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VAISON-LA-ROMAINE (Town) PROVENCE
Vasio Vocontiorum (Vaison-la-Romaine) Vaucluse, France.
On the right bank of the Ouveze ca. 20 km from the colony of Arausio (Orange),
Vaison was the capital of the civitas of the Vocontii. These people, who occupied
a large territory between the Durance and the Isere, were defeated in 124 and
123 B.C. by M. Fulvius Flaccus and C. Sextius Calvinus. They rebelled in 78 B.C.
and were harshly treated by the governor, Fonteius (Cic. Font.). However, after
individual favors accorded by Pompey, they obtained the privileged status of civitas
foederata (Strab. 4.6.4; Plin. HN 3.37; 7.78) at an unknown date (perhaps under
Caesar). The first text which mentions Vaison itself is barely earlier than the
middle of the 1st c. A.D.: Pomponius Mela (2.5.75) calls it one of the urbes opulentissimne
of Gallia Narbonensis. Strabo does not refer to it, although a poor reading of
the text has sometimes suggested that he did. The complete name was presumably
Vasio Iulia Vocontiorum.
Vaison was probably the capital of the Vocontii when they were independent.
However, no prehistoric settlement has yet been found in the immediate vicinity,
and the development of the town must be placed in the Augustan period. The choice
of the site is something of a mystery, since Vaison is on the periphery of the
territory of the Vocontii, far from the great routes, and the valley of the Ouveze
does not lead to an important outlet. Thus Vaison was supplemented by a religious
capital farther N, Lucus Augusti, which during the Late Empire was replaced by
Die (Colonia Dea Augusta Vocontiorum). At that time the territory of the Vocontii
was split into two civitates, and Die was the larger one; both towns, however,
became the seats of bishoprics. A number of well-known men were born in the area
of Vaison, including S. Afranius Burrus, Nero's tutor; L. Duvius Avitus, consul
and legate of Aquitaine; C. Sappius Flavius, military tribune; and the historian
Cn. Pompeius Trogus, whose grandfather, according to Justinus, received Roman
citizenship from Pompey.
The excavations of Vaison, conducted for half a century from 1906
onward, indicate that in size (several ha), in variety (public and private buildings),
and in the richness of artistic and epigraphic finds, Vaison outstrips other Gallo-Roman
sites. Unfortunately, however, it is practically impossible to reconstruct a reliable
chronology for the growth of the town, because early excavations were not sufficiently
concerned with method and stratigraphy.
The oldest remains have been found recently under the House of the
Dolphin, where levels dating to the beginning of Augustus' rule have appeared
beneath floors of the Flavian period. Terraces were found, bordered by retaining
walls of irregular masonry. On one of them, utilitarian constructions (workshop,
basin-reservoir) stood next to a house of Greek type: three sets of rooms arranged
around a peristyle, and the fourth side closed by a blind wall. The plan is exactly
like that of certain houses at Delos or Glanum (Saint-Remy-de-Provence), but the
construction resembles that of the traditional walls built by the natives of Provence.
The only trace of Romanization is the use of a very thin mortar of lime and sand.
The differing orientations of the terraces and the irregular masonry of the walls
suggests that the first Vaison was more native than Roman; moreover its growth
was not controlled as severely as that of other cities of Provence which were
Roman colonies. Truly Roman techniques appeared only during the 1st c. A.D., particularly
the use of opus vittatum, rubble fill faced with small stones.
These remains of the Augustan period, so far removed from traditional
Roman technique and regularity, explain a number of Vaison's singular features.
First, no remains of an enclosing wall have been found, probably because the Vocontii
were a civitas foederata. Since it was not a colony, the town was open and had
no ramparts. Moreover, since there is no regular checkerboard plan with parallel
or perpendicular streets, one cannot recognize a regular cardo on the map: there
are distinct differences in orientation between houses and public buildings. An
attempt has been made to reconstruct the main axes and an orthogonal plan, based
on the arrangement of the main public sewers, but the result is inconclusive.
Only at a later date, perhaps at the end of the 1st c. A.D., was city planning
attempted, and it could not entirely correct the original irregularity. The forum,
for example, has not been found, and cannot be located by studying the plan. At
least two sites are possible: along the S extension of the Street of the Shops
or directly E of the cathedral. Finally, the Hellenistic plan of the house which
preceded the House of the Dolphin may be classed with other arrangements which
seem more Greek than Roman: the predominance of peristyles over atria (House of
the Silver Bust with no atrium), the absence of an atrium-tablinum-peristyle axis
(House of the Messii), the presence of hypostyle rooms (House of the Messii, House
of the Silver Bust), and the importance of the vestibule (idem).
Apparently the earliest Roman remains are those of the bridge crossing
the Ouveze. It is a single semicircular arch with a span of 17 m, and is built
of large blocks on which ruts have been found. No Gallo-Roman remains have appeared
on the left bank of the river; on the right bank are two excavation zones, Puymin
to the NE and La Villasse to the SW.
The largest building in the Puymin district is the theater (diam.
95.9 m). Only a few tiers of seats and the foundations of the stage wall have
survived, but it has now been completely restored. It was built on bedrock in
the 1st c. A.D. and was repaired in the 3d c. Several imperial statues have been
found there, including those of Sabina, Tiberius, and Hadrian.
