SOSTOMAGUS
(Castelnaudary) Aude, France.
The
Burdigalense Itinerary indicates the post-station
of Sostomago as 38 Roman miles E of Toulouse, on the
Narbonne route, which situates it at Castelnaudary. This
little town, whose name is mentioned for the first time in
1118 (Castrum novum Arri), is built on a hill whose
highest point is called le Pech. It is generally thought
that the ancient relay station Sostomagus, whose name
is Gaulish in origin, was situated at the foot of the
mediaeval settlement, on the site of the present basin
of the Canal du Midi. In any case, excavations carried
out in 1966 have uncovered the foundations of huts
and of great silos dating from the 1st c. B.C. on the Pech
itself and, 800 m from it, on the site of St-Jacques.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. E. Griffe, “Les voies romaines du
pays narbonnais,”
Annales du Midi 200 (1938)
M; E.
Baux, “La voie romaine de Narbonne à Toulouse,”
Bull. de la Soc. d'Etudes scientifiques de l'Aude 55
(1955)
M; A. Grenier,
Carte arch. de la Gaule romaine,
fasc. XII, Aude (1959)
MP; M. Passelac & G. Rancoule,
“Les fosses à amphores du Pech et de Saint-Jacques
à Castelnaudary (Aude),”
Bull. de la Soc. d'Etudes
scientifiques de l'Aude 68 (1968)
PI.
M. GAYRAUD
