Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T02:10:41.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The civic district of Sala (Chellah – Rabat, Morocco): shaping and perceiving monuments under the Roman Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2022

Stefano Camporeale
Affiliation:
University of Siena, Italy
Niccolò Mugnai*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, UK
Rossella Pansini
Affiliation:
University of Siena, Italy
*
*University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St. Giles’, Oxford OX1 3LU, UK. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This article investigates the development of urbanism and architecture at the site of Sala (Chellah), from the end of the first century BC to the latter half of the second century AD. By looking at the transformations in the town's civic centre from the Mauretanian to Roman imperial period, the aim is to assess how the layout and function of public spaces and buildings were reshaped to respond to new ideas of monumentality. A range of research methodologies are applied to address this question, including architectural, archival, and archaeological analyses, as well as the use of 3D digital modelling. The case study of Sala is of particular importance, as it shows how certain pre-Roman monuments were kept in use within new public contexts, and how imperial-style, urban and architectural features were introduced in the town as part of trends that can be recognized across North Africa and the Roman Empire more broadly.

الحي المدني في سالا (شالة - الرباط ، المغرب ): تشكيل وإدراك للصروح الأثرية في عهد الإمبراطورية الرومانية

ستيفانو كامبوريال ، نيكولو موغناي ، روسيلا بانسيني

تبحث هذه الورقة في تطور العمران والعمارة في موقع سالا (شالة )، من نهاية القرن الأول قبل الميلاد إلى النصف الثاني من القرن الثاني الميلادي . و ذلك من خلال النظر في التحولات التي جرت على المركز المدني للمدينة من العصر الموريتاني إلى فترة الإمبراطورية الرومانية، و الهدف هو تقييم الكيفية التي أعيد بها تشكيل مخطط و وظيفة الأماكن والمباني العامة و قد طبقت مجموعة من منهجيات البحث لمعالجة هذا السؤال، بما في ذلك التحليلات المعمارية والأرشيفية .(monumentality) للاستجابة للأفكار الجديدة للصروح الضخمة والأثرية، بالإضافة إلى استخدام النماذج الرقمية ثلاثية الأبعاد. تعتبر دراسة الحالة بمدينة سالا ذات أهمية خاصة، حيث توضح كيف أنه تم الاحتفاظ ببعض المعالم الأثرية التي تعود إلى ما قبل الرومان في سياقات عامة جديدة، وكيف تم إدخال الطراز الإمبراطوري بسماته المعمارية والحضرية في المدينة كجزء من النزعات التي يمكن التعرف عليها في شمال إفريقيا والإمبراطورية الرومانية على نطاق أوسع .

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute for Libyan & Northern African Studies 2022.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiosa, S. 2012. Urbanistica e ideologia: a proposito del Tempio di Ercole a Sabratha. In Cocco, M.B., Gavini, A. and Ibba, A. (eds), L'Africa Romana. Trasformazione dei paesaggi del potere nell'Africa settentrionale fino alla fine del mondo antico. Atti del XIX convegno di studio (Sassari, 16–19 dicembre 2010). Carocci, Rome: 311–24.Google Scholar
Aiosa, S. 2013. Il tempio di Ercole a Sabratha. Architettura e contesto urbano. ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider, Rome.Google Scholar
Aounallah, S. and Golvin, J.-C. (eds) 2016. Dougga: Études d'architecture religieuse, 2. Les sanctuaires du forum, du centre de l'agglomeration et de la Grande rue courbe. Ausonius Éditions, Bordeaux.Google Scholar
Ardeleanu, S. 2021. Numidia Romana? Die Auswirkungen der römischen Präsenz in Numidien (2. Jh. v. Chr. – 1. Jh. n. Chr.). Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Barresi, P. 2002. Gli ingressi monumentali nelle province africane e in Siria tra II e III secolo d.C. In Khanoussi, M., Ruggeri, P. and Vismara, C. (eds), L'Africa Romana. Lo spazio marittimo del Mediterraneo occidentale. Atti del XIV convegno di studio (Sassari, 7–10 dicembre 2000). Carocci, Rome: 1445–67.Google Scholar
