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The transformation of funerary areas in Vienna (Vienne, France) at the end of the 3rd and in the 4th century CE: location and nature of burials within public monuments and abandoned buildings

p. 203-227

Résumés

In ancient Vienna, from the end of the 3rd century, new funerary occupations were created after the abandonment of the Early Empire funerary complexes in those parts of the city which had previously been occupied by habitat and public monuments on the south side of the left bank and the right bank of the Rhone. It is likely that a reduction of the pomœrium allowed for burials in these newly opened up areas very close to the city. Did this new access necessitate an official change of status? The excavated sites reveal that, on the left bank of the river, burials were preferentially placed within the space of the horrea, while the houses and the public buildings were also able to be occupied on the right bank. Whatever the case may be, the road network, still in operation, seems to have been the main marker in the landscape delineating the areas that could be used by the dead, more than the boundaries of plots have. The comparison of archaeological and historical data reveals that, while the location of funerary areas changed on account of a significant shakeup in the urban frame, it is ultimately in the funerary sphere that traditional Roman practices remained unchanged for the longest period of time.

Dans l’antique Vienna, à partir de la fin du iiie siècle, de nouvelles occupations funéraires se créent après l’abandon des ensembles funéraires du Haut-Empire, dans des zones de la ville auparavant occupées par l’habitat et les monuments, sur le sud de la rive gauche et sur la rive droite du Rhône. Il faut envisager une réduction du pomœrium qui autorise désormais à inhumer dans ces secteurs nouvellement libérés, au plus près de la ville. Cet accès a-t-il nécessité un changement de statut officiel ? Les sites fouillés montrent que les sépultures investissent préférentiellement l’espace des grands horrea sur la rive gauche, tandis que l’habitat comme l’espace public peuvent être investis sur la rive droite. Quoi qu’il en soit, la voirie, toujours en activité, semble être un marqueur primordial du paysage et délimite ainsi les zones accessibles aux morts, plus que les limites des parcelles. La confrontation des données archéologiques et historiques montre que, si l’implantation des lieux funéraires change à la faveur d’un remaniement majeur du tissu urbain, c’est finalement dans la sphère funéraire que les pratiques de tradition romaine ont le plus perduré et le plus longtemps.

Entrées d’index

Mots-clés : occupation funéraire, site urbain, transformation des occupations, statut juridique, pratiques funéraires

Keywords : funerary site, urban, transformation of occupations, legal status, funerary practices


Texte intégral

Introduction

1The reflections that we present here must be seen as a development of the work that we have been carrying out over the course of many years on the combined evolution of the city of Vienne and its funerary occupations during the Roman period (Granier 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017; Granier et al. 2011, 2016a, 2016b). In studying the funerary occupations of Late Antiquity, it appeared to us that the ones occupied from the end of the 3rd and 4th centuries were all created ex nihilo. We raised the question of this dramatic change in a previous scientific meeting and it is within the framework of a project that brought together a large team and with the benefit of recent excavations that we now intend to address the question of the change in status of the plots and the land rights in which this major modification of the funerary landscape took place. The given chronological range excludes the funerary areas which were more or less likely to have been organised by the religious authorities that rose to prominence in the 5th century, at which point we begin to see the establishment of numerous funerary basilicas or martyrium clustering around them the new cemeteries.

2We base our reflections on a set of 360 burials dating to this period that were discovered both in the course of excavations carried out since the 1980s, and on the many recent preventive operations that have been carried out in recent years which brought this data up-to-date with current methods of study. Among these 360 burials, just over 300 individuals have been the subject of biological and archaeothanatological studies.1

1. The site of Vienne and its topographical evolution

3The ancient city of Vienna was the capital of the Allobroges (fig. 1). Established on the Rhone in the province of Narbonensis, the city, which developed rapidly to reach its peak at the end of the 1st century CE, was praised by ancient authors for its wealth and splendour on account of its immense territory (which stretched from Leman Lake to present-day Ardèche), its natural resources (including the silver-lead mines in Vienne itself), its geographical position and its status (Roman colony first, and then Latin colony, a status seemingly obtained in the middle of the 1st century CE; fig. 2). Archaeological excavations have been able to identify many warehouses and markets (most recently the macellum) which are signs of a flourishing trade economy. The monumental embellishment is exceptional, similar to the urban domus (Helly 2013, 2017). The population of Vienne is estimated to have been somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people during the Early Empire in a city that was strategically located on one of the major axes of transportation between Rome and northern Gaul (Pelletier 1982; Goudineau 1980; Helly 2013).

