Chellah

Phoenician Sala The Phoenicians founded several trading colonies along the Atlantic coast of what is now Morocco, but the existence of a Phoenician settlement on the site of Chellah has been debated by archeologists. Jean Boube, who led some of the modern excavations at the site, discovered neo-Punic artifacts dating as far back as the 3rd century BC, which suggests there must have been a small trading post here around that time. but it is possible that such early items were imported by trade rather than being evidence of occupation. At this time the area was occupied by the ancient Berber Mauretanian Kingdom. Under its last two rulers, Juba II and Ptolemy, the Mauretanian kingdom became a client state of Rome. Some relics from the time of these two kings have been discovered at Chellah. After the death of Ptolemy in 40 AD the region was annexed by Rome and became the province of Mauretania Tingitana. Excavations have revealed that older Mauretanian structures existed on the site before Roman structures were built over them. For the Roman period, they show a substantial port city with ruined Roman architectural elements including a decumanus maximus or principal roadway, a forum and a triumphal arch. The area around the forum, excavated and visible today, was subjected to many transformations over time and the exact chronology of these is still debated. Sala remained linked to the Roman Empire even after the withdrawal in the 4th century of the occupying Roman legions to Tingis (Tangier) and Septem (Ceuta) in northern Mauretania Tingitana. A Roman military unit remained there until the end of the 5th century. Archaeological objects of Visigothic and Byzantine origin found in the area attest to the persistence of commercial or political contacts between Sala and Roman Europe, up to the establishment of a Byzantine presence in North Africa during the 7th century. Fragments of pottery with Christian motifs and graffiti have also been found among objects dating from the 4th to 6th centuries. The Byzantine governor of the area, Count Julian of Ceuta, surrendered to Uqba ibn Nafi in 683. The area was only occupied again in the 10th century, when historical sources mention the existence of a ribat in the area. After the end of the Umayyad Caliphate in Al-Andalus in the early 11th century, the Almoravids assumed control of the region and built a new ribat at the mouth of the river. This ribat was in turn destroyed and then rebuilt by their successors, the Almohads, in the mid-12th century, becoming what is now known as the Kasbah of the Udayas. His son and successor, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, was buried at the site after his death in 1307, and his successor, Abu Thabit 'Amir, was buried near Abu Ya'qub Yusuf in 1308. Abu al-Hasan was the last sultan to be buried here. Abu Inan is believed to have been buried at the Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid and other Marinid sultans after him were mostly buried at the Marinid Tombs in Fez or other sites. Other Marinid family members, such as Abu Inan's sister and other princes, were still occasionally buried at Chellah. Between 1360 and 1363 Ibn al-Khatib, the vizier of the Nasrid sultan Muhammad V, visited the site during his master's exile from Granada and mentioned it in his writings. He described the luxurious decoration of the tombs and noted that a large fragment of a kiswah (the cloth that covers the Ka'ba in Mecca) was draped over the tomb of Abu al-Hasan. The 'Alawi sultans stationed soldiers here afterwards to prevent further looting, but in the late 18th century an Arab tribe, the Ṣabbaḥ, took possession of the enclosure until in 1790 sultan Moulay Yazid charged the governor of Salé, Abu Ya'za al-Qasṭali, with removing them. During this episode the necropolis was again looted. Legends about buried treasures also led to illegal excavations at times and pushed authorities in the 20th century to move some of the most important objects in the necropolis to museums in Rabat. The first investigation and study of the Islamic-era remains were carried out by Henri Basset and Évariste Lévi-Provençal in 1922. It is also notable for hosting a large colony of storks, who nest in the trees as well as on the minaret of the ruined zawiya. == The Roman remains ==