Barresi, P. 2007. Metrologia punica. Lumières Internationales, Lugano.Google Scholar
Bekkari, M. 1967. L'archéologie marocaine en 1966–1967. Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine 7: 650–62.Google Scholar
Bekkari, M. 1968–72. L'archéologie marocaine en 1968 et 1969. Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine 8: 241–48.Google Scholar
Bloom, J.M. 2020. Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700–1800. Yale University Press, New Haven-London.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1966a. Un nouveau portrait de Juba II découvert à Sala. Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine 6: 91107.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1966b. Fouilles archéologiques à Sala. Hespéris-Tamuda 7: 2332.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1967. Documents d'architecture maurétanienne au Maroc. Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine 7: 263369.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1977. Sala. Les nécropoles: planches. Musée des Antiquités, Rabat.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1979–80. Sala: notes d’épigraphie. Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine 12: 111–37.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1990a. La dédicace du capitole de Sala (Maroc) et la base honorifique de C. Hosidius Severus. Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Antiquité 102: 213–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boube, J. 1990b. Une statue-portrait de Ptolémée de Maurétanie à Sala (Maroc). Revue Archéologique n.s. 2: 331–60.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1990c. Sala. In Burollet, T. (ed.), De l'empire romain aux villes impériales: 6000 ans d'art au Maroc. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris: 29.Google Scholar
Boube, J. 1999. Les nécropoles de Sala. Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, Paris.Google Scholar
Brahmi, N. 2010. Les cultores domus Augustae et le temple du culte impérial à Volubilis. In Milanese, M., Ruggeri, P. and Vismara, C. (eds), L'Africa Romana. I luoghi e le forme dei mestieri e della produzione nelle province africane. Atti del XVIII convegno di studio (Olbia, 11–14 dicembre 2008). Carocci, Rome: 1529–42.Google Scholar
Brahmi, N. 2016. Volubilis, de la cité maurétanienne au municipe romain: ruptures et continuités religieuses. In Ouachour, F., Pimouguet-Pédarros, I. and Clavel-Levêque, M. (eds), Hommes, cultures et paysages de l'Antiquité à la période moderne. Mélanges offerts à Jean Peyras. Enquêtes et documents. Presses universitaires de Rennes, Rennes: 7991.Google Scholar
Brouquier-Reddé, V., El Khayari, A. and Ichkhakh, A. 2001. Recherches sur les monuments religieux de la Maurétanie Tingitane. De Louis Chatelain à la Mission Temples. In Actes des 1ères Journées Nationales d'Archéologie et du Patrimoine. Société Marocaine d'Achéologie et du Patrimoine (SMAP), Rabat: 187–97.Google Scholar
Brouquier-Reddé, V., El Khayari, A. and Ichkhakh, A. 2004. Le temple du forum de Banasa. Nouvelles données archéologiques. In Khanoussi, M., Ruggeri, P. and Vismara, C. (eds), L'Africa Romana. Ai confini dell'impero: contatti, scambi, conflitti. Atti del XV convegno di studio (Tozeur, 11–15 dicembre 2002). Carocci, Rome: 1885–98.Google Scholar
