PETROMANTALUM
(Genainville) Dept. Val d'Oise,
France.
The site, known locally as Les Vaux
de la Celle, has been excavated systematically since
1961. It consists of a temple with two cellae (28 m sq)
fronted by a flagstone path and with a nymphaeum on
one side and a huge theater nearby. A few outlying
buildings have been located in the vicinity.
From the coins and potsherds found on the site it is
clear that it was inhabited from the Gallic period on.
Both the theater and temple appear to have been built
in the second half of the 2d c. The carved blocks discovered just near the temple facade show that in a place
of a colonnade the monument had arched bays alternating with piers with niches carved in them, and several
series of entablatures (architrave, frieze, cornice). A
bronze statuette of Mercury was discovered inside the
temple. In 1968 a collection of sculpture was found in
the nymphaeum on the S side of the same temple: a
group showing a seated god holding a patera and scepter
with a child at his feet and a nymph beside him; another group representing a recumbent nymph with a
child behind her, a child holding a tortoise, and a small
figure offering a bird. Many pieces of wall paintings
have been found near the temple (both white and colored), showing that it was no doubt richly ornamented.
Like Châteaubleau, the site of Genainville belongs to
the series of monumental complexes built in the countryside of Gaul after the conquest. But where the Genainville monuments appear isolated, with no residential quarters nearby, those of Châteaubleau are built next
to a true vicus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Fleury, “Informations arch.,”
Gallia (1965, 1967).
J.-M. DESBORDES
