dAf 61
CASTELLVI Georges, COMPS Jean-Pierre et KOTARBA Jérôme
Voies romaines du Rhône à l'Èbre : via Domitia et via Augusta
Produced following a colloquium held in Perpignan by the Association archéologique des Pyrénées-Orientales, this volume assembles the contributions of 42 researchers of the Languedoc-Roussillon region and adjoining Spanish Catalonia and Aragon. The via Domitia and the via Augusta, two of the most famous roman roads, are treated successively, each section being preceded by explanatory maps and notices for each of the road stations traversed. The third part examines the structure of these roads and their impact on the organisation of the landscape and discusses the organisation and presentation of conserved sections. A bibliography, general and thematic, as well as a listing comprising the data concerning road itineries concludes this volume, which reviews recent research, an essential work of reference.
Abstract
Abstract
Part 1 - Via Doinitia from the Rhône to the Pyrénées
1. Généralities
1.1. Presentation of the via Domitia
G. BARRUOL
This article is a general presentation of the via Domitia. It successively deals with the following themes: date of construction, geographical extension, ancient texts, structure of the way, bridges and monuments, milliary stones, stations, restorations, maintenance through out the centuries and finally, prospects of research.
1.2. Public aspect of the via Domitia
M. CHALON
Referring to the ancient texts as well as to the different road routes which we have received, this communication studies the public aspect of the via Domitia especially by drawing up a list of the public services located in the stations.
2. The general lay out
J. LAFORGUE, G. CASTELLVI, J.-P. COMPS
From the Rhône to the Pyrénées, from Beaucaire to the Panissars Pass (Le Perthus), for nearly 240 kilometers, the via Domitia has been identified and mapped out with the help of the IGN 1/100 000 map. This study comes in the form of eleven sections of about twenty kilometres each, for everyone of them the exact or presumed layout of the via and the whole of the vestiges attached to it "(bridges, milliary columns, stations, etc.) are described in the text and located on the map.
3. The road stations
In this chapter, the different road stations mentioned in ancient itineraries and situated between the river Rhône and the Pyrenees are described. The description includes their location, the sources in ancient texts, a summary of the scientific observations performed, and a bibliography. The articles concerning the towns are more detailed and followed by a map.
4. Pinpoint studies
4.1. Station of Ambrussum fromthe oppidum to Puech des Mourgues
J.-L. FICHES
This paper introduces the settlements of various kinds that followed one another at Ambrussum in the Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. It appears that the successive shapes of the relay are related to the different layouts of the road. Special mention is made of the relay-farm excavated in the lower district of the Earlier-Empire locality.
4.2. Test from synthetic data about Ad Vicensimum
M. GUY, Y. SOLIER
The systematic research of the ground in the area of Rieu de Treilles where the 20th milestone carrying the name Domitius Ahenobarbus was found and the study of the aerial photographs have permitted to locate the trail of via Domitia between Roquefort-des-Corbières and Fitou.
To this road an important Gallo-Roman settlement is linked in a place called Les Estacades, which according to the authors of the article corresponds to the station Ad Vicensimum of the Antonius Road.
4.3. Three new milliaries discovered in the Pyrénées- Orientales
G. CASTELLVI, J.-P.COMPS, A. PEZIN, et la participation de L. BAYROU
This study deals with three new milliaries discovered in the Pyrénées- Orientales :one at Théza, the other at Palau-del-Vidre and the last one at the Panissars pass. To make these series complete, the authors have added to them the milliary of Saint-Hippolyte, which has been known since the last century. The comparison shows a chronological concordance (indeed three of these millaries date from to the beginning of the reign of Constantine) as well as a great dissimilarity as far as: the material used, the shape of the milliary columns and the contents of the inscriptions are concerned. Furthermore, the fact that two of these milliaries were found in situ enables one to give a more accurate map of the via itself.
4.4. The via Domitia from Salsulae to Ad Centuriones
J.-P. COMPS
Concerning the Salsulae-Ruscino section, the author places the Salsulae and Combusta stations as well as the site of the milliaries. He is showing how the via still organizes the present road network and the landscape. Between the Agly and the Tet rivers, the via is very deeply buried under the alluvial deposits. However, the over excavation of a canal has made it possible to bring to light the ruins of two ancient bridglets in the rural district of Claira on the locality of Bougariu-Alt.
The map of the Ruscino-Ad Centuriones section has not been established with certainty. The author has been “led to reassess former hypotheses in the light of new facts”, namely, the discovery of the Palau-del-Vidre milliary.
