AGATHA
(Agde) Hérault, France.
Massalian
trading post (Scymn. V. 208;
Strab. 4.1.5-6;
Plin. 3.33;
Pompon. 2.5; Ptol. 2.10.2; Steph. Byz. s.v.) at the head
of the delta of the Hérault on a low butte which has been
inhabited continually since antiquity. It is a few km S of
the important native oppidum of Bessan. While the Massaliots possessed several trading posts on the shores of
Provence and the E coast of Spain, Agatha, which was
founded in the 6th c. B.C. shortly after the installation of
the Phokaians at Marseille, was the only town on the
Gulf of Lion which was occupied by the Greeks in the
pre-Roman period. There were several complementary
motives for its foundation: a military one, raised by
Strabo, for the protection of Greek commerce from
barbarian incursions, and above all an economic reason.
Agde, at the mouth of the coastal river which, with the
Aude, is the most important of all Languedoc, was particularly well placed to serve as a way-station and intermediary between the Mediterranean lands and the interior of Gaul, including the Cévennes Massif, famous in
antiquity for its mineral wealth. Agde was both a river and seaport, and played a commercial role of the first
importance in the W Mediterranean, a role apparently
maintained under the Romans, despite the fact that the
town was some distance from the great highway of Cn.
Domitius Ahenobarbus, which ran close to the neighboring city of Baeterrae (Béziers) and not far from the great
port of Narbonne. In the 5th c. Agde became the center
of a small diocese, and a council was held there in 506.
Sporadic explorations during the last few decades have
shown that the Greek town was situated on the highest
(16 m) part of the site of the mediaeval and modern
town. Aerial reconnaissance and study of the topography
indicate that it was a true citadel, probably laid out in
a checkerboard pattern measuring 200 m a side. This is
very similar to the plan of Olbia in Provence and Emponon in Catalonia. It was surrounded by a rampart of
which some vestiges probably remain. The few soundings
which have been made confirm these observations. They
have also led to the discovery of some interesting ceramics and three Greek inscriptions, the only ones so far discovered in Languedoc. The extent of the Roman town is
uncertain, but appears to have been no greater than that
of the Greek town. Under the Late Empire, two Early
Christian funerary basilicas, St. André and St Sever,
were established outside the walls, SW of the agglomeration.
The principal discoveries testifying to the commercial
activity of Agde in antiquity have been made not in the
town itself, but in the bed of the Héault and at sea off
Cape Agde (brass and lead ingots, imported amphorae
and ceramics, metal dishes, basalt millstones made near
Agde). It was in the river bed at Agde that a magnificent
bronze statue was discovered in 1964. It is 1.4 m high,
and believed to be the portrait of a Hellenistic prince.
All the archaeological finds made at Agde, in the
surrounding area, and at sea, are preserved in the local
Archaeological Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Informations,”
Gallia 6 (1948) 203;
7 (1950) 111; 20 (1962) 622; 22 (1964) 486-88
I; 24
(1966) 462-64
I; J. Jannoray,
Ensérune. Contribution à l' étude des civilisations préromaines de la Gaule méri dionale (1955); M. Clavel,
Béziers et son territoire dans l'Antiquité (1970).
G. BARRUOL
