ASA PAULINI
(Anse, La Grange-du-Bief) Rhône
France.
A station mentioned in the
Antonine
Itinerary, in Gallia Lugdunensis near the confluence of
the Saône and the Azergues. Traces of a pre-Roman settlement have been excavated on this site, a focus of
roads and waterways.
Some mosaics were first discovered, then a large Gallo-Roman villa (owned by Paulinus?) which has been under excavation since 1964. The villa is of a type frequently found in Gaul, with a galleried facade (175 m
long at least) to the E. The colonnades are of brick
faced with stucco and covered with tiles. Eleven of its
rooms have been excavated, several of them with frescos
and mosaics. In the middle of the facade is room IX, the
oecus of the villa, where the main mosaic was found in
1843 (now in the Hôtel de Ville at Anse). There are
several apsed rooms that probably served to receive
guests. Each end of the gallery is extended by a perpendicular wing containing rooms with mosaics and
painted walls. Room VII of the S wing, which contained
an Early Christian tomb, is decorated with stuccos
painted in different colors, with flower and bird motifs.
The finds, the construction of the buildings, and the
style of decoration indicate two periods: a 1st c. rustic
villa was replaced by a villa urbana in the early 2d c.;
the latter was torn down at the end of the 2d c., then
partly rebuilt and lived in until the 4th c.
An oval-shaped castellum was built to the E in the
Late Empire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. B. Morel,
La station romaine d'Ansa
Paulini (1925); Grenier,
Manuel I (1931) 445-46; J.
Guey & P. M. Duval, “Les mosaïques de la Grange-du-Bief,”
Gallia 18 (1960) 83-102; R. Perraud, “La villa
gallo-romaine de la Grange-du-Bief,”
Activités beau Jolaises 22 (Dec. 1965); M. Leglay, “Informations,”
Gallia
24 (1966) 498; 26 (1968) 576-78.
M. LEGLAY
