Nouveaux éléments concernant l’amphithéâtre antique de Saintes (Charente-Maritime) : l’arène aux iiie et ive s. apr. J.-C.
As a prelude to an excavation carried out in concert with the restoration work on the Roman amphitheatre of Saintes (Charente-Maritime, France), three trenches were dug in the building’s arena in an operation led by B. Gissinger. The aim was to assess the state of preservation, the general organisat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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CNRS Éditions
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Gallia |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/gallia/8876 |
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| Summary: | As a prelude to an excavation carried out in concert with the restoration work on the Roman amphitheatre of Saintes (Charente-Maritime, France), three trenches were dug in the building’s arena in an operation led by B. Gissinger. The aim was to assess the state of preservation, the general organisation and the different phases of this site dedicated to spectacle of various kinds, including munera and venationes. This amphitheatre is reputed to have been built under Claudius, and was probably initiated under Tiberius. The results provided very little information that could enable us to arrive at a more precise determination of the origins of this monument. However, the study seems to show that the arena was entirely renovated around the year 275 AD. Several indications made it possible to establish –with a reasonable degree of reliability– the date of construction of the arena in its final state, as it exists today, which totally obliterated evidence of the previous states as far as it was possible to judge within the trenches made. The floor was cambered to allow rainwater to flow towards the edges of the arena and to the bases of huge orthostates that define the base of the podium wall. Coins and rare ceramic fragments dated the use of this space to around the first half of the 4th century at least. The water was collected in a peripheral wooden gutter that survived at least in the southwest quarter of the arena. Dendrochronological dating indicates that the oaks used for its construction were cut down during autumn/winter 274/275. The water was then routed to a central sewer, probably present from the foundation of the building but modified in the course of subsequent renovation. Covered by a removable wooden floor, its centre was equipped with a network of two basins used for maintenance and the drawing of water. This sewer runs right through the arena. Charcoal found in the masonry mortar, in the state corresponding to the final renovation, confirmed a late 3rd century date. This archaeological excavation also provided information on the service rooms located at the ends of the small median axis, particularly the famous « sacellum ». The wall separating this latter shrine from the arena seems also to have been built (rebuilt?) around the end of the 3rd century. Several holes and structures that were only partially studied, the most eloquent being a massive block of limestone pierced for the installation of a removable mast, seem to have been linked to the shows staged in the arena. The seemingly quite rapid filling of the arena space, observed in the western third of the building, suggests an abandonment no earlier than the very end of the 4th century, more probably during the following century. These data somewhat change the traditional vision of an amphitheatre that was abandoned during the 3rd century and dismantled, to be used for example in the construction of the city wall under the Late Empire. It now seems clear that these two buildings stood in non-competitive coexistence. Study of the building was still underway –led by K. Robin in collaboration with Inrap– at the time this article was written. Perhaps this study will bring further nuances to the data acquired from the partial exploration of the arena of this emblematic Julio-Claudian building. |
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| ISSN: | 0016-4119 2109-9588 |