Brouquier-Reddé, V., El Khayari, A. and Ichkhakh, A. 2006. Lixus, de l’époque phénicienne à la période médiévale: le quartier dit ‘des temples’. In Akerraz, A., Ruggeri, P., Siraj, A. and Vismara, C. (eds), L'Africa Romana. Mobilità delle persone e dei popoli, dinamiche migratorie, emigrazioni ed immigrazioni nelle province occidentali dell'impero romano. Atti del XVI convegno di studio (Rabat, 15–19 dicembre 2004). Carocci, Rome: 2157–74.Google Scholar
Brouquier-Reddé, V., Ichkhakh, A. and El Khayari, A. 2018. Architecture maurétanienne et romaine: le cas du sanctuaire D de Volubilis. In Baratte, F., Brouquier-Reddé, V. and Rocca, E. (eds), Du culte aux sanctuaires. L'architecture religieuse dans l'Afrique romaine et byzantine. Actes du colloque (Paris, 18–19 avril 2013). De Boccard, Paris: 5466.Google Scholar
Camporeale, S. 2004. Tecniche edilizie in pietra nella Mauretania Tingitana tra l'epoca mauretana e romana. Osservazioni sulle apparecchiature e utilizzo della malta. Archeologia dell'architettura 9: 195205.Google Scholar
Camporeale, S. 2004–05. Tecniche edilizie del Marocco antico: Thamusida, Banasa, Sala. Tipologia, maestranze, storia urbana. Unpublished PhD thesis, Università degli Studi di Siena.Google Scholar
Camporeale, S. 2008. Materiali e tecniche delle costruzioni. In Akerraz, A. and Papi, E. (eds), Sidi Ali ben Ahmed – Thamusida, 1. I contesti. Quasar, Rome: 62178.Google Scholar
Camporeale, S. 2015. Concrete barrel vaults reinforced with stone voussoirs arches in the western provinces of the Roman empire (Mauretania Tingitana and Baetica). In Bowen, B., Friedman, D., Leslie, T. and Ochsendorf, J. (eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress on Construction History (Chicago, 3–7 June 2015). Construction History Society of America, Chicago: 341–49.Google Scholar
Camporeale, S. 2016. Merging technologies in North African ancient architecture: opus quadratum and opus africanum from the Phoenicians to the Romans. In Mugnai, N., Nikolaus, J. and Ray, N. (eds), De Africa Romaque: Merging Cultures across North Africa. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Leicester (26–27 October 2013). Society for Libyan Studies, London: 5771.Google Scholar
Camporeale, S. 2021. Il Foro di Sala, 1. Il Capitolium. Quasar, Rome.Google Scholar
Camporeale, S. forthcoming. L'arco monumentale. In Papi, E. (ed.), Il Foro di Sala. Gli scavi Borély-Fouad. Quasar, Rome.Google Scholar
Chatelain, L. 1930. Le forum de Sala. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 74(4): 336–40.Google Scholar
Chatelain, L. 1944. Le Maroc des Romains. Étude sur les centres antiques de la Maurétanie occidentale. De Boccard, Paris.Google Scholar
Coarelli, F. and Thébert, Y. 1988. Architecture funéraire et pouvoir: réflexions sur l'hellénisme numide. Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Antiquité 100: 761818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coltelloni-Trannoy, M. 1997. Le royaume de Maurétanie sous Juba II et Ptolémée (25 av. J.-C. – 40 ap. J.-C.). Éditions du CNRS, Paris.Google Scholar
Di Vita, A. 2017. Per un profilo del capitello a foglie lisce: i capitelli del tempio di Liber Pater ed il capitello a foglie lisce di Sabratha. In Rizzo Di Vita, M.A. (ed.), Antonino Di Vita. La Tripolitania antica, scritti inediti. ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider, Rome: 5798.Google Scholar
Eingartner, J. 2005. Templa cum porticibus. Ausstattung und Funktion italischer Tempelbezirke in Nordafrika und ihre Bedeutung für die römische Stadt der Kaiserzeit. M. Leidorf, Rahden.Google Scholar
Euzennat, M. and Hallier, G. 1986. Les forums de Tingitane. Observations sur l'influence de l'architecture militaire sur les constructions civiles de l'Occident romain. Antiquités Africaines 22: 73103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferchiou, N. 1989. L’évolution du décor architectonique en Afrique proconsulaire des derniers temps de Carthage aux Antonins: l'hellénisme africain, son déclin, ses mutations et le triomphe de l'art romano-africain. Imprimerie Louis-Jean, Gap.Google Scholar
