Tocolosida Roman Camp
About
Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered this castra built southeast of Volubilis to house squadrons of Gallic and Syrian cavalry defending the provincial capital, work that took place more than two decades after Trajan died in 117. The fort even earned a mention on the Antonine Itinerary and in Ptolemy's Geography, unusual documentary attention for a Mauretanian outpost. An aqueduct once carried water into the camp, and French archaeologists first excavated the ruins in the early 20th century. Tocolosida guarded the frontier for centuries afterward, remaining active into the 3rd century AD.
What happened here
Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →