Autun - Augustodunum Roman Theatre

View of the remains of the Roman theatre from the road

On the 23rd December we decided to venture outside the Franche-Comte region and made our way westwards towards Burgundy and the city of Autun. Crossing the Saone you are greeted by the flat Burgundian countryside, however once you pass the quaint city of Beaune the road meanders its way through Pommard and Volnay, and other familiar wine producing towns, the terrain slowly dominated by long sweeping hills covered in vines.

Before I set out for Autun I had some understanding of the towns significance, primarily becauce of the size of the theatre situated there, however I was not prepared for the extent and size of the this Gallo-Roman settlement. Nearby in Burgundy a number of sattelite towns were romanised such as Dijon, Nuits-St-Georges and Chalon-sur-Saone, but they do not appear to have had the same amount of sustained development during the Roman period.

View of the Roman gate from the river Arroux

Augustodunum was founded by the Emperor Augustus and replaced Bibracte, the capital town of the Aedui tribe. Bibracte was, by this time, a modernised but dated iron age hilltop fort settlement. which was situated about 15 miles to the west of Augustodunum. It had the unfortunate fate of being the site where Vercingetorix was nominated as commander of the Gallic forces in their war against the Roman army, which was under the command of Julius Caesar. This may have been a catylist for the founding of the new Roman grid based capital city with all the trimmings such as walls, gates, forum, thermae, theatre, amphitheatre and aquaducts for the Aedui at Augustodunum, and with it the imposition of an urban administrative and political center in the area. However, Bibracte may simply not have suited the Roman requirements to support their model of a "civilised" urban center and hence a new site was selected bording on and serviced by the Arroux river.

It is not simplistic to state that Augustodunum flourished because of an acceptance of Roman power by the Aedui. The Aedui had a long established alliance with Rome and this "bond of brotherhood" is referred to by Tacitus [Annals xi 25.2] and Julius Caesar [Bello Gallico i. 33.2]. The foundation of the Gallic cities in the early empire appears to have been an attempt to define the bounderies of the tribes and a number of these cities received Imperial patronage. Thus there is a distinct difference between the founding and subsequent development of the cities of Gallia Narbonnensis such as Nimes, Arles, Frejus, and Nice. This period of reorganisation in the north under Augustus resulted in the modest naming of cities such as Augustodurum [Bayeux], Augustobona [Troyes].

The development of Augustodunum may not have been swift and there is evidence that the city was developed throughout the 1st century and continued into the second century. In fact archeological evidence suggests that the theatre and amphitheatre may not have been completed until the reign of Vespasian. A possible terminus post quem dating for this building is based upon a bronze coin from the reign of Vespasian which was found in the theatre's structure. It is feasible to suggest that the city's development and exspansion may have been temporarily stalled during a Gallic revolt during the reign of Tibeius in 21 B.C. when an Aeduan named Iulius Sacrovir was stirring up dissent. One contributory factor for the revolt was the overwhelming Gallic dissatisfaction at the extortionate taxes levied by the Romans. Iulius Sacrovir's uprising was dealt with by the German legions and in his flight he was denied entry to Augustodunum. Shortly after Sacrovir chose his own fate. There are contradictory views asa top what extent the city was developed following the end of the 2nd century, and one treatise states that the dwellings and buildings in the city never filled the 6 kilometer walled defences due to the political and economic turmoil that existed in the 3rd century.

The Gallo Roman city of Augustodunum must have been well populated given its size, and the size of the theatre and amphitheatre complex. Scholars warn us that the existence of these large public buildings are not a reliable guide to city population but it seems wasteful to build such structures when they would not have been exploited to the full. From a brief walk around the city today and reading the available text upon the archeological surverys it is clear that there was more than one theatre and an ampitheatre in existance when the Augustodunum was in its hey day.

A fragment of mosaic pavement from the Musee Lapidaire, Autun

We did not get into the Musee Rolin where a number of good Roman mosaics that have been unearthed in Autun are kept. The collection includes fragments of a Neptune mosaic and a mosaic depicting a seated philospher. One theory suggests that the person depicted is Epicurios. During the Roman period Augustodunum became noted for its school of rhethoric and as a seat of learning. Thus the discovery of such a mosaic must not be too surprising. Given the obvious importance of this Roman city one can only imagine what discoveries lie in wait below the streets and buildings of Autun.

