House of Columns

I think the main attraction of Volubilis is the collection of beautiful mosaics found on the floors of the houses within Volubilis. It probably gives you an indication as to how affluent the people of Volubilis were if they can afford to make their houses nice enough to have a mosaic floor. This prosperity is the result of olive production. These days, Volubilis is a shell of its former self with a lot of its buildings torn down of materials. We are then fortunate that not all of these pieces were taken away. Or we wouldn’t have gotten any insight into how the people of Volubilis lived back then.

One of the more interesting houses here in Volubilis is the House of Columns. As the name implies, the house has a lot of columns. However, it is not just the quantity of columns that is important but also the different types of columns that it has. The main collection is at what used to be a courtyard. Most of the columns here aren’t complete but you can still tell how they used to look like. The remaining column which is standing is a Corinthian column which has a spiral body. This is probably the first time I have seen that kind of design.

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