Ancient Mill at Volubilis

I was initially unimpressed with the ruins here in Volubilis. They appeared to be in such a bad state that I didn’t think there was anything worth seeing there. Apparently, it is really what is left here that is worth seeing. The floors within the houses in Volubilis are decorated in impressive mosaics, usually of Roman gods. All of a sudden I was interested in the place. However, I don’t have much time to linger in one place, I need to hurry since my taxi driver gave me only an hour to wait. My next stop is a rather unusual site for an ancient Roman ruin – it was an old mill.

There was a reconstruction of an old mill here at the center of the “residential” area of Volubilis. I keep forgetting, that even if this civilization was from two thousand years ago, the Romans were very ingenious and were masters of engineering. The recreation of the mill is just an example of this engineering genius. The mill is obviously built to grind stuff, most probably grain. This replica is not in operation so I had difficulty imagining how it would work. The only recognizable thing here is the millstone itself but it seemed to be totally separate from the mechanism on display.

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