MESUA
(Mèze) Hérault, France.
Pre-Roman
settlement on the N bank of the Étang de Thau on a
promontory almost entirely surrounded by water (Mel.
2.5.6). Soundings carried out on this little cape, on
which was located a port active in antiquity, have revealed that it was occupied from the 6th c. B.C. to the Roman period.
Isolated finds made in the depths of the Thau basin,
and in the wrecks which have been discovered there,
testify to its frequent use by ancient shipping. It was
through the small ports marking the N side of this basin
(of which Mèze was the most important) that maritime
commerce was connected with the great axis formed by
the Via Domitiana, which crosses the territory of Mèze
ca. 5 km N of the town. Numerous and important Gallo-Roman estates were situated between the Étang de Thau
and the Via Domitiana.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carte archéologique de la Gaule romaine, fasc. X, Hérault (1946) 17, nos. 44-45; “Informations,”
Gallia 27 (1969) 396; 29 (1971) 384.
G. BARRUOL