Fig. 1. Map of the territory of the Allobroges, of which Vienna is the capital, during the Early Empire.

Image

Claire Marcellin.

Fig. 2. General plan of Vienna at the end of the 2nd century CE.

Image

Benoit Helly.

4During the Early Empire, as one would expect, the funerary areas were located outside the limits of the city, which were pushed back little by little as habitat expanded (fig. 3). This constant modification of the urban and suburban setting during the 1st century is very consistent with the funerary site situated on Rue Vimaine, which was occupied during the 1st century and abandoned at the beginning of the 2nd century as the city grew towards the south (Chevalier 2007; Granier 2011, 2014; Vicard 2004). The prohibition against burials within the supposed limits of the urban area therefore appears to have been respected, but adapted where necessary to the changing limits of the city. We can understand this because such a prohibition can be seen at any time from the XII Tables Law until the Imperial period, as recorded in various ancient texts ranging from Cicero2 to Ulpian,3 in passing by Antonius Pius,4 and Paul in the 3rd and 4th centuries.5

Fig. 3. Location of the funerary sites in the Early Imperial period, in relation to the maximum extension of the urban pattern.

Image

The funerary areas are appropriately located outside the pomœrium and along the roads. We note with the site of 15 Rue Vimaine that the city, in its first states of expansion, had allowed the installation of burials in a part of the suburbium quite close to the enclosure. Then, the city expanded rapidly and this burial area was disused. The burials were pushed further and further back, over several kilometres.

Gaëlle Granier.

5In the 3rd century, political unrest forced the Roman Empire to change shape. The Tetrarchy established itself, which foreshadowed the future division of the Empire into western and eastern halves. Narbonensis did not escape this territorial restructuring (Christol 1996: 25; Fiches 1995: 13; Heijmans 2011). In our region of interest, the administrative organisation based at first on the city of the Allobroges was then modified because other capital cities began to appear: Gratianopolis (Grenoble) et Geneva (Genève). The territorial unit remained the province, which was renamed Viennensis and still included the city of Arles (fig. 4). But a new division also appeared, introducing an element which would become critical in the centuries to come: the diocese, which took on more and more importance until it began to impose itself on the political life of the city beginning in the 5th century.

Fig. 4. Map of the territory of the city of Vienna during Late Antiquity, of which Vienna is still the capital.

Image

From the 5th century onwards, in addition to the administrative unity of the city, the dioceses brought about a new type of territorial division.

Benoit Helly.

6In Vienne, the archaeological data show the urban area gradually contracting, with the abandonment in particular districts of private homes and public buildings. In this way, the districts to the south of the left bank and the districts on the right bank were definitely abandoned, but this was neither total nor sudden, stretching into the middle of the 3rd century. The funerary areas, until then far from the city, came closer at that time, being placed in parcels containing more or less ruined buildings that were occasionally subject to a systematic recycling of materials (Helly, Granier, under press).

7The general topography of the funerary occupation was therefore completely changed: while the XII Tables Law always seems to have been respected with regard to the prohibition of burials within city limits, funerary areas followed the changing shape of the urban space and hugged the city’s new borders as closely as possible (fig. 5). This makes a lot of sense because the dead gave symbolic structure to the space and it was necessary to guarantee the possibility of accessing the graves to perform periodic rituals.

Fig. 5. Location of the funerary sites in the Late Antiquity, in relation to the new less important extension of the urban pattern.

Image

We can see that the funerary occupations move to follow this new configuration and remain as close as possible to the new city limits. While respecting the XII Tables Law, they invest areas previously occupied by the habitat.

Gaëlle Granier.

2. Mapping the funerary areas of the 3rd and 4th centuries

2.1. Left bank of the Rhône

2.1.1. The great horrea: The Quai Riondet and Nympheas sites

8These warehouses, which were equal in size and capacity to the biggest public horrea in Rome and Ostia, were built at some point in the first half of the 1st century CE. Without any doubt public, they were mainly intended to gather the products of the annona collected in the city of Vienne, but possibly also that of the Three Gauls (Helly 2014). These warehouses were abandoned in the first half of the 3rd century CE (Godard 1995; Helly 2014). They were then dismantled and all of their materials (tiles, frames, masonry, flooring) were systematically recycled. Two funerary complexes have been discovered in these warehouses (Adjadj et al. 2014; Granier 2011).

