ALLONNES
Sarthe, France.
A sanctuary of
the 2d c. on the slopes of a wooded hillock overlooking
the Sarthe, near the small town. All that can be seen today are the remains of a large round cella and of the
square peristyle that surrounded it, but excavations have
traced the general plan of the complex. The peristyle
opens to the E on to a colonnaded pronaos. This group
of structures forms the sanctuary and stands at the W end
of a huge square courtyard with a gallery around it.
Backed against the outer N and S walls of this gallery
is a series of adjoining rooms, presumed to be shops,
while in the NE and SE corners of the gallery are two
small buildings connected by three parallel walls which
were probably pierced by a monumental gate. This large
religious complex seems to have replaced an earlier one
of the Augustan period, dated by three dedications to the
emperor Augustus and the god Mars Mullo.
About 1200 m to the SW, at Les Perrières, the remains
of a square building were discovered in 1968. The W wall
contains a circular opening edged with radiating bricks.
There are openings lined with stones laid edgewise in
each of the four sides and near the corners of this small
building. Its function has not yet been determined.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. Terouanne, “Dédicaces à Mars Mullo,”
Gallia 18, 1 (1960); id., “Les Sanctuaires d'Allonnes,” ibid. 25, 1 (1967).
M. PETIT
