The Roman period

The Romans dominated the area for over four centuries (AD 24–429) but found the Berbers, or the Barbarians as they called them, an intractable race who attacked the Roman legions as they established permanent settlements. Among these outposts of the Roman Empire were Tingis, Zilis (Asilah), Lixus, Valentia Banasa on the Sebou River near Kenitra, Sala Colonia and Volubilis.
Ruins can be seen today in Rabat at Chella, the Roman Sala Colonia. The name survives in Salé, Rabat’s sister town on the other side of the river, still called Sala in Arabic. The most impressive remains are at Volubilis.
The most remarkable local figure of the Roman period was King Juba II, who ruled Mauretania Tingitana for half a century until his death, in his seventies, in AD 23. Juba married Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and was one of the most prolific writers of his time in Latin, Greek and Punic, He also re-established the Phoenician process of making the legendary purple dye, created from shellfish on the Iles Purpuraires (modern Essaouira), that was so important to the senators of Rome.

The Romans also established factories in Morocco to make garum, a salty fermented fish paste used in cooking. The remains of two garum factories can be seen at Lixus near Larache and at Tangier close to the Caves of Hercules, where the Romans used to quarry millstones