BANASA
(Sidi Ali bou Djenoun) Morocco.
An ancient city of the province of Mauretania Tingitana
situated on the road from Tingi to Sala and mentioned
by Pliny, Ptolemy, the
Antonine Itinerary and the Geographer of Ravenna. Numerous inscriptions confirm the
site, which is located where the mausoleum of Sidi Ali
bou Djenoun was later built, 17 km W of Mechra bel
Ksiri. The ruins are on the left bank of the wadi Sebou,
which Pliny (
5.5) described as: amnis Sububus praeter
Banasam coloniam defluens magnificus et nauigabilis.
it probably could be crossed by bridge in the Roman
period.
The site appears to have been occupied as early as the
4th c. B.C., perhaps earlier. A Mauretanian village of
some size stood there in the 3d-2d c., and it was on
this site that Augustus formed a veterans' colony, colonia Iulia Valentia Banasa, during the period between
the death of King Bocchus and the accession of Juba II
(33-25 B.C.). it may be that this first Roman settlement
suffered in the disorders following the assassination of
Ptolemy of Mauretania in A.D. 40 and the annexing of
his kingdom. The buildings that have been uncovered do
not, as a whole, predate the end of the 1st c. A.D. : this
is the period of the last stage of the forum, which was
rebuilt on earlier remains. On becoming colonia Aurelia
Banasa under Marcus Aurelius (the circumstances are
unknown but may be connected with disorders that befell the province at this time), the city was laid waste
and abandoned in the late 3d c., probably even before
Diocletian had evacuated S Tingitania.
The strata dating from before the Roman conquest are
buried beneath thick layers of alluvial deposits from successive floods of the wadi Sebou. So far they have been
located in limited digs only in the S quarter and, to the
N, along the main cardo between the forum and the
marabout of Sidi Ahmed el Garge. The first potsherds
encountered in the excavations, 10.25 m from the surface, cannot be dated and are not matched by any building. The first structures are 4.5 down, below the Roman
stratum: a great number of potter's kilns and what may
be remains of dwellings of mud and unbaked brick, which
can be dated from the 3d-2d c. B.C. From this time on,
even up to the 1st c. A.D., the Banasa potters produced
characteristic painted ware, inspired by the Punic and
iberian models that were exported rather widely in the
region. Also corresponding to these early strata are a
number of tombs found SE of the forum. They contained
Punic jewels, possibly 6th-5th c. B.C., but the grave gifts
are probably later.
The Roman city was built on an overall NE-SW grid
plan forming regular but unequal insulae. However, a
second, more obviously N, orientation can be made out,
especially to the W. it crops up again in the S section
beyond the forum and is echoed in the plan of a section
of the city rampart found to the SW. Possibly, this second orientation reflects the plan of the Augustan colony,
in which case the rampart, which is usually dated from
the Late Empire (against all probability), would be that
of the colony.
The forum lies in the center of the settlement. A trapezoidal paved piazza (37 x 34 m), it is lined to W and
E by porticos and flanked to the N by a rectangular
basilica, to the E by a small apsidal hall, and to the S
by five cellae fronted by a common portico. These cellae
stand on a podium in front of which is a row of stone
plinths and statue bases. it is difficult to see a Capitolium
in this structure, as some have claimed, yet it is in fact
a temple, built on a plan (frequently found in Mauretania, as at Sala in the Augustan era, Volubilis under the
Seven, and Cherchel), which, together with the nearby
forum, suggests that the architects carried out the idea
of a principia of a military camp. Up to now no other
religious monument has been found, with the possible
exception of a little temple, not identified with certainty,
in the SW quarter. Yet from dedications and the presence
of a flaminica and seuiri augustales we have proof that
the imperial religion flourished; other inscriptions as well
as representations of figures attest the presence of the
customary gods of the Graeco-Roman pantheon and of
isis; also there was a temple of the Mater deum. However, the only public monuments uncovered apart from
the forum are baths—these are numerous, five having
been found in the only section of the city to be excavated. There is also a macellum, which should be placed
W of the forum, where it takes up an entire insula, and
not in the NW quarter where the name has been given
erroneously to a large domus.
The wealthiest houses in Banasa lack originality; very
similar to those found at Volubilis, though not as rich,
they are set around a central peristyle according to the
traditional plans of W provinces. On the other hand,
simpler houses are laid out according to a less regular
plan; they are reminiscent of the Mauretanian houses
found, for example, at Tamuda and at Lixus. Shops
abound in the whole of the excavated section, and several bakeries have been uncovered (recognizable by their
equipment) but, not surprisingly in this region traditionally given over to cereal production, only a very small
number of oil-making installations.
The poor appearance of these buildings can be explained by the fact that the nearest quarries, which provided only coarse stone, are a considerable distance
away. in most cases walls were built of mud or unbaked
brick on a base of irregularly shaped stones. Ashlar was
reserved for public buildings or for decoration, the poor
quality of the latter being amended somewhat, in the
2d-3d c. at least, by mosaic floors, imported marble
veneers, or painted frescos, some of which show traces
of a design of figures.
Some important objects have been uncovered. Stone
statuary is rare and usually crude; that in bronze is represented by minute fragments of large statues and a few
statuettes. Epigraphical material is exceptionally rich, the
bronze inscriptions being especially noteworthy: these
include a dozen military diplomas, four decrees of patronage, and two important legal texts (an edict of
Caracalla exempting the inhabitants of Banasa from
taxes in 216, and the Tabula banasitana from the period
of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, which set forth the
conditions under which aliens could be granted the right
of the city and the manner in which the consilium principis and the imperial chancellery were organized).
To the SW of the settlement, aerial photography has
revealed what probably are traces of a military camp and
a small fort of lesser importance; however, no remains
of the site can be detected on the ground itself.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Thouvenot,
Une colonie romaine de
Maurétanie tingitane: Valentia Banasa (1941); id., “Une
remise d'impôt sous l'empereur Caracalla,”
CRAI (1946)
548-58; id.,
Publications du Service des Antiquités du
Maroc 11 (1954) and 9 (1951); M. Euzennat “Chroniques,”
Bulletin d'Archéologie Marocaine 2 (1957) 202-5
MPI; id. & W. Seston, “Un dossier de la chancellerie
romaine: la Tabula Banasitana,”
CRAI (1971) 468-90.
M. EUZENNAT