at the eastern end of the site today (with Marinid walls standing behind) The excavated portion of the Roman city covers about 1.2 hectares and corresponds to the "monumental" district around the forum, where the most important public buildings stood. The city was built on a sloped site and consequently its buildings were constructed upon a series of artificial terraces, with at least three terraces visible today. Streets were laid out in a regular grid and the two most important streets were the decumanus maximus and the cardo maximus. At the eastern end of the excavated area is the forum. It is flanked on its north side by a structure standing on higher ground which has been identified as a "temple" with five cellae. On the south side of the plaza, on a lower level, is a long building with nine rooms, possibly tabernae (shops), that open onto another street. The dating of the temple and the adjoining forum has been debated. Jean Boube dated the temple to the mid-first century BC, which would make it a Mauretanian structure (before the region was annexed as a Roman province). Statues of the Mauretanian client kings Juba II and Ptolemy have been found here, leading Boube to suggest the temple was originally dedicated to them. Other archeologists have argued that it belongs instead to the Roman period (after annexation). More recent studies have again suggested a pre-Roman dating, based on the construction techniques present. On the west side of the forum is another wide paved space which may have been an additional forum (forum adiectum) or a part of the decumanus maximus. Boube dated it to the reigns of Trajan (r. 98–117) and Hadrian (r. 117–138). The largest structure here, on the northwest side, is the capitolium or capitoline temple. The temple is built on two levels and has a rectangular floor plan, measuring about 48 metres by 26 metres, with rounded corners on its west side. On the lower level were nine vaulted tabernae chambers which opened onto the paved area next to the temple and formed a part of the temple's substructure. The upper level was the temple proper, consisting of single cella and a pronaos (vestibule chamber), elevated on a podium and surrounded on three sides by a portico of 32 columns. The parts of the temple that were built above the tabernae have collapsed. Roman inscriptions found on site confirm that the temple was built in the time of Hadrian and possibly inaugurated around 120 AD. Its construction was funded by a private citizen, a military official named C. Hosidius Severus, who gifted it to the people of the city. The other major building in this western area is located directly opposite the capitolium, to the south and near the perimeter wall of the Marinid religious complex. This building is poorly preserved and has been tentatively identified as either a curia (the Curia Ulpia) or as a basilica. Its construction is likely contemporary with that of the nearby capitolium. It has a rectangular floor plan measuring about 32 by 19 metres. At its center is a large octagonal opening, with niches set along its interior walls, that corresponds to an underground nymphaeum that once extended further up to the ground level of the building. Between the capitolium and the curia/basilica are the remains of a triumphal arch. Only the base of the arch remains and therefore not much is known for certain about it. It may date from the time of Hadrian, like the surrounding buildings, but another hypothesis has dated it to around the time of Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161). Various other structures are scattered around the site, including two more structures identified as temples to the east of the capitolium. Remains of a Roman bath are found in the eastern part of the site, between the Marinid madrasa and the Islamic-era bathhouse. == The Marinid necropolis ==

The area enclosed by the Marinid walls is roughly pentagonal in shape and is smaller than the former Roman city. The khalwa consists principally of a mosque, a madrasa, a cemetery with multiple mausoleums, and several courtyards. Its layout is irregular and complicated due to the addition of various elements over different periods. Walls and main gate The rampart walls surrounding the site are built in rammed earth (or pisé). They are pierced by three gates and interspersed with defensive towers. The khalwa (religious and funerary complex) complex (built circa 1284) The mosque, located in the center of the southwestern half of the complex, is a hypostyle hall. It is divided into three naves by two rows of horseshoe arches. Two more rows of arches, perpendicular to the others, delimit a central aisle running towards the mihrab on the southeastern wall. At the mosque's southwest corner is a small, partly ruined minaret with a square base and polylobed-arch windows. It consists of a changing room near the entrance (equivalent to the Roman apodyterium), followed by a cold room (equivalent to the frigidarium), a warm room (equivalent to the tepidarium), and a hot room (equivalent to the caldarium). Another chamber behind the hot room contained the furnace that heated the baths and its water via the traditional hypocaust system. A small chamber near the changing room probably contained the latrines. One of such buildings is a shrine containing the tomb of Sidi Yahya ibn Yunus, a mystic believed to have lived in the 7th century. == Archeological artifacts ==

The Museum of History and Civilizations in Rabat houses some Roman-era artifacts from Sala Colonia. The museum also holds several Marinid-period pieces from the necropolis. One of these is the tombstone of Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, a rectangular marble slab which was a spolia from Roman-era Hispania Baetica, as seen in the Roman inscription on the back side which mentions a Roman governor of that province named Aulus Caecina Tacitus from the second half of the 3rd century AD. The stone was initially reused for an Umayyad fountain in Cordoba, probably in the late 10th or early 11th century, before it was apparently moved to North Africa and eventually reused by the Marinids, who carved the other side of it with the sultan's funerary inscription. The same museum also holds the tombstones of Abu al-Hasan and his wife Shams al-Ḍuḥa. These tombstones were maqabriyyas: marble tombstones shaped approximately like a triangular prism and laid horizontally over the grave. Both are richly carved with elaborate Arabic inscriptions that record their names, titles, and the details of their burials. A number of Marinid-period marble capitals are also housed at the museum. ==Music venue==

Since 2005, the ruins of Chellah host an international "Festival of Jazz" each year, called Jazz au Chellah. Additionally, it is currently home to a venue of the annual Mawazine music festival in Rabat, which showcases popular contemporary music from around the world. ==See also==