Part 2 – Via Augusta from, the Pyrénées to Ebre
1. Presentation
M. MAYER, I. RODÀ
This paper sums up the knowledge on the history and the plan of the via Augusta in Catalonia. First of all, the authors are attempting to draw the stages of the load infrastructure thanks to the epigraphic study of milliaries. Then, they tackle the problem of the localization of the various stations from itineraries and well-known archaeological facts; which, in the end, brings them to describe the various drawings of the via Augusta road-network.
2. Road stations
In this chapter, the different road stations mentioned in ancient itineraries and situated between the Pyrenees and the river Ebre are described. The description includes their location, the sources in ancient texts, a summary of the scientific observations performed, and a bibliography. The articles concerning the towns are more detailed and followed by a map.
3. Pinpoint studies
3.1. New data about via Augusta in the north-eastern area of Catalonia
J.M. NOLLA I BRUFAU, J. CASAS
First, the authors take account of the fact that the via Augusta was not formed of a single axis but of an actual road network which connected the first coast settlements with the inland ones which were located at the end of the Pyrenean eastern passes. They then describe the recent discoveries made on the Gerona province territory in connection with the via: the Medinyà milliary, the ancient support of a bridge at Bàscara, and the roman watch-towers at Sant Julià de Ramis and Castell Falgars. They conclude by stating that these towers must have been in optical relation with the above-mentioned main roman settlements, and that they must have been used to keep a watch on the via.
3.2. The Apollonian Vases Road in the course from Gerona to Tarragona
J. ESTRADA GARRIGA
This article deals with the slightly controversial subject concerning the identification of some of the stations of the Apollonian Vases Road in the course Gerunda / Tarracone. More thorough hare the studies of the stations Praetorium (Llinars del Vallès)and Semproniana (Granollers)important Roman centres placed on the natural passage, the coastal corridor which goes from Gironès to Penedés passing through La Selva and the Vallès.
3.3. Via Augusta from Barcelone to Martorell
F.X. MENENDEZ I PABLO, J.M. SOLIAS I ARIS
The via Augusta of Martorell Colonia Barcino crosses the Pla de Barcelona westwards as far as the Llobregat river. The via climbs the left bank of the river up to Martorell where the mansio ad Fines, an important road junction, has to be located. The road crosses the famous Martorell bridge and proceeds inland towards Tarraco. We do not have any preserved remains of either via or monuments clearly connected with the via in order to help us work out the precise route. However, in spite of the many anthropic transformations in the landscape, some elements such as: milliaries, toponyms having a connection with the location of milliaries (Ad Quartum, Quintiano, Duodecimo), position of villae and necropolises, geomorphologic conditions and medieval road network - enabled us to reconstruct the map of the via.
3.4. The route of the via Augusta through the mansio of Tarraco
Taller Escola d'Arqueologia de Tarragona (TED'A)
First of all, the authors give a historical outline of the foundation in 218 B.C. of Tarraco as a praesidium, and then of its development into a town throughout the Republic and the Higher Empire. They underline the essential part played by Augustus (status as a Roman colony, capital town of the province), from ancient sources, epigraphy and remains of public monuments known up to now. Then comes the detailed study of entry roads, plan of walls, position of gateways and of the crossing of the town by the via Augusta (60 ha).
3.5. Via Augusta from Oleastrum to Dertosa : the section of Perelló
P. IZQUIERDO I TUGAS
Following some agricultural work, a section of the via Augusta, 3. 540 km long and 8.70 m wide, was brought to light in the area of the district of Perelló. The author has been studying the main characteristics of this section: the line, declivity, special installations, the surface etc. This discovery has then been put back in the already known historical and archaeological context of the via Augusta in its crossing of the Èbre region, which has enabled the author to place precisely the Oleastrum, Pinos, Subsaltu and Tria Capita stations.
Part 3 - Structure of the via and organisation of the area
1. Structure of the via
1.1. Via Domitia in access of Arles’ gate and from Beaucaire to Nîmes
M. SCHWALLER, L. VIDAL
Salvage excavations, carried out extra muros, close to Augustus gate, have made it possible to identify a traffic area alongside a small construction no doubt intended to have a funeral use. This traffic space, made of successive remetalling and showing no signs of ruts is believed to have been a verge of the via Domitia reserved for pedestrian circulation. As far as its ancient period is concerned, this development has been dated from the very end of the 1st century B.C., which corresponds to the time of construction of the walls and of the near-by gateway.
1.2. Observations about different breaks of the via in the plain of Languedoc
1.2.1. The excavation of a section of via Domitia : the case of Rives du Salaison in Crès
D. PAYA
In November 1988 the excavations of an arranged ford were carried out permitting the passage of via Domitia through the stream called Salaison and a section of the road on a land adjoining this structure in the community of Crès (Hérault).
