The mausoleum of Lanuéjols is a Gallo-Roman funerary monument located in the commune of Lanuéjols, in the French department of Lozère (

Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language, Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This ...

region). It was built on the model of a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

- temple in the second half of the 2nd century AD by a wealthy family who certainly lived nearby. Dedicated to the memory of two of the family's sons, it is also known as the "Mausolée des ''Pomponii''", after the wealthy family, and in Occitan as "Lou Mazelet". Although this is the best-known monument in Lanuéjols, it is part of a funerary complex that also includes an altar, in front of which funerary or commemorative ceremonies were probably held, and a third, non-visible building, probably even larger than the Pomponii mausoleum, which may have been the parents' tomb. The mausoleum's particular topographical location has led to its partial burial on several occasions under the sediment left by a stream in the surrounding terrain, necessitating several excavations. The mausoleum, listed as a protected historic monument in 1840, was the subject of several excavation campaigns in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Geographical and historical context

In modern times, Lanuéjols, a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Mende, appears to have been a small secondary settlement in the center of the ''

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

'' des Gabali. However, it is not yet clear whether this was a secondary settlement, probably small in size but grouping together several settlements, or a '' villa'' belonging to a single estate. Lanuéjols may have been crossed by an ancient road running from Javols to

Bagnols-les-Bains Bagnols-les-Bains (; oc, Banhòls) is a former commune in the Lozère department in southern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Mont Lozère et Goulet. an area rich in

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

deposits that were exploited from this period onwards. In addition to the funerary complex and its mausoleum, the ancient remains identified at Lanuéjols include a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

used from the High Roman Empire to the Early Middle Ages, several remains of unidentified buildings and a large number of finds (architectural elements, some of which were used in more recent buildings in the area, coins, ceramic shards) scattered over several sites. The ancient site of Pré de Clastres, on the banks of the Gravière stream, lies at the bottom of the Valdonnez valley, between the Causse de Mende to the north and Mont Lozère to the southeast. The mausoleum's orientation, from northeast to southwest, respects that of the valley in which it is built. The presence of the creek's alluvial fan and the location of the burial site, five meters below the surrounding land, explain why the mausoleum is periodically invaded by sediment, sometimes to a height of several meters; paradoxically, this layout probably protected it from atmospheric aggression and looting. The large mausoleum at Lanuéjols is sometimes referred to locally as "Lou Mazelet", which in Occitan means a small house or farmhouse (

mas Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * Más ( ...

Studies, excavations and restoration

The mausoleum of Lanuéjols is mentioned in a

notarial act A notarial act (or notarial instrument or notarial writing) is any written narration of facts (recitals) drawn up by a notary, notary public or Civil law notary, civil-law notary authenticated by the notary's signature and official seal and detailin ...

dating from 1254, which is accompanied by a very brief description of the building, whose construction is attributed to the "

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

" (a term to be interpreted in the broad sense of

pagans Pagans may refer to: * Paganism, a group of pre-Christian religions practiced in the Roman Empire * Modern Paganism, a group of contemporary religious practices * Order of the Vine, a druidic faction in the ''Thief'' video game series * Pagan's ...

). In the 18th century, it was recognized by the ecclesiastic L'Ouvreleul as a "Roman tomb" supposedly belonging to Lucius Munatius Plancus,The tomb of Lucius Munatius Plancus is actually located in

Gaeta Gaeta (; lat, Cāiēta; Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a city in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Southern Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples. The town has played a consp ...

, Italy. See: . and it is under this name that it appears on sheet 55 of the

Cassini map The Cassini Map or Academy's Map is the first topographic and geometric map made of the Kingdom of France as a whole. It was compiled by the Cassini family, mainly César-François Cassini (Cassini III) and his son Jean-Dominique Cassini (Ca ...

. An initial transcription of the inscription engraved on the door lintel was made in 1784; it demonstrated the funerary nature of the monument, but invalidated its attribution to Plancus. In 1805, faced with the risk of the mausoleum being dismantled by the owner of the land, who had acquired it as national property and wished to recover the stones, the State intervened to buy the plot and the building. In 1813, the funerary complex was cleared of the three-meter-thick sediments that covered it, and in 1840, the monument known as the "Roman tomb" was included on the first list of protected French historic monuments. and . Left untouched, the mausoleum was again buried under alluvial deposits until 1855, when excavations began. A plan drawn up in 1860 mentions another building, but this work was poorly documented and the remains were soon buried under the alluvium. In 1881, the foundations of a third monument, probably an altar, were uncovered a few dozen meters southwest of the ''Pomponii'' mausoleum. Once again, excavation work had to be carried out before and after World War I. Excavations in the 1970s and 1980s demonstrated the absence of a funerary