Golvin, J.-C., Aounallah, S., Brouquier-Reddé, V. and Maurin, L. 2018. Dougga, réflexion sur l’évolution du forum à travers l’étude des temples. In Baratte, F., Brouquier-Reddé, V. and Rocca, E. (eds), Du culte aux sanctuaires. L'architecture religieuse dans l'Afrique romaine et byzantine. Actes du colloque (Paris, 18–19 avril 2013). De Boccard, Paris: 1735.Google Scholar
Gros, P. 1978. Entablements modillonnaires d'Afrique au IIe s. apr. J.-C. (à propos de la corniche des temples du forum de Rougga). Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung 85: 459–76.Google Scholar
Gros, P. 1994. Les forums de Cuicul et de Thamugadi. Ordonnance et fonctionnement des espaces publics en milieu provincial au IIe siècle ap. J.-C. Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques 23: 6180.Google Scholar
Histoire du Maroc = Kably, M. (ed.) 2011. Histoire du Maroc. Réactualisation et synthèse. Institut royal pour la recherche sur l'histoire du Maroc, Rabat.Google Scholar
Hobson, M. 2020. Roman towns and the settlement hierarchy of ancient North Africa. In De Ligt, L. and Bintliff, J. (eds), Regional Urban Systems in the Roman World, 150 BCE–250 CE. Brill, Leiden: 282323.Google Scholar
IAM = Euzennat, M. and Marion, J. 1982. Inscriptions antiques du Maroc, 2. Inscriptions latines (published by J. Gascou). Éditions du CNRS, Paris.Google Scholar
IAM Suppl. = Labory, N. 2003. Inscriptions antiques du Maroc, 2. Inscriptions latines. Supplément. Éditions du CNRS, Paris.Google Scholar
Jodin, A. 1987. Volubilis Regia Iubae. Contribution à l’étude des civilisations du Maroc antique préclaudien. De Boccard, Paris.Google Scholar
Ksouri, H. 2018. Le complexe monumental au sud du théâtre de Bulla Regia: essai d'identification et de restitution architecturale. In Baratte, F., Brouquier-Reddé, V. and Rocca, E. (eds), Du culte aux sanctuaires. L'architecture religieuse dans l'Afrique romaine et byzantine. Actes du colloque (Paris, 18–19 avril 2013). De Boccard, Paris: 3754.Google Scholar
Lancaster, L. 2015. Innovative Vaulting in the Architecture of the Roman Empire, 1st to 4th Centuries CE. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landwehr, C. 2007. Les portraits de Juba II, roi de Maurétanie, et de Ptolémée, son fils et successeur. Revue Archéologique n.s. 43: 65110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenoir, E. 2005. La ville romaine de Zilil du Ier siecle av. J.-C. au IVe siecle ap. J.-C. Pallas 68: 6576.Google Scholar
Lenoir, M., Akerraz, A. and Lenoir, E. 1987. Le forum de Volubilis. Élements du dossier archéologique. In Los foros romanos de las provincias occidentales. Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, Madrid: 203–19.Google Scholar
Lézine, A. 1959. Résistance à l'hellénisme de l'architecture religieuse de Carthage. Cahiers de Tunisie 7: 247–61.Google Scholar
Lézine, A. 1960. Architecture punique. Recueil de documents. Presses Universitaires de France, Tunis.Google Scholar
Mazzilli, G. 2016. L'arco di Traiano a Leptis Magna. ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider, Rome.Google Scholar
Milella, M. 1989. La decorazione architettonica di Mactaris. In Mastino, A. (ed.), L'Africa Romana. Atti del VI convegno di studio (Sassari, 16–18 dicembre 1988). Editrice Democratica Sarda, Sassari: 417–29.Google Scholar
Mugnai, N. 2018. Architectural Decoration and Urban History in Mauretania Tingitana. Quasar, Rome.Google Scholar
