LACTORA
(Lectoure) Gers, France.
The
town of Lactora was first part of the province of Aquitaine, then of Novempopulania. It was the capital of the
civitas of the Lactorates and one of the high places of
the cult of Cybele. Recent investigations, outside the
original oppidum, have led to the following discoveries:
1) On the Lamarque plateau there are a series of
funerary pits of the 1st c. B.C. 2) In the district of
Pradoulin a dwelling which was devastated by the invasions and troubles of the 3d c. has produced three hoards
of coins buried under Aurelian and Probus. In the 4th c.
it was covered by a group of workshops where potters
produced a rather rough red ware decorated with appliqué. 3) In the same district an inhumation necropolis
of the Late Empire has produced, among others, an
adorned sarcophagus of the School of Aquitaine. 4) At
La Payroulère there is a barbarian necropolis of late date.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Etienne, “La chronologie des autels
tauroboliques de Lectoure,”
Bull. de la Soc. arch. du Gers
60 (1959) 35-42; M. Labrousse, “Les lampes romaines
du Musée de Lectoure,” ibid. (1959) 43-67; 65 (1964)
25-30; Mary Larrieu, “Céramiques romaines du Musée
de Lectoure,” ibid. 60 (1959) 69-83; M. Larrieu, “Découverte à Lectoure d'un nouveau sarcophage sculpté de
l'Ecole d'Aquitaine,”
Cahiers archéologiques 18 (1968)
1-12.
For reports on recent excavations see M. Labrousse in
Gallia 5 (1947) 476-77 & figs. 10-11; 7 (1949) 138; 24
(1966) 433-35 & figs. 23-26; 26 (1968) 540-43 & figs.
27-29; 28 (1970) 418.
M. LABROUSSE
