Tocolsida

34°02′17″N5°34′52″W / 34.038091°N 5.581064°W / 34.038091; -5.581064

Main Roman roads in western north Africa

Tocolsida is a site in modern Morocco, ^[1] with the remains of an ancient castra from the Roman Province of Mauretania Tingitana, Roman Empire. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

The site is on the Wadi Rdem in the foot hills of the Atlas Mountains, south of Roman Volubilis. ^[6] In antiquity it was on the Limes Africanus ^[7] at the end of the Roman Road. ^[8] near the modern village of Tagourart Ain Karma just north of Meknes, and west of Fez.

Diagram of the location and layout of the Archaeological ruins of the Roman Castra of Tocolsida, southern Morocco. Reconstruction from original sources

Tocolsida was one of the five fortresses ^[11] built to defend the city of Volubilis ^[12] and was active from 30BC – AD300. Though some archaeology suggest occupation till the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb.

The fort was mentioned on the Antonine Itinerary. ^{[13] [14]} and Ptolemy's Geography.

The castra was founded under the emperor Antoninus Pius and housed squadrons of Gallic and Syrian cavalry. ^[15] There was an aqueduct, ^[16] at Tocolosida.

Tocolosida was excavated by the French in the early 20th century. ^[17]

Tocolosida is also known as El-Jezira, Bled Takourart and Aïn Takourart.

References

1. Noé Villaverde Vega, Tingitana en la antigüedad tardía, siglos III-VII (Real Academia de la Historia, 2001) p168-169.
2. Louis Chatelain (historien), Tocolosida (Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1928).
3. "DicoLatin - Correspondance pour TOCOLOSIDA".
4. Bulletin de la Société de géographie (Delagrave, 1873) p551-552.
5. Alexander MacBean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography (G. Robinson, 1773) p2.
6. dare.ht.lu.se/places/22241.
7. T. W. Potter, Le Limes De Tingitane. La Frontière Méridionale. By M. Euzennat. Études d'Antiquités Africaines. (Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1989). 339 pages, 327 cited in Libyan Studies Volume 22 1991, p. 107.
8. M. Euzennat, DARMC, R. Talbert, Johan Åhlfeldt, R. Warner, Jeffrey Becker, Sean Gillies, and Tom Elliott, 'Tocolosida: a Pleiades place resource, Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places, 2014
9. Noé Villaverde Vega, Tingitana en la antigüedad tardía, siglos III-VII (Real Academia de la Historia, 2001) p168-169.
10. Paul Lachlan MacKendrick, The North African Stones Speak (UNC Press Books, 1 December 2000) p312.
11. Rogerson, Barnaby (2010). Marrakesh, Fez and Rabat. (London: Cadogan Guides, 2010) p237.
12. Tocolosida (Ej Jezira).
13. Bernd Löhberg, Das "Itinerarium provinciarum Antonini Augusti": Kartenband (Frank & Timme GmbH, 2006) p66.
14. Vetera Romanorum Itineraria sive Antonini Augusti Itinerarium cum notis, Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum et Hieroclis Synecdemus (1735).
15. Paul Lachlan MacKendrick, The North African Stones Speak (UNC Press Books, 1 December 2000) p312.
16. "TOCOLOSIDA - Aqueducts - Roman Aqueducts".
17. Baradez, Jean, "Deux missions de recherche sur le limes de Tingitane." Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1955) / Vol99 Num2 pp. 288–298