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

in the two accessible monuments, and enabled us to refine the chronology of the complex's construction. From 1992 onwards, the project to develop the site as a tourist attraction led to new preventive archaeology studies. An exhaustive survey of the 150 stone blocks scattered across the site and resulting from the dismantling of its structures demonstrated the existence of the monument glimpsed in the mid-19th century, and enabled it to be located. These blocks were aligned on either side of an alleyway, as it was impossible to attribute them to a specific building, with the exception of a few which came with certainty from the mausoleum or the altar, and were replaced on these monuments. In addition to the restoration of the site's monuments, the enhancement work carried out from 1991 onwards consisted of superficial earthworks, the installation of a drainage network and footpaths, and the creation of illustrated explanatory panels near the mausoleum. As for the monument itself, the staircase leading to the '' pronaos'' was rebuilt in 1999 and 2000.. To ensure the safety of visitors and the preservation of the monument, the mausoleum's entrance door and its engraved lintel were shored up in 2013.

Funerary complex

While the ''Pomponii'' mausoleum is the main feature of the site, and the most famous for being the best preserved and oldest documented, two other buildings are known: a ceremonial altar, the base of which is still visible to the west of the mausoleum, and a second tomb, the remains of which were quickly uncovered in the mid-19th century before any in-depth study could be carried out, and which lies to the south of the altar. The presence of "neighbouring buildings" (in the plural, but without further precision) is mentioned in the temple's dedication. In addition, the discovery of a pit containing meal reliefs not far from the ''Pomponii'' mausoleum shows that funeral banquets in honor of the deceased were held on the site..

Components

Mausoleum of the ''Pomponii''

Built in large units of Jurassic dolomitic limestone, probably quarried locally, this

is typical of the "mausoleum-temple" architectural model that spread throughout the provinces of the Roman Empire from the end of the 1st century, with the exception of Roman Gaul, where it remained rare. Its morphology is reminiscent of traditional Latin temples, with '' cella'' and '' pronaos''. The older Ummidia Quadratilla mausoleum at the Italian archaeological site of

Cassino Cassino () is a ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Southern Italy, at the southern end of the region of Lazio, the last city of the Latin Valley. Cassino is located at the foot of Monte Cairo near the confluence of the Gari and Liri rive ...

is comparable, at least for the cruciform plan of the ''cella''. The Fabara mausoleum in the Spanish province of Zaragoza, which is more or less contemporary with the Lanuéjols mausoleum, is based on a similar architectural design. Mausoleu de Favara 1

Traces of the construction site (lifting gear supports, drainage ditches, stone-cutting waste) have been identified in the vicinity of the Lanuéjols monument.

= ''Cella''

= The ''cella'' was built on an almost square plan (interior dimensions 5.40 × 5.20 m), but features three outward-projecting niches 1.30 m deep on the northwest, northeast and southeast sides. The niches are finished off externally with a triangular pediment supporting a gable roof; the axial niche on the northeast side, moreover, is vaulted internally in a low

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

with a decorated archivolt. The height of the ''cella'' is known right down to the base of the roof: the cornices of the central chamber rise 4.50 m above the podium, while those of the niches are approximately 2.20 m high. Tuscan-order corner

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

adorn each corner of the ''cella'' and its niches. The walls, approximately 0.60 m thick, are made of large blocks assembled with live joints and secured with metal studs, most of which have now disappeared. Some of these blocks were cut at right angles to the corners of the monument. It is possible that the walls were faced with marble. The floor of the ''cella'' is paved with large slabs, but these are laid directly on the backfilled podium floor and do not cover a crypt that may have housed the tombs. We must therefore assume that the bodies of the deceased were preserved in sarcophagi, or urns if they were cremated, perhaps arranged in the ''cella'''s side niches, which were large enough to accommodate them. The axial niche opposite the door, smaller than the other two, may have housed statues of the ''Pomponii'' family. The door to the southwest, 2.08 m wide and 2.55 m high, is topped by an ornamented semi-circular tympanum above the

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...

. The tympanum features a rabbet designed to accommodate a sash, perhaps glazed, that would provide light to the ''cella''. The archivolt of this spandrel is decorated with engraved genii, leaves and bunches of grapes.

= ''Pronaos'' and podium

= Originally, the façade of the pronaos was adorned with four Corinthian columns; two other columns were arranged on the returns to the ''cella'', one on each side; fragments of these columns have been found on the site and in a nearby farmhouse. The façade columns originally supported an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

composed of an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

, a frieze and a cornice decorated with modillions. A triangular pediment crowned the whole. The monument is built on a podium preceded by an eight-step staircase, bordered by two echiffre walls aligned with the corners of the ''cella''. The podium is surrounded by a drainage channel cut into the thickness of the slabs that make up the podium, with drainage on the ''façade'' side. The staircase and pronaos were restored in 1999, using scattered blocks recognized as belonging to them, complemented by modern blocks of the same workmanship, but identified to differentiate them.

