VALENTINE
Haute-Garonne, France.
In the
district of Arnesp, on the alluvial terrace of the Garonne,
a sumptuous villa of the Late Empire is comparable to
that at Montmaurin in its monumental plan and its
marbles and mosaics. Excavations have begun. The
SW portion was successively occupied by a pagan mausoleum, an Early Christian necropolis, a barbarian necropolis, a Carolingian (?) chapel, and the mediaeval church which was the priory of Arnesp.
This villa probably belonged to Nymfius, an important personage of the 4th c., who is known from a metrical inscription (
CIL XIII, 128) now in the Musée des Augustins at Toulouse.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H.-P. Eydoux,
Résurrection de la Gaule
(1961) 333-60; G. Fouet,
Rev. de Comminges 78 (1965)
173-76; cf. M. Labrousse, “Informations,”
Gallia 9
(1951) 133-34; 17 (1959) 430-33
P; 22 (1964) 449-50;
24 (1966) 428-29; 26 (1968) 537.
M. LABROUSSE