The road consists of a mass supporting a blending intended for carrying the heavy transport of materials for an army; this mass can be seen as a blending of small blocks, flagstones, gravel and sand. The sides were supplied with two gradients, one of them strong enough for pedestrians. This road seems to have been restored twice. The road, all providings included, measured between 10 m and 11.50 m in width. The width of the following roads varies between 3.90 m and 5.15 m.
1.2.2. Observations of the inner structure from via Domitia at Pinet
M. LUGAND
In the area of Pinet-Aorensac (Hérault) via Domitia can be seen as an important gradient. The cleaning of a transverse section has permitted to study the inner structure of the road. Five phases of construction and maintenance can be seen. The first level of the road consists of a layer of compact pebbles on a fine sediment. In order to maintain the structure the same materials were used and it has been done as following: levelling of the old ballast and laying down rammed broken stones. The gradient is heightened which seems to have had for a second function the use of a pavement or a kind of widening.
1.3. Via Domitia in the mountains by crossing the Pyrénées
G. CASTELLVI, avec la collaboration de C. GAVAGE et J. LAFORGUE
The prospects of the area between Le Boulou (the north side of the Pyrénées) and La Jonquera (the south side), a distance of about 12 km, have shown that the route probably branched out into a proper network of parallel routes (the valley of the Rom, valley of Freixe, the crest route via La Cluse Haute) some of them used in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. By studying some traces, which still can be seen in the courses of the different ways, it was found that an index of techniques of construction must have been established to arrange the route in the mountains.
2. Organisation of the area
2.1. Via Domitia and Roman boundaries in the Eastern Languedoc: the oppidum of Sextantio Ambrussum
F. FAVORY
This study clarifies the function of the morphohistorical relationship between via Domitia and a network of regular and geometrical plots of land, completely dependent on its rectilinear course between the oppida of Ambrussum and Sextantio. From existing evidence, via Domitia has served as the main . decumanus for a centuriation which extended because of the route to encompass, in a network consisting of regular plots measured out in 20 actus, here corresponding to 706 m, and oriented geographically 22°30 northwest, in the entire Lunel-Mauguio plain between the Lez and the Vidourle.
The latest archaeological research shows the influence of these boundaries which were probably introduced under Caesar, with distribution of land from the Earlier Empire, on the Gallo-Roman urbanisation and on the organisation of the nearby rural surroundings of the oppida as in the case of Lattes and Ambrussum.
2.2. Via Augusta between municipum Baetulo and colonia Barcinó
J.M. GURT I ESPARRAGUERRA, P. PADROS, J.-M. PALET, J. PUJOL, S.RIERA, M. COMAS
The purpose of this work is to define the road communications between the town of Baetulo (Badalona) and Barcinó (Barcelona), situated on the Pla de Barcelona, in the central area of the catalan shore. That type of communication will be studied linked with other component elements of a territory. Studying three hundred geological drillings in the delta of the River Besos has enabled to establish the characteristics of the deltaic shelf which consists of different layers of organic alluvium and different types of gravel and sand. These physical elements have to be linked with the human occupation of the area, which has been studied from historico-archaeological documentation. The complete analysis of these differents elements has made us comprehend better the process of the changing of the organisation of the territory, and, at the same time, it has made us define the route of the road and the spreading of the various settlements in Roman times.
2.3. The roads De Italia in Hispanias and Ab Asturica Terragone
E. ARINO, M.P. LANZAROTE, M.A MAGALLÓN, M. MARTÍN BUENO
In this work the trail of roads De Italia in Hispanias y Ab Asturia Terracone (lt.387, 495,4 - lt.448,2-452,5) is analysed with relation to the existent towns or towns recently created situated along the whole Valley of Ebre. The site of these «towns - stations» is here described in detail in comparison with the road and finally the implantation of the land registries found in the area.
3. Conservation, restoration and development of the site
3.1. Via Domitia, patrimonial matter
A. PEYRE
This intervention shows how the via Domitia, the most important Roman remains in Languedoc-Roussillon, must be regarded as an active linear monument, and when presenting it, we have to stress both its geographical and historical link function.
3.2. Plan of studying and restoring the via Augusta in Perelló (Baix Èbre)
P. IZQUIERDO I TUGAS
After the discovery (1988) in the district of Perelló, of a 3.540 m long section of the via Augusta, rather well-preserved, the author made plans to study and restore this section for the Archaeological Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia. In the end, this experiment aims at showing to the public this linear monument in its historical and geographical background, by offering the means of its preservation and of its use (area for relaxing, hiking lanes, horse-riding tracks, etc.).
