Borne milliaire de la Calanque

The Borne milliaire de la Calanque, also called the borne d'Aureille and possibly formerly the Long Terme, is a Roman milestone dedicated to the emperor Auguste. It was set up in an 3 av. J.-C. beside the Via Julia Augusta, on the commune of Aureille, at its boundary with Saint-Martin-de-Crau in France. It marked the fourth mille after Mouriès toward Aix, on the road section running from Tarascon to Aix, probably the via Aurelia.

The marker is a round stone with a diameter of 0,59 m, broken into two parts. Its precise location has long been uncertain, with accounts placing it near the Calanque, the bois d'Aureille, or the area of the Tapie-d'Eyguières. It was uncovered in 1934, and excavations in the 1990s and in 1998 found some parts still buried. The fragments were being reassembled by Michel Poguet, so the stone itself was not visible, although the site could be reached by a public right-of-way.

The Latin inscription names Augustus as father of his country, son of the deified, pontifex maximus, consul for the twelfth time and designated for the thirteenth, imperator for the fourteenth, and holder of tribunician power for the twenty-fourth. It records IIII milia passuum, the fourth thousand paces. The marker was listed as a monument historique in 1945 under Saint-Martin-de-Crau, but its administrative location was corrected to Aureille in 2006 after scientific and administrative advice.

Milestones in the Roman world were numbered markers set along roads to indicate distances to towns or landmarks. Inscriptions identifying their function often allow such markers to be dated to a particular reign. Here the wording of the inscription supports the dating to an 3 av. J.-C. The section of ancient road in which it stood, along the line of the D 17 through Mouriès toward Salon-de-Provence, is very probably the via Aurelia, though its route would now be difficult to follow continuously.

Borne milliaire de la Calanque is a stele in Aureille, France. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the French article "Borne milliaire de la Calanque", shown in the original language.