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SAINT-JEAN LE VIEUX (Town) PYRENEES ATLANTIQUES
Imus Pyrenaeus (Saint-Jean le Vieux) Pyrenees Atlantiques, France.
Only the Antonine Itinerary mentions the mansio of Imus Pyrenaeus, situated at
the foot of the Bentarte and Ibaneta passes leading to Pamplona (Pompaelo). The
itinerary places it on the road from Bordeaux to Astorga (Asturica Augusta).
The original site, which goes back to the last third of the 1st c.
B.C., was a rectangular castrum (200 x 115 m) ringed by a strong vallum, well
preserved on two sides. Inside this rampart a fairly regular city plan can be
made out; its axis is the N-S cardo leading to the only gate opening S. The finds
from the earliest stratum indicate that the city enjoyed sudden prosperity at
the end of the 1st c., probably connected with Valerius Messala's campaigns against
the Pyrenean tribes, which ended in 27-26 B.C.
In the 1st c. A.D. the settlement was rebuilt, but retained the same
plan and the same defensive circuit wall. A little forum was built, consisting
of a small, square, windowless building and some shops grouped around a little
temple, whose oblong cella (7.2 x 4.8 m) suggests that it may have been divided
into three sections. The construction technique remained very primitive--an inferior
mortar was used in all but a few cases. Real prosperity did not come until the
last quarter of the century when there was an influx of goods from Spain, and
Gallo-Roman imports were stopped almost completely. At this time the city expanded
and developed. At the beginning of the 2d c. A.D. the original rampart was split
and a new vicus built, using only part of the earlier buildings around the forum.
No appreciable change was made from that time until the second half of the 3d
c. A.D. when there is evidence of massive destruction, related to the first waves
of Germanic invaders moving toward Spain. After a brief period of abandonment
at the end of the 3d c. the ruins were leveled and the ancient defenses of the
castrum probably restored. Restricted in plan, Imus Pyrenaeus vegetated and the
site was finally abandoned, probably before the barbarian invasions of the early
5th c. A.D.
J.L. Tobie, 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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