= Engraved lintel

= The

above the cella's entrance door measures 2.20 × 0.60 × 0.60 m. Wider than the cella door and supported laterally by winged genii, it is engraved on the outside with a five-line inscription in the form of an epitaph: : HONOR ET MEMOR E LVCI(I) POMPON(II) BASSVL(I) ET L(VCII) POMP(ONII) : BALBIN(I) FILIORVM PI(I)SS ORVM LVCIVS IVL S BASSIANVS PATER : ET POMPONIA REGOLA MATER AEDEM A FVNDAMENTO VS- : QUE CONSVMMAT NEM EXSTRVXERVNT ET DEDICAVERVNT : CVM AEDIFICIIS CIRCVMIACENTIBVS ''"In honor and memory of Lucius Pomponius Bassulus and Lucius Pomponius Balbinus, most respectful sons, Lucius Iulius Bassianus, their father, and Pomponia Regola, their mother, built this monument, as well as the surrounding buildings, from foundation to completion and dedicated it (to their children)."'' This epitaph gives the monument its nickname, the mausoleum of the ''Pomponii''. It bears witness to a practice, more common in the upper classes of society, of naming children after their mother (in this case ''Pomponius'') rather than their father.

Ceremonial altar

A structure levelled at the first course of its elevation was discovered in 1881, 35 m south-west of the main monument and more than a metre below it; it was cleared in the 1970s and excavated until the 1990s. Measuring 10.50 x 8 m, it was built in the same large-scale limestone as the mausoleum, with a paved floor. It probably comprised a front portico with columns, preceded by a courtyard. Numerous blocks scattered around the site can be attributed to this building; it is certain that the excavations revealed its entire footprint and demonstrated the absence of a funerary crypt. The hypothesis of an altar used to celebrate ceremonies in memory of the deceased has been put forward.

Second tomb

To the south of the assumed altar, another monument was unearthed in 1856, without any precise description being given, and was almost immediately resurfaced by alluvial deposits; only a topographical plan from 1860 mentions it. Its location some thirty meters south of the altar was confirmed by excavations in the 1990s. Two blocks, falsely attributed to the altar and featuring garland-based decoration, and a third found on site are the only ones that can be said to belong to it with any certainty; another block reported in 1944 in the Lanuéjols cemetery has the same characteristics. The size of the blocks that make up this other monument, which does not match that of the elements already known from the site, suggests that it was even more imposing than the ''Pomponii'' mausoleum. It could be the tomb of the parents, Lucius Julius Bassianus and Pomponia Regola.

Sponsors: a wealthy family

Lucius Julius Bassianus, the father of the family, was a notable man, certainly a

Roman citizen Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...

since he adopted the three-part name. He probably lived nearby, but his '' villa'' has not been located. He was undoubtedly a wealthy landowner who could afford to erect this monumental mausoleum in memory of his two prematurely deceased sons. It is also possible that part of his fortune came from silver-lead mining near Lanuéjols. The style of the mausoleum, sometimes compared to funerary or religious monuments in

Roman Syria Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into tetr ...

, and the name "Bassianus" also borne by the Syrian-born emperor Elagabalus, may have led to the attribution of Syrian origins to the Lanuéjols family, although there is no tangible proof of this.

Chronology

As knowledge of the mausoleum progressed, so did the dating hypotheses. In 1908, Émile Espérandieu dated the monument to the 1st century AD. In 1941, Fernand Benoit used comparisons between the Lanuéjols mausoleum and other monuments in the same style to determine that the mausoleum was "from a period later than

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

" and, in any case, "closer to Syrian buildings of the fourth and fifth centuries than those of the Empire". Entries in the Mérimée database suggest construction in the 2nd or 3rd century. Excavations carried out in the 1990's have yielded material that points to construction in the second half of the 2nd century, or even in the third third of that century. The entire burial site seems to have ceased to be frequented towards the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th century, and the mausoleum was occasionally used as a temporary shelter by passing travellers. However, the discovery of a

consisting of some fifty Late Antique burials explored in the 19th century and again in 1997, to the northeast of the mausoleum, seems to indicate a form of persistence in the site's funerary vocation. The creation of a rough stone floor around the monuments, whose primary function seems to have been to combat persistent dampness, can be traced back to this period..

Notes

References

* ''Carte archéologique de la Gaule - La Lozère. 48'', Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 2012 : * Other references

Bibliography

Documents used as a source for this article.

Specific literature on the Lanuéjols funeral complex

* * * *

Publications on the heritage of Lozère or funeral rites

* * . * * . * * * {{cite book, date=2012, first=Alain, isbn=978-2-87754-277-7, language=fr, last=Trintignac, location=Paris, page=294-302, publisher= Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, title=Carte archéologique de la Gaule: La Lozère. 48 Mausoleums in France Latin epigraphy Necropoleis Monuments historiques of Occitania (administrative region) Roman sites in France