A corinthian capital from the Musee Lapidaire, Autun

Augustodunum is said to have embraced christianity earlier than most Roman cities, and certainly by the 3rd century there was a large christian community reported to be there. Some historians attribute this thriving of the Christian community at Augustodunum to Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine the Great, who was based in the West under the emperor Diocletion.

funerary stele of a young women embedded into the wall of a building

Many funerary stele are laid out in courtyard of the Musee Lapidaire at the Roman Church of St Nicholas, and some appear built into the walls of more modern structures in the town. The Musee Lapidaire was closed when we were there, however the gates were open to receive some new stones for their collection and we managed to wander in and take a few photographs. Within the small church there is a small collection of capitals and some sculpture, presumably from Autun itself as there was very little information relating to the artifacts. A number of mosaic fragments have also been preserved there.

A large gallo-roman necropolis, which was excavated in 2004, is situarted about 600 meters to the north east of the ramparts and some of the stele have made their way into this collection, which appears to be an overflow facility for the Musee Rolin. The necropolis had circa 48- tombs with 79 stele reported to have been excavated intact.

Funerary stele of a women holding a chalice and rod

The Roman theatre, like the one at Mandeure was built into a natural hillside, and consisted of three layers of seating or cavea. The diameter of the theatre is 148 meters making it one of the largest in the Roman world, with a potential capacity of 13,800 (there are higher and less conservativre estimates for the capacity of this structure in the tourist information). The theatre at Mandeure, which was built during the 2nd century faces West, and the theatre at Autun utilises a hilside facing east-north-east. From about 14:30, when I was there, it was almost fully shaded in its current state not receiving any light from the setting sun. The semi-circular orchestra area infront of the scenae is reported to have been reduced in size from 30 to 20 meters. To put this into perspective, the orchestra at Mandeure measures 14 metres.

A view looking south east across the media cava and remains of supports for summa cavea

It is clear from the remaining structures today that the media cavea and summa cavea ie. the second and third layers of seating were substantial and were supported on a series of 49 vaults so that the full height of the structure could be achieved. It appears that each of the cavea were divided by a series of 8 cunei giving access to the rows of seating. Beyond the summa cavea there was probably an arcaded and covered ambulatory or ambulorum. The end structures are largely in ruins but a series of six niches acted as supports or butresses can still be seen. There was a scene building but this no longer exists however, archeological excavations have recorded the existence of some structures below the soil surface which can be conected with a scene building.

A view looking south east towards the orchestra ima cavea and media cavea

Today trees planted around the perimeter of the theatre give some indication of the original shape and to some extent the size of the structure. The vomitoria to either side of the cavea are not as large as those in Mandeure probably because there was access available to the rear of the structure where none was possible in Mandeure.

A view looking north towards the remains of the media cavea and reconstructed ima cavea

Looking down from a tree onto the remains of the summa cavea, orchestra and scaena area

Augustodunum was probably the most western city of an economic group of Roman cities and tribal groupings, which appear to have thrived during the 1st and 2nd centuries; studies of carved and decorated stonework including capitals from Avenches (Aventicum), Besancon (Vesontio), Mandeure (Epamanduodorum), Nyon (Noiodunum), and a little later Augst (Augusta Raurica), share similarities which would suggest a possible common regional link. The reigns of Claudius, 41 - 57 A.D. and Vespasian, 70 - 79 A.D., brought stability and confidence to the region by elevating some Roman cities to the status of colonia, and granting latin rights including citizenship. The fact that these cities have monumental public buildings, some being the largest of their type in the empire, interests me. It is evident there was a concerted effort made to develop these provincial cities that were quite close to the Rhine and Danube borders. I hope future travels will bring me to visit the large Roman theatres and amphithatres at Augst, Avenches and Nyon and to understand a little more about the interaction between these cities during the Roman period.