Another public building, S of the theater, is called the Portico of
Pompey and is surrounded by a wall 52 m on a side. The gallery, 4 m wide, had
columns with Tuscan capitals and niches holding statues, among them the statue
of the Diadumena now in the British Museum. In the middle of the courtyard was
a large basin.
Buildings E of the portico have been interpreted as tenements. Farther
N is a monument called the nympheum (insufficiently studied), and to the NE a
small district on two terraces includes a house with 2d c. A.D. mosaic floors
and a series of shops opening on a street paved with stone.
The House of the Messii, named for an inscription to Messia Alpina,
is W of the Portico of Pompey. Excavation is incomplete but one may note the absence
of alae in the atrium (the impluvium is no longer visible), the trapezoidal vestibule,
and the hypostyle room decorated with painted stucco, where the head of the Venus
of Vaison was found. The house also included private baths and some marble opus-sectile,
well preserved. In spite of the complete lack of stratigraphic information, the
house must date from the 2d c. A.D.
Finally, two series of buildings occupy the W flank of the Puymin
hill. Their plan is not clear, but they probably consist of two houses of somewhat
unusual type; one has been called, without foundation, a praetorium.
The second excavation sector extends over the S flank of the Villasse
hill, and is crossed by two streets, not parallel, oriented ca. NE-SW. The first,
the Street of the Shops, 4.2 m wide, is paved in stone and covers a main sewer
1.1 m deep. On the E side of the street is a series of shops, and then a group
composed of a large building and four smaller rooms. The large hall could not
be completely cleared: only its width (12.5 m) is known. The back wall to the
N is interrupted by a recess (1.5 x 5.3 m). The recess is framed by two pilasters
with fluted and cabled shafts supporting an arch which once framed a statue. The
building, which has been restored, has been interpreted as a commercial basilica.
The very careful decoration, the floor of opus-sectile, and the architectural
and sculptural fragments attest the importance of the monument, which may go back
to the 1st c. A.D. The building was surrounded by a drainage ditch. Small narrow
rooms bordered it to the W, among them a latrine. In contrast, to the E a spacious
room with an apse probably belonged to a large bath, now buried under the modern
town.
The W side of the Street of the Shops is bordered by a portico running
downward, with a series of levels intended to compensate for the steep slope of
the street. The bases of the columns of the portico are set in a wall which helps
to support the roadway. Eight shops open on this portico, as does the door to
one of the richest houses, the House of the Silver Bust. This house has a triple
entrance: two lateral corridors frame a spacious vestibule with a porch in front
of it. The vestibule (10.5 x 6.5 m and paved with stone) had three doors separated
by two massive piers. This very un-Roman arrangement led to a peristyle of the
Tuscan order, in which five altars, several oscilla, and fragments of sculpture
have been found. To N and S were private apartments. A second peristyle SW of
the first, more spacious but with only three branches, includes a large pool.
To the N, approximately along the axis of this peristyle, are found a room with
columns, an oecus with a large bay, and other fairly large rooms.
A third peristyle has been accredited to the House of the Silver Bust.
It was very large (3.4 m wide and over 130 m around) with 38 Doric columns. It
has an irregular plan and a large central pool. North of this portico a staircase
led to a court behind which were small baths. It is far from certain that this
vast construction was private.
Elements of another house have been partly cleared, S of the portico
and nearly 2 m lower. It had an irregular peristyle, mosaic pavements, and frescos,
and has been called the House of the Atrium. Another building farther E, has produced
two rooms decorated with mosaics and frescos with figures.
Finally, the House of the Dolphin lies to the W. The original house,
of Hellenistic type, was changed in the 1st c. by the addition of a tetrastyle
atrium, several rooms to the W, and a series of shops, variously oriented. The
floor was raised ca. 0.9 m. The remodeling can be linked to the opening of a street,
called the Street of Columns because of the portico which borders it to the W.
There is a perfect atrium-tablinum-peristyle axis; the atrium, however, lacks
alae. Baths and latrines accentuate its Roman character. To the S a large court,
adorned with a basin with niches, opens directly on the street; it could be either
a public promenade or a part of the house.
An area as yet little explored extends W on the other side of the
Street of Columns. It mixes elements of various periods: structures of the time
of Augustus, altered or buried, and basins of later date, one of which was remodeled
with a niche in the 4th c. On the N slope of the hill, N of the Chateau de la
Villasse, some modest dwellings have been cleared, including some with irregular
masonry.
Outside the two large excavation areas there are the remains of baths
ca. 1.5 km to the N, which include a large portico with a mosaic floor. Three
other public baths have been found: one under the Place de la Poste, another in
the Roussillon district, a third in the La Tour district. Under the floor of the
cathedral are large architectural fragments (column drums, double columns, capitals).
There are buildings on piles on the right bank of the Ouveze (wharves?). Finally,
tombs, both cremation and inhumation, indicate the approximate boundaries of the
settlement.
There is no archaeological evidence for the devastation of the city
in the second half of the 3d c., although such an event cannot be ruled out. It
did not, however, mark the end of the town. A bishop of Vaison was present at
the council of Arles in 314, another at the Riez council in 439. In 442 a regional
council was held in the town, and a bishop is recorded about 475.
Epigraphically, Vaison is rich in documents of all kinds, especially
Gallo-Greek inscriptions (IG XIV, 890; CIL XII). Many of the inscriptions and
artifacts are scattered in different museums, but a collection is being reassembled
in a museum on the site.
C. Goudineau, 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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