Overview
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Overview
The colonne milliaire du Paradou (Paradou milestone) is a Roman milestone of the Via Julia Augusta, in the name of the emperor Augustus, from Le Paradou, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. It is made of stone and is a classified historical monument.
It was found in two fragments, which were reassembled into a single piece in 1936.
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Article
Paradou milestone
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
The upper part (part a), with lines 1 to 4 of the inscription, was found before 1899 in the Manville grain mill, north of the village of Maussane-les-Alpilles. It had been hollowed out in the form of a vat to serve as a trough. The lower part (part b), with lines 6 and 7 and therefore the distance of X miles, has been known since the early 17th century, when it was located in the quarter of Caladat in Bas-Paradou.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
The milestone was reassembled into one piece in 1936 by the lapidary museum of Arles, where each part had been deposited (part a in 1934 and part b in 1913).
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
Fragment b was classified as a historical monument in 1909, together with the remains of the ancient Via Aurelia (voie aurélienne), which crosses the two communes. The remains of the Roman road are said to have been destroyed since.
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route to indicate distances to towns or landmarks.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (French): Colonne milliaire du ParadouCC BY-SA 4.0
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route to indicate distances to towns or landmarks. A Roman milestone carries inscriptions that indicate its function, so it can often be placed within a reign.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
French steles, milestones and memorials
The Atlas's French steles are a mixed group. A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected as a monument, with text, ornament, or both. Steles were made as grave markers, as government notices and boundary markers, and as memorials to battles. Among the French records are Gaulish steles, funerary steles, Roman milestones and a number of modern memorials.
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route to indicate distances to towns or landmarks. In the Roman world a cippus was a low, round or rectangular pedestal set up for purposes such as a milestone or a boundary post, with inscriptions that indicated its function or the area it enclosed. A Roman milestone carries inscriptions that indicate its function, so it can often be placed within a reign.
In Rome cippi marked the limits of the pomerium after the city walls were expanded, the course of aqueducts and of the imperial post; cippi lined up in rows were often numbered, and sometimes carried the name of the magistrate responsible. Roman cippi were made of wood or stone. Stelae were also erected as memorials to battles, and the Gaulish and Roman examples of France sit in that long tradition.
Modern memorials are recorded as stone monuments in the registers, and the Atlas keeps them, but they are not prehistoric.
When visiting, read the inscription, which is the quickest way to tell a Roman milestone from a modern memorial.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Stele, Wikipedia: Milestone, Wikipedia: Cippus · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1899
La partie a, supérieure, avec les lignes 1 à 4, trouvée avant 1899, dans le moulin à blé de Manville, au nord du village de Maussane-les-Alpilles.
Source - 1909
Le fragment b de la borne est classé, avec les restes de l'antique voie aurélienne qui traverse les deux communes, au titre des monuments historiques en 1909. Les vestiges de la voie romaine auraient été détruits depuis.
Source - 1936
Le milliaire a été reconstitué en un seul morceau, en 1936, par le musée lapidaire d'Arles, où chaque partie avait été déposée (a en 1934 et b en 1913).
Source - 1938
Fernand Benoit, « La voie d'Italie en Espagne à l'époque d'Auguste sur le territoire d'Arles », dans Revue des études anciennes, 40, Bordeaux, 1938, milliaire no 4 p.
Source - 1986
Gerold Walser, CIL XVII-2, 1986, inscr.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 43°42′56″ N, 4°47′17″ EFor a GPS or map app: 43.71569, 4.78817
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q2984325wikidata.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- dolmen de la Mérindole4.2 km SW
- dolmen du Mas d'Agard6.1 km W
- grotte Bounias8.4 km W
- grotte de la Source8.4 km W
- hypogées de Fontvieille8.4 km W
- dolmen de Coutignargues8.9 km W
- Castelet hypogeum9.0 km W
- Cordes hypogeum9.3 km W
- Borne milliaire du château d'Estoublon15 km W
- Borne milliaire de la Calanque15 km SE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Colonne milliaire du Paradou" (French), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors