:Banasa bagn.JPG|Roman ruins of Banasa: thermae with fresco
File:حجر مكتوب باللغة اللاتينية.jpg|Stone written in Latin
File:Banasa tiesse di colone.JPG|Section of Roman column
File:بناصا.JPG|View of Banasa ruins
File:وسط بناصا.JPG|View of the Roman Forum and Basilica
File:Banasa hoard.jpg|Hoard of 60 denarius silver coins found in Banasa
See also
{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- William Seston & Maurice Euzennat, « La citoyenneté romaine au temps de Marc Aurèle et de Commode, d'après la Tabula Banasitana », CRAI, 105-2, 1961, p. 317-324
External links
{{Commons category|Banasa (Morocco)}}
- [http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/france-priorities_1/archaeology_2200/archaeology-notebooks_2202/europe-maghreb_2210/morocco-banasa_6428/index.html Diplomatie France]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090710034738/http://archeo.ens.fr/8546Len/Banasa/Banasa_Mosaiques.html Catalogue des Mosaïques de Banasa ]
- [http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Tabula_Banasitana Tabula Banasitana ]
- [https://www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk/pages/collections_featured.php?parent=7917 Manar al-Athar digital photo archive] (photos of different areas and angles of the site)
{{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa}}
{{Former cities in Morocco}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Archaeological sites in Morocco
Category:Roman sites in Morocco
Category:Roman towns and cities in Morocco