Listed 10 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "BRITTANY Province FRANCE" .
CORSEUL (Town) FRANCE
Fanum Martis (Corseul) Cotes du Nord, France.
The ancient city, the center of which is now occupied by the small township of
Corseul, was one of the chief towns of the Coriosolites tribe, and became the
capital of the new civitas under Augustus. Built on a N-S and E-W grid plan, the
city grew in the Claudian period and flourished under the Antonines. After uncertainty
and economic recession in the 3d c. the city shrank in size, and many quarters
were abandoned. In the 4th c., however, with the renaissance under Constantine,
it came to life again although it had lost its title of capital to Aleto (St.
Servan sur Mer), and the abandoned quarters were once more occupied.
To the E and outside the limits of the ancient city stands the most
important monument, the temple of Le Haut-Becherel. All that is left of this edifice--in
area, the greatest religious monument in all Armorica, even in all Gaul--is the
impressive remains of the cella. Excavations ca. 1868 traced the general plan
of the temple (110 x 101 m). A huge central court, rectangular in shape, was open
to the E and lined on the other three sides by a gallery formed by two parallel
walls, the first of which probably supported a colonnade. The sanctuary proper,
to the W, consisted of a hexagonal cella built of mortared rubble faced with small
blocks and with iron joints, surrounded by an ambulatory. The sanctuary was reached
by a monumental entrance opening on the W colonnade. On either side of the sanctuary,
in the outer gallery wall, were two small rectangular rooms, and there were two
other identical rooms in the N and S passageways. In the NE and SW corners of
the courtyard were two quadrangular structures projecting into the interior; they
had sturdy buttresses on their outer corners. The E wall of these structures extends
to close off part of the great central court. It is not certain to what divinity
this temple was dedicated, but the name would indicate that it was the god Mars.
Recent excavations have uncovered a residential sector, in particular
the plan of a villa urbana from the Claudian period. Actually a country house
in an urban setting, the building is of the so-called horseshoe type. The main
building, rectangular and facing S, is flanked to the W by a wing at a right angle,
forming a courtyard that is closed to the E by a wall. The courtyard, which contains
a well, is lined on three sides by a portico and opens to the S on one of the
paved streets of the ancient city. Excavation also revealed the substructures
of a bath building erected in the 4th c. when this section of the city was reoccupied.
Most of the objects found can be seen at the Corseul Mairie, but some
are in the museums of Rennes and Dinan. The Corseul church contains a fine funerary
inscription dedicated to a woman from the Roman provinces of Africa.
M. Petit, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
RIEUX (Town) MORBIHAN
Duretia (Rieux) Morbihan, France.
The ancient city, situated near Redon at an important ford, was spread out on both banks of the Vilaine. The ford was elevated, on a masonry foundation that allowed one to cross on foot at low tide. Originally, there was also a wooden bridge, no trace of which remains. Nothing is left today of the ancient city except for debris strewn over the fields.
Excavations on the right bank in the last century uncovered a quadrangular
fanum with a gallery around it and a central cella containing a basin. The facade
faced E and was framed by antae. Against the SE wall, on the outside, was added
a small construction open to the E. About the same time traces of a large villa
were found on the left bank. It had a sizable bath building with six rooms, one
of them over 100 sq m in area.
M. Petit, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SAINT SERVAN SUR MER (Town) BRITTANY
Aleto (St. Servan sur Mer) Ille et Vilaine, France.
The ancient city was set on a granite promontory overlooking the English Channel
and linked to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. It was probably occupied from
the Gallic period on, and is mentioned in the 5th c. A.D. as the seat of a garrison
responsible for defending a section of the Arinorican shoreline. Towards the end
of the 3d c. A.D. the city acquired a strong circuit wall; only a small section
of it remains today, on the cliff edge opposite the modern port of St. Malo. Recent
excavations have uncovered the base of this wall for some 20 m, as well as three
curious semicircular structures that were an integral part of the defense system.
The rock underlying the rampart had been hewn (deep perpendicular
notches and small square basins) to accommodate the walls of a small religious
building. The same method of working the rock was used in a cove W of Aleto, where
a series of rectangular ditches cut in the rock was recently found. One of these
ditches contained a large wooden machine construction of undetermined
M. Petit, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
VANNES (Town) MORBIHAN
Darioritum (Vannes) Morbihan, France.
The chief city of the powerful Gallic tribe, the Veneti, Darioritum spread out
over a series of small hills separated by inlets. From its site inside the Morbihan
gulf, the city probably witnessed the naval encounter between the Roman fleet
and that of the Veneti, in 56 B.C., mentioned by Caesar (B.Gall. 2.34; 3.7-16).
Like most Romanized cities, Darioritum prospered under the Pax Romana but suffered
from the troubles of the late 3d c.; according to the Notitia Dignitatum, a garrison
of Moorish soldiers was installed there.
It was in this late period that a circuit wall was erected; traces
of it have been found in the substratum of the modern town. Enclosing only a small
part of the Roman city, the wall was more than 4 m thick and made of a coarse
core of rubble faced on either side with small blocks banded with brick. Only
a few sections of this Late Empire rampart can be seen today, intermixed with
the mediaeval fortifications.
M. Petit, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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