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LATTES (Town) FRANCE
Latara or Latera (Lattes) Canton of Montpelher, Herault, France.
Lagoon port on the lower coast of Languedoc, halfway between the mouths of the
Rhone and the Herault, and on a small coastal river, the Lez, behind the Etang
de Lattes (Plin. HN 9.29). It was in the territory of the Volcae Arecomici, and
was later made part of the civitas of Nimes. Oriented towards the sea, it was
engaged in commerce from pre-Roman times with the greatest ports of the Mediterranean,
especially Marseille, for which it was a way station or even a trading post. But
it was also a river port, at the mouth of a splendid access route, and played
an important commercial role in relation to the oppida of the interior, particularly
Sextantio (Castelnau-le-Lez) on the Via Domitiana. The site of Lattes, a meeting-place
for maritime, river, and road traffic, is one of the most important on the Gulf
of Lion.
The name of the settlement is known from literary sources (Pliny,
Pomponius Mela, Anonymous of Ravenna) and inscriptions (recent discoveries). It
covered almost 10 ha in the locality known as Saint-Sauveur, near the modern village
of Lattes. The site consists of a mound some five m high, permeated with water
owing to its proximity to sea-level.
Excavations, which are only beginning, have disclosed nine layers
of habitation from the 7th c. B.C. (with traces of an earlier occupation) to the
Roman period. The pre-Roman settlements consisted primarily of huts with cobwork
or stone walls, hearths, and floors of broken amphorae, and port installations
(landing stages on piles). The artifacts, which are both imported and of local
manufacture, are abundant and of very high quality (Late Bronze Age, Etruscan,
Phokaian, Ionian, Attic, Ibero-Punic, local ceramics). Three large hoards of coins
of the 2d and 1st c. B.C. (coins from Massalia and of the Volcae) have also been
found.
The Gallo-Roman town, which was of greater extent and included wide
streets, shows a more developed but as yet little known level of urban life: larger
houses, mosaic floors, etc. To the NE of the ancient town are the remains of a
small sacellum to Mercury (statues, inscriptions, architectural fragments), and
a large and well-furnished incineration cemetery of the Early Empire; 160 tombs,
containing an abundance of artifacts (ceramics, glassware, bronze objects) and
34 epitaphs have been excavated.
The artifacts are currently at the Depot archeologique in Montpellier.
G. Barruol, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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