Glanum

Glanum was a Roman city in Gallia Narbonensis— Provence in southern France— sited on the flanks of the Alpilles, a range of mountains in today's Bouches-du-Rhone "départment". It was situated about 20 km (12 miles) south of the modern city of Avignon, and is just a kilometre south of its successor town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

History

The city, founded by Celto-Ligurians and subsequently Hellenised as "Glanon", was already old when it became a Romanised settlement in the first century BCE; a shrine to the Celtic god Glanis ("glann", "shining"), who was associated with a local healing spring, had been erected on the site in the fourth century BC. The Romans adopted the shrine and the divinity, naming the town after Glanis, and also adopted a triad of local mother-gods, similar to the "Matres", whom they termed the "Glanicae". The gods Epona, Mercury and Rosmerta were also represented there. The Augustan age saw the city elevated to the status of colony, and many monumental buildings were erected, including an enlarged forum, baths, a triumphal arch, and various temples (some of which were erected by Augustus' general and son-in-law Agrippa).

Glanum was destroyed by the Alamanni in 260 and was subsequently abandoned, its inhabitants moving a few miles north into the plain to found a city that later was named Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Glanum was not excavated until 1921, but has since become one of the most important Roman excavations in France.

Monuments

Glanum possesses an impressive triumphal arch, erected between 10 and 25 AD, making it the oldest to be found in Gaul. It portrays Gaulish captives being led away in chains by the victorious Romans. Close nearby is a virtually intact cenotaph, the well-known Cenotaph of the Julii, dating from the 20s BCE, one of the best preserved to be found anywhere in the Roman world. The inscription can still clearly be discerned, reading:

SEX · M · L · IVLIEI · C · F · PARENTIBVS · SVEIS
Sextius, Marcus and Lucius Julius, sons of Gaius, to their forebears

Its tiered form is unusual. At the base is a pedestal carved with historical and mythical reliefs. The faces show the following scenes:

* North: a cavalry battle representing a scene from the "Iliad".
* East: inspired by the Amazonomachy, the mythical war between the Greeks and the Amazons, it shows a warrior taking trophies from a dead enemy.
* South: the legend of the hunt for the Calydonian Boar, conducted by Meleager, with Castor and Pollux shown on horseback.
* West: a battle scene from the Trojan War and the struggle for possession of the corpse of Patroclus.

Above the pedestal is a fourfold arch ("quadrifrons"), reminiscent of a triumphal arch. This, its location and the subject matter of the carvings has led to archaeologists surmising that one of its dedicatees was a distinguished soldier. The cenotaph is topped with a structure strongly resembling a round temple or tholos, which houses statues of the dedicatees (the lost heads were replaced in the eighteenth century).

The two monuments, known today as "les Antiques", are the largest surviving fragments of the ancient city and were for a long time the only substantial visible remnant. On the other side of the modern road, excavations (open to the public) have now revealed the heart of the ancient town, with the main street flanked by houses, the forum, a sacred well, a bouleuterion (council chamber) and temples, including a shrine to Hercules with several inscribed altars.

Glanum in popular culture

In Robert Holdstock's fantasy novel "Ancient Echoes", Glanum is a sentient, living, moving city which eventually settles at its present site in Provence.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.saintremy-de-provence.com Official tourist office of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence] , both in French and in English. Contains information on Glanum.
* [http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/dyn/controller/mapPerformPage?express
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* [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=versailles,+france&ll=43.774316,4.827386&spn=0.004943,0.007226&t=k&hl=en Google aerial view]
* [http://www.livius.org/gi-gr/glanum/glanum.html Livius.org: Glanum (St.Rémy-de-Provence)]