borne milliaire de Saillans

The Borne milliaire de Saillans is a Gallo-Roman milestone in Saillans, in the département of la Drôme, France. Three such milestones have been found in the commune. They marked a secondary road on the left bank of the Rhône that followed the Via Agrippa from Valence through Die to Gap and Milan.

The protected milestone is associated with the emperors Constance Chlore, Sévère II, and Constantin le Grand. Sources disagree over its present position: it may be the stone in the entrance hall of the mairie, or the one reused as a font at the entrance to the parish church, which was found at the same time. Its exact identification remains uncertain.

Both possible milestones indicate a distance of XVI milles from Die, corresponding to the site of an ancient ford on the Drôme, and each carries two dedications. The three Saillans milestones are dedicated either to Constance Chlore, Sévère II, and Constantin le Grand, or to the emperor Delmatius. All are dated to the end of the IIIème siècle and the beginning of the IVème siècle after Jésus-Christ.

Milestones of this kind were numbered markers placed along routes to indicate distances to towns or landmarks. Their inscriptions could identify their function and help date them within a ruler’s reign. The Borne milliaire de Saillans was classified as a monument historique in 1905.

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