Location | Jbila, Tangier, Morocco |
---|---|
Region | Mauretania Tingitana |
Coordinates | 35°45′21″N5°56′09″W / 35.7558°N 5.9359°W |
Type | Settlement |
History | |
Builder | Romans |
Founded | After 40 AD |
Abandoned | c. 3rd century AD |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1965 |
Archaeologists | Michel Ponsich and Miquel Tarradell |
Condition | Ruins |
Cotta was an ancient town built by Romans in the 1st century AD, in the province of Mauretania Tingitana, intended to function primarily as a garum factory. The town was likely abandoned in the 3rd century AD. Its ancient ruins are now located on the Atlantic coast [1] of modern-day Morocco a few kilometers south of Cap Spartel, and include the garum factory, an olive press, a temple, a villa and a bath complex. [2] [3]
Some researchers have identified Cotta with "Gytte" from Hanno's voyage. Michel Ponsich highlighted the similarity of the name of Cotta to the ancient name of Cap Spartel, Kotes, which is related to "grapes". [4] [5]
The factory at Cotta was established in Mauretania Tingitana after the annexation of the Kingdom of Mauretania in 40 AD. It is one of several other factories established on both sides of the Mediterranean (North Africa and Iberia), and was intended to be a self-sufficient complex, given the presence of farming land nearby. [2]
The site was excavated by archaeologists Michel Ponsich and Miquel Tarradell in 1965. It is the most thoroughly excavated site of its kind in ancient Tingitana. Its structure is no different from other sites found for example at Lixus and Baelo Claudia. [3]
Mauretania is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, of Berber ancestry, were known to the Romans as the Mauri and the Masaesyli.
Garum is a fermented fish sauce that was used as a condiment in the cuisines of Phoenicia, ancient Greece, Rome, Carthage and later Byzantium. Liquamen is a similar preparation, and at times they were synonymous. Although garum enjoyed its greatest popularity in the Western Mediterranean and the Roman world, it was earlier used by the Greeks.
The Rif or Riff, also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. It is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebala people. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterranean to the north, and by the Ouergha River to the south. The Rif mountains are separated into the eastern Rif mountains and western Rif mountains.
Mauretania Tingitana was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia and Volubilis to the south, and as far east as the Mulucha river. Its capital city was Tingis, which is the modern Tangier. Other major cities of the province were Iulia Valentia Banasa, Septem, Rusadir, Lixus and Tamuda.
Tingis or Tingi, the ancient name of Tangier in Morocco, was an important Carthaginian, Moor, and Roman port on the Atlantic Ocean. It was eventually granted the status of a Roman colony and made the capital of the province of Mauretania Tingitana and, after Diocletian's reforms, the diocese of Hispania.
Lixus is an ancient city founded by Phoenicians before the city of Carthage. Its distinguishing feature is that it was continuously occupied from antiquity to the Islamic Era, and has ruins dating to the Phoenician, Punic, Mauretanian, Roman and Islamic periods.
The Chellah or Shalla, is a medieval fortified Muslim necropolis and ancient archeological site in Rabat, Morocco, located on the south (left) side of the Bou Regreg estuary. The earliest evidence of the site's occupation suggests that the Phoenicians established a trading emporium here in the first millennium BC. This was later the site of Sala Colonia, an ancient Roman colony in the province of Mauretania Tingitana, before it was abandoned in Late Antiquity. In the late 13th century the site began to be used as a dynastic necropolis for the Marinid dynasty. By the mid-14th century Marinid sultans had enclosed a part of the site with a new set of walls and built a religious complex inside it to accompany their mausoleums. In the 15th century the necropolis began to decline and it suffered damage over the centuries due to earthquakes and looting. Archeological excavations in the 20th century unearthed the remains of the ancient Roman town. Today the site is a tourist attraction and since 2012 it forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Baelo Claudia was an ancient Roman town in Hispania, located 22 kilometres (14 mi) outside of Tarifa, near the village of Bolonia, in southern Spain. On the shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, the town was originally a fishing village and trade link when it was settled approximately 2,000 years ago. Although prosperous at the time of Emperor Claudius, it went into a decline partially fueled by earthquakes and was abandoned by the 6th century.
Tamuda was an ancient Berber city and military camp in Mauretania Tingitana. It is located 6 km west of the present-day Tetouan in northern Morocco. Stone ruins from the site are found by the south bank of the Martil Valley. It was considered a city in accordance with the rules of urbanization of the time.
Mauretania Sitifensis was a Roman province in Northwest Africa. The capital was Setifis.
Abyla was the pre-Roman name of Ad Septem Fratres. Ad Septem Fratres, usually shortened to Septem or Septa, was a Roman colony in the province of Mauretania Tingitana and a Byzantine outpost in the exarchate of Africa. Its ruins are located within present-day Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish city in northwest Africa.
Iulia Valentia Banasa was a Roman-Berber city in northern Morocco. It was one of the three colonias in Mauretania Tingitana 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.
Thamusida was a Punic river port that was in the present-day towns of Kénitra and Mehdya in Morocco. Under the Roman Empire, it formed a part of the province of Mauretania Tingitana.
Altava was an ancient Romano-Berber city in present-day Algeria. It served as the capital of the ancient Berber Kingdom of Altava. During the French presence, the town was called Lamoriciere. It was situated in the modern Ouled Mimoun near Tlemcen.
Mogador Island is the main island of the Iles Purpuraires near Essaouira in Morocco. It is about 3 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide, and lies about 1.5 kilometres from Essaouira.
Iulia Campestris Babba is a Mauretanian city created as Roman colony around 30 BC by emperor Augustus. Its actual location is currently unknown, though its existence is confirmed by the literature.
Rapidum was a Roman settlement and fort located in Mauretania Caesariensis, nearly 100 km south of Icosium (Algiers).
Oppidum Novum is the name of several ancient towns:
The Limes Mauretaniae was a portion of a 4,000-kilometre (2,500 mi) Roman fortified border (limes) in Africa approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of the modern day Algiers.
Kouass is a settlement in northern Morocco near the town of Asilah. It was occupied in both the Punic and Roman periods and later in the Medieval period, and served as an important port and industrial centre.: A number of structures have been identified at the site, including a Roman aqueduct and ovens for the production of pottery.