Mugnai, N. 2019. Egyptianising motifs and Alexandrian influences on some elements of architectural decoration from Mauretania Tingitana (Morocco). In Bąkowska-Czerner, G. and Czerner, R. (eds), Greco-Roman Cities at the Crossroads of Cultures. The 20th Anniversary of Polish-Egyptian Conservation Mission Marina el-Alamein. Archaeopress, Oxford: 162–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mugnai, N. 2021. A promenade at Lepcis Magna: experiencing buildings from the Augustan to the Antonine era. Libyan Studies 52: 87118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, P.T. 2014. Sultan's paradise: the royal necropolis of Shāla, Rabat. Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean 26(2): 132–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pansini, R. 2012–13. Lixus (Marocco) – il quartiere della pendice orientale: tecniche edilizie e impianto urbanistico tra età maura e islamica. Unpublished MA thesis, Università degli Studi di Siena.Google Scholar
Pansini, R. 2018–19. Le aree pubbliche e monumentali africane in età romana. Il foro di Sala (Chellah/Rabat, Marocco). Unpublished PhD thesis, Università di Pisa.Google Scholar
Pansini, R. forthcoming (a). L'edificio occidentale. In Papi, E. (ed.), Il Foro di Sala. Gli scavi Borély-Fouad. Quasar, Rome.Google Scholar
Pansini, R. forthcoming (b). L'edificio con ninfeo monumentale. In Papi, E. (ed.), Il Foro di Sala. Gli scavi Borély-Fouad. Quasar, Rome.Google Scholar
Pensabene, P. 1986. La decorazione architettonica, l'impiego del marmo e l'importazione di manufatti orientali a Roma, in Italia e in Africa (II–VI d.C.). In Giardina, A. (ed.), Società romana e impero tardoantico, 3. Le merci, gli insediamenti. Laterza, Rome-Bari: 285429.Google Scholar
Pensabene, P. 1989. Architettura e decorazione nell'Africa romana: osservazioni. In Mastino, A. (ed.), L'Africa Romana. Atti del VI convegno di studio (Sassari, 16–18 dicembre 1988). Editrice Democratica Sarda, Sassari: 431–58.Google Scholar
Pensabene, P. 2011. Tradizioni punico-ellenistiche a Volubilis. I capitelli corinzi e compositi. Archeologia Classica 62: 203–78.Google Scholar
Quinn, J.C. 2013. Monumental power: ‘Numidian royal architecture’ in context. In Quinn, J.C. and Prag, J.R.W. (eds), The Hellenistic West. Rethinking the Ancient Mediterranean. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 179215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, J.C. and Wilson, A.I. 2013. Capitolia. Journal of Roman Studies 103: 117–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rakob, F. 1979. Numidische Königsarchitektur in Nordafrika. In Günter, H. and Rüger, C.B. (eds), Die Numider. Reiter und Könige nördlich der Sahara. Rudolf Habelt Verlag, Bonn: 119–71.Google Scholar
Ricciardi, M. 2005. Il tempio di Milk'Ashtart Ercole. In Di Vita, A. and Livadiotti, M. (eds), I tre templi del lato nord-ovest del foro vecchio di Leptis Magna. ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider, Rome: 309–93.Google Scholar
Roller, D.W. 2003. The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene. Royal Scholarship on Rome's African Frontier. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Scheding, P. 2019. Urbaner Ballungsraum im römischen Nordafrika. Zum Einfluss von mikroregionalen Wirtschafts- und Sozialstrukturen auf den Städtebau in der Africa Proconsularis. Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thouvenot, R. 1954. Le premier Banasa. Publications du Service des Antiquités du Maroc 11: 1319.Google Scholar
Tomasello, F. 2011. Il tempio sul decumano maggiore di Leptis Magna. ‘L'Erma’ di Bretschneider, Rome.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.I. 2008. Large-scale manufacturing, standardization, and trade. In Oleson, J. P. (ed.), Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 337–66.Google Scholar
Zanker, P. 1998. Pompeii: Public and Private Life. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar