Glanum
Coordinates: 43 ° 46 ′ 26 " N , 4 ° 49 ′ 57" E
Glanum was a Celtic , Hellenistic and later Roman city in what is now southern France . The ancient center has been preserved as a ruin.
Geographical location
The ruin is located in Provence on the northern slopes of the Alpilles in what is now the Bouches-du-Rhône department , about 20 kilometers south of Avignon . It is located south of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence directly on the D5 from there towards Maussane-les-Alpilles and Les Baux-de-Provence .
history
The city was initially founded by the Salluvians as an oppidum or fortress on Mont Gaussier. A dry stone wall surrounded the twenty-hectare site and blocked the pass through the Alpilles. A shrine of the Celtic god Glanis , which is associated with a healing spring , was built in the 4th century BC. At the latest in the course of the 3rd century BC. The Greeks established a trading center there called "Glanum". Starting from Marseille , the Greek influence grew through traders who moved up the Rhone . They brought their alphabet , in which the local Celtic dialect was also written, and their architectural style.
A trapezoidal agora was built. Glanum had existed for several centuries when it was first discovered in the 1st century BC. Became Roman. The Romans took over the shrine and sanctuary as well as a trinity of local mother goddesses, to whom they named Glanicae . You were identified with the matrons. The goddesses Epona and Rosmertha and the god Mercury were also present. The Greek agora gave way to a Roman forum in two phases .
During the Augustan period the city was upgraded to a colony and many monumental buildings were erected, including thermal baths , a triumphal arch and various temples (some built generals of the emperor Augustus, others his son-in-law Agrippa ). It is believed that it was around this time that the Glanum Dam was built, which supplied the colony with water. A sewer system, which also provided for the rainwater runoff in the narrow valley, was built.
Glanum was destroyed in the Alemanni storm in 260 and later abandoned. The inhabitants settled a few kilometers further north on the plain on the site of today's Saint-Rémy-de-Provence . But Glanum is still recorded as Glano in the medieval Peutinger map , which is based on Roman models .
Reception history
In 1564 the French King Charles IX visited Triumphal arch and mausoleum. In the 17th and 18th centuries, coins and sculptures were found in this area, and in the 19th century the Marquis de Largoy began to explore the valley.
Glanum was systematically excavated from 1921 and has since developed into one of the most important ancient sites in France. Pierre de Brun had the thermal baths and the area around the basilica exposed in the lower town. Under the direction of Henri Rolland , the area from the forum to the mineral spring was explored between 1942 and 1969. From 1982 excavations took place again, during which, among other things, a well from the Hellenistic era and other systems for water supply were examined. The excavations were limited to two hectares in the middle valley. During the city's heyday, two side valleys and the surrounding hills were still built on. The main street leads from the city gate, which has not been preserved, to the sacred district with the healing spring. Under the street there is a sewer covered with slabs and a smaller fresh water sewer.
Most of the finds from the excavations in Glanum are located in Saint-Rémy in the Hôtel de Sade , which was built in the 15th century by a rich family of dyers from Avignon in place of an older manor house and which now houses an archaeological museum . There is a visitor center on site, in which the excavation site is also didactically prepared.
Buildings in the outdoor area
Glanum has two famous, exceptionally well-preserved, ancient monuments in front of the former city wall:
Triumphal arch
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The impressive arch of Glanum (12.50 m long, 5.50 m wide, 8.60 m high) dates from the end of the reign of Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) and thus closes it one of the oldest in Gaul . It shows Gallic prisoners who are being led away in chains by the victorious Romans. Its upper part was redesigned in the 18th century in the form of a gable roof and covered with stone slabs to protect it against rain. This gave it its somewhat strange shape.
mausoleum
Next to the triumphal arch is the 18 meter high mausoleum, part of a necropolis outside the city wall. Three brothers with the family name Julius built it in memory of their parents. It is dated to around 40 BC. Dated. The inscription can still be clearly read:
| SEX. | L. | M. | IVLIEI | CF PARENTIBVS SVEIS |
| Sextus, | Lucius and | Marcus | Julius, | Sons of Gaius their parents |
The shape of the monument is unusual. The pedestal is adorned on all four sides with reliefs depicting historical and mythical motifs. The representations show the following scenes:
- North: A cavalry battle (of unknown date and place, possibly mythical)
- East: Inspired by the mythical war between the Greeks and the Amazons , it shows a warrior taking trophies from his dead enemy.
- South: The legend of the hunt for the Calydonian boar , carried out by Meleagros with Castor and Pollux on horseback.
- West: A scene from the Trojan War with the fight for the body of Patroclus .
There is a quadruple archway above the pedestal, reminiscent of a triumphal arch. The location and design have suggested that the monument refers to the possible military merits of Julier's father, because of which he might have received Roman citizenship. The cenotaph is crowned by a structure that is reminiscent of a round temple or a tholos and in which two toga statues are set up (today copies), possibly the father and grandfather of the donors.
Buildings in the city
Thermal baths
The remains of the thermal baths are on the western side of the road. They were made between 50 BC. BC and 25 BC Built at the end of the 1st century BC, expanded and decorated with marble under Lucius Verus (161–169). The older northern part consisted of three rooms, the caldarium (hot bath room), the laconium (dry sweating room) with a now reconstructed hypocaust and the frigidarium (cold bath room), in whose foundation walls a water pipe can still be seen. The extension consisted of a central Palaestra (sports field) with the main entrance and a Natatio (swimming pool).
Hellenistic houses and market
Opposite were two houses from the Hellenistic period, which flank a small market square with the sanctuary of the goddess Bona Dea . The peristyle (inner courtyard) and columns with Corinthian capitals are preserved from the northern house of the ante pillars, from the southern house of Attis from the 2nd century BC. An atrium with a shallow impluvium (water basin), which was surrounded by columns, of which only the bases are preserved.
Forum and surroundings
During the excavations in the area of the forum, four different phases of development could be recognized. From the original center of the Gallo-Greek period, the remains of a temple in Tuscan style , a fountain and two columns have been preserved. In the 1st century BC The area was built over with residential houses. The sloping terrain was then filled in for the first Roman forum (25 BC). The second, extended forum was surrounded by a high wall. During the restoration in 2007, the aim was to reconstruct the previous state.
Compared to the first forum, in the year 20 BC. Two different sized temples in Corinthian style, which were later integrated into the second forum. Behind it was the Greek Bouleuterion , an open-air auditorium in which the city's dignitaries gathered for advice.
Healing spring
Further up, a monumental grave dedicated to C. Marcius Paetus marks the entrance to the healing spring district. Opposite is a small temple, which Marcus Agrippa probably built in 39 BC. Chr. The Roman goddess of health Valetudo consecrated . Behind it, a stone staircase leads down to the source, which rises from a deep, inaccessible crevice.
literature
- Lionel Izac: La cité antique de Glanum et l'hotel de Sade = Center des monuments nationaux (ed.): Éditions du patrimoine . Paris 2017. ISBN 978-2-7577-0547-6
- Anne Roth-Congès: Glanum. From the Celto-Ligurian oppidum to the Gallo-Roman city . Éditions du patrimoine, Paris 2001. ISBN 9782757702260
Web links
- Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Tourist Office website (English and French)
- Glanum - antique fan