AMBRUSSUM
Locality of Le Devès, commune of
Villetelle, canton of Lunel, Hérault, France.
Pre-Roman and Gallo-Roman oppidum and way station
on the Via Domitiana between Nemausus (Nîmes) and
Sextantio (Castelnau-le-Lez), near Montpellier; it is
mentioned in the antique itineraries. The great Roman
road which served the Provincia from the Alps to the
Pyrenees crossed the coastal river of the Vidourle here,
on a stone bridge today called the Pont-Ambroix. Remains of it are still visible at the foot of the oppidum.
The settlement, on a low hill on the right bank of the
river at the crossing, is surrounded by a dry stone wall.
Towers with rounded corners are found ca. every 10 m.
Systematic exploration, recently resumed, has uncovered
a large dwelling occupied during the 1st c. B.C. and built
above a native dwelling of the first half of the 3d c.
B.C. On the river, near the bridge and at the foot of the
oppidum, was the lower town, which was occupied
throughout the Roman period.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carte archéologique de la Gaule romaine, fasc. VIII, Gard (1941) 17, no. 49; fasc. X, Hérault
(1946) 3, no. 4; “Informations,”
Gallia 27 (1969) 401;
29 (1971) 388-89; 31 (1973) 498-99
I.
G. BARRUOL
