Iulia Valentia Banasa (Sidi Ali Bou Djenoun)
Colonia Iulia Valentia Banasa
Mauretanian to Late Roman (4th c BCE–7th c CE; peak 1st–3rd c CE)·Mauri / Phoenician / Roman·🇲🇦 Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Kénitra Province, Morocco
About
About Iulia Valentia Banasa (Sidi Ali Bou Djenoun)
Colonia Iulia Valentia Banasa on the Sebou — Augustus' veterans' colony on the Tangier–Sala road, 40 km east of Kénitra at Sidi Ali Bou Djenoun mausoleum. Fluvial port town with double forum (Republican mansio then imperial colonnaded forum), Capitol, basilica, baths, late-Roman castrum with square towers enclosing 4 ha, and circus. Amphitheatre outside walls. Important for banasa tabula — bronze patronage tablet of 162 CE granting citizenship to Berber chiefs (Tabula Banasitana, now Rabat museum).
Why it mattersTabula Banasitana is cornerstone bronze for Roman citizenship and Mauri patronage law; river port model for Tingitana.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Sebou palaeochannel port quays location
- 02Whether Banasa is Bocchus palace Banasa
Theories
- 01Banasa's castrum reflects Diocletianic abandonment of south to voluntary Mauri buffer
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Moorish town 4th c BCE; colonia by Augustus 33–27 BCE; castrum 285 CE
- Period
- Mauretanian to Late Roman (4th c BCE–7th c CE; peak 1st–3rd c CE)
- Culture
- Mauri / Phoenician / Roman
- Builders
- Augustus veterans / Roman
- Purpose
- Sebou river port colonia and citizenship-grant chancery (patronage tablet archive)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
Moorish town 4th c BCE; colonia by Augustus 33–27 BCE; castrum 285 CE
Initial construction
c. 1041 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
34.6017° N · 6.1156° W · 35 m · 3 mapped features
Forum and Basilica
forumDouble-phase forum with basilica and capitolium
34.6020° N · 6.1150° WLate Roman Castrum
fortress200 m square fort with corner towers 285 CE
34.6010° N · 6.1160° WCamp of Banasa
industrialTabula findspot — archive of patronage bronzes
34.6015° N · 6.1145° W