CHALONS-SUR-MARNE
(“Durocatalaunum”) Marne,
France.
City of the Catalauni in Champagne, at
the confluence of the Maine and some of its small tributaries and on the Lyon-Boulogne road. It did not become
the center of a civitas, separate from that of the Remi,
probably until the Late Empire. A small castrum, it has
yielded no traces of public buildings and little is known
of its plan.
On the other hand the abundant potsherds (especially
Gallo-Belgic ware and terra sigillata), metal objects, and
burial gifts (Rue Carnot, Rue St. Dominique, Rue
des Vieilles Casernes, Rue des Viviers, and around the
Place de la Comédie) point to a sizable settlement from
as early as the middle of the 1st c. A.D. In some places
the continuity of the finds goes up to the 4th c. Weights
used by weavers and fishermen and iron slag indicate
that craftsmen worked in the settlement, but as yet a
very few architectural blocks and some marble fragments
are the only signs of a settlement on a truly urban scale.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eutrope 9.13; Amm. Marc. 15.11.10;
27.2.4;
Not. Galliarum 6.3.
L. Grignon,
Topographie historique de la yule de
Châlons (1889); R. Lemoine,
Mém. Soc. d'Agriculture,
Commerce, Sciences et Arts du Département de la Marne
13 (1909-10) 297-328; F. Vercauteren,
Etude sur les
civitates de la Belgique Seconde (1934); E. Frézouls,
Gallia 29 (1971) 293f; 31 (1973) 409f.
E. FRÉEZOULS