The Romans

After they had taken Carthage, the Romans moved westwards into the Berber kingdoms of Mauritania and Numidia(Algeria now) which became part of the Roman Empire. In 13 BC the Emperor Octavius granted the kingdom of Mauritania to the young Berber prince, Juba, son of Juba I of Numidia who had committed suicide 13 years earlier after the defeat by the Romans at the battle of Thapsus. In 25 8(2 they added the whole of Numidia to his realm. Educated in Rome and married to the daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, known as Cleopatra -Stlene, his pedigree was unpeccabte and he ruled wisely, probably living in Volubilis. This had already become a leader town of sonic statiding before the Rornans arrived, due in part to the natural fertility of the region surrounding it and in part to the teaching of the Carthaginians enabling the Berbers to get the best out of the land.

The next 400 years formed Morocco ‘s Dark Age and very little is known about this period. The Vandals and Goths who were sweeping through Spain may have touched the northern tip of Morocco on their way eastwards to Carthage but there are no traces that they have stayed. The Berbers in the mountains and the desert continued life much as before. The Romnanised, part-Christian, Berber Mauritanians of the cities of Volubilis, Sala Colonia (Chella), Tingis, Banasa and others held on to their mixed cultural heritage and maintained a degree of civilization, as evidenced by one or two Latin inscriptions, found in several places, which date from as late as the mid 7C. But the weak and divided nature of the country was to prove no match at all for the next wave of invaders.