LUCUS AUGUSTI
Eth.
LUCUS AUGUSTI a town in Gallia Narbonensis, and east of the Rhone, which Tacitus (
Tac. Hist. 1.66) calls “municipium Vocontiorum;” and Pliny (
3.4) names Vasio (
Vaison) and Lucus Augusti the two chief towns of the Vocontii. Lucus is placed in the Itins. on a road from Vapincum (
Gap) to Lugdunum (
Lyon): it is the first stage after Mons Seleucus, and lies between Mons Seleucus and Dea Vocontiorum (
Die).
The name is preserved in
Luc. “This town has been destroyed by the fall of a rock, which, having stopped the course of the Drôme, has caused the river to spread out and form lakes which have covered part of its territory: there remains, however, in the neighbourhood and at the outlet of these lakes a place which preserves the name of Luc.” (D'Anville,
Notice, &c.) It is stated in the
Guide du Voyageur (Richard et Hocquart), that “on the mountain called the
Pied de Luc, in the commune of Luc-en-Diois, there are considerable remains of old buildings.
The column of the public fountain of this little place is a fragment of an old capital, and the basin is a sarcophagus of a single stone.” There is an inscription on it in Roman characters.
[
G.L]
