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COUTANCES (Town) FRANCE
Cosedia later (Coutances) Manche, France.
A plausible tradition links Constantia with Constantius Chlorus, who
was first Caesar then emperor in A.D. 292-306. In the 4th c. A.D. the city appears
in the Notitia provinciarum along with those of Lugdunensis secunda, and in the
Notitia Dignitatum as the residence of the praefectus militum primae Flaviae.
With the coming of Christianity it became the seat of a diocese, still in existence.
Historians identify Constantia with Cosedia, mentioned in the Peutinger Table
and the Antonine Itinerary. It was in the territory of the Unelli but apparently
was not their capital before the conquest or during the Early Empire. In Diocletian's
reign military necessity forced Alauna (Alleaume) or Crociatonnum (Carentan) to
be abandoned in favor of Cosedia, which then changed its name.
The ancient settlement was built on top of a long, fairly steep hill
91 m high, and on part of its slopes. It was not thickly settled, and the houses
were built chiefly of light materials; in the 1st c. A.D. The town covered 27-30
ha, but diminished in the next centuries. Two bath complexes have been located,
but no important monument; some fragments of wall frescos have been found but
no statues or inscriptions. The city plan does not follow the classical pattern;
the Roman road from Coriovallum (Cherbourg) to Condate (Rennes) passes through
it as well as several older roads. Traces of a mediaeval rampart can still be
seen, but some remains of walls found near the cathedral suggest that there was
a fortified redoubt in antiquity, covering ca. 1.5 ha. Ruins of an aqueduct seem
to be mediaeval; a shallow water-bearing stratum formerly fed a number of wells.
Commerce was facilitated by the proximity of the sea, 12 km away, and in the 1st
c. the city imported considerable quantities of delicate pottery and amphorae
from Italy and southern Gaul.
M. Le Pesant, 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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