AIX-EN-DIOIS
Drôme, France.
Possibly a
watering-place in Gallia Narbonensis, on a Roman road
that follows the valley of the Drôme between Dea Augusta (Die) and Lucus Augusti (Luc-en-Diois), probably
at the point where the road branches off toward the
Menée pass and the plateau of Trièves. There was at
least a cult at this spot, attested by a dedication to the
Celtic divinities of hot springs, Bormanus and Bormana
(
CIL XII, 1961).
In 1958-60 some baths were discovered in the area
known as l'Oche, 700 m downstream from a well-known
saline spring. Excavation of the site, in 1965, revealed
some bath buildings consisting of pools with run-off
pipes; two rooms with hypocausts connected by archways
with voussoirs of brick; the caldarium, and an adjacent
room. The remains of the furnace include a fire-hole, and
a conduit with piers getting progressively narrower from
W to E to facilitate the draft; the bottom of the fire-hole
is tiled. To the N is a dolium that may have been used
to store water collected from the roofs. The furnace opens
on a small oval courtyard, where many objects have been
found: terra sigillata, everyday pottery, and fragments
of painted stucco from the walls of one of the rooms.
The buildings seem to be private baths belonging to a
villa that was first built in the 1st c., underwent various
changes, and lasted, at least in part, until the late 3d
or even 4th c. However, there is a possibility that they
were part of a sanctuary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Sautel,
Carte archcéologique de la
Gaule romaine XI,
Drôme (1957) 71, no. 78; H. Desaye,
“Aperçus sur la campagne dioise à l'époque romaine,”
Actes du 89e congreès national des Sociétés savantes, Lyon, 1964 (1965) 173-84; M. Leglay, “Informations,”
Gallia 24 (1966) 517; 26 (1968) 593; 29 (1971) 429.
M. LEGLAY