9At the Quai Riondet site (Warehouse B of the horrea), three graves were discovered inside an ambitus dividing two cells of the warehouse. The walls of the Early Empire building, clearly levelled, served as the walls of the coffrages (fig. 6.1).

10The Nympheas site (Warehouse A of the horrea) yielded 29 graves, 22 of which have been studied, containing 23 individuals (fig. 6.2). The dating of this assemblage - established thanks to the artefacts and two 14C dating - places it between the middle of the 3rd and the middle of the 4th century. In this area, more thoroughly understood than the Quai Riondet site, it can be very clearly seen that graves existed in groups that were separate from each other. The excavated area yielded four of these, which consisted of between two and 10 graves.

Fig. 6.

Image

No 1: The Quai Riondet site, plan of the ambitus of the horrea and situation of the graves.no 2: The Nympheas site, plan of the ambitus of the horrea and situation of the graves, separated in different groups of burials. The excavation allowed the recognition of four distinct groups, whose profile is close to the family type (Anne LeBot-Helly and Gaëlle Granier).The detail shows how the burials are installed in the space between two walls.

Anne LeBot-Helly and Gaëlle Granier.

2.1.2. The 2 Cours Briller site

11The remains discovered during this archaeological test operation were part of a large, probably public, building that was erected during the extension of the great horrea. Two graves were added in the 4th century after the site was abandoned in the 3rd century (Frascone 2013).

2.1.3. The Vimaine 2 site

12At the southern edge of the city, a small warehouse built in the 2nd century CE was discovered, consisting of two large rooms (12 m × 14.4 m) that were surrounded by open spaces. Twenty-eight graves were found in the ruins of the earlier occupation. Dating to the end of the 3rd century, this funerary area can also be separated into several groups of burials, similar to the Nympheas site (fig. 7). This one however differs in terms of the organisation of these groups: in this case, the walls of the warehouse, partially preserved, are clearly distinguished and serve to delineate burial plots within the profile of the enclosure (Adjadj et al. 2014; Granier 2011).

Fig. 7. The Vimaine 2 site, plan of the Early Empire structures, whose walls were reused to delimit enclosures, and of the layout of the groups of burials.

Image

The excavation allowed the recognition of three distinct groups, whose profile is close to the family type.

Anne LeBot-Helly and Gaëlle Granier.

2.1.4. Records of the discoveries from the 19th and the early 20th century

13The discovery of several graves was noted in the literature, but only two records can be appended to our series.

14On the Coteau Sainte-Hélène, A. Vassy discovered numerous graves which he dated to the 4th century CE based on the ceramic finds. He noted that in one grave, the deceased wore “four thin bronze bracelets” and that two graves containing children were found, one with a “tubular” glass vase and the other with a “small amphora” (Adjadj et al. 2014: 427).

15On the Avignon road, E. Bizot noted the discovery in 1892 of “a large number of skeletons, some scattered, some within stone tombs.” The burial area was dated to the 4th and 5th centuries based on “small bronze” coins from the reigns of Constantius II and Magnentius in addition to “the shape of the letters and the orthography” of an epitaph on a block of marble. It was in this area that the cemetery known as Saint-Vincent stood (Adjadj et al. 2014: 524).

2.2. Right bank of the Rhône

2.2.1. The 289 rue Trénel site, Sainte-Colombe

16At the southern edge of the urban area on this bank of the river, inside an Early Empire building of which the identification is currently under debate, a small funerary assemblage was discovered in 2015 (Frascone 2015a). Seven burials were placed in a space delimited to the north by a large wall dating to the Early Empire, no doubt still standing to some height when this funerary complex was put in place, because no grave encroaches on the masonry and the wall constitutes the northern boundary of the entire funerary occupation (fig. 8). Indeed, no burial was placed to the north of this wall. The graves recycled the masonry of the former building into their construction: the walls are reused to be part of the coffrages and one grave even reused a gutter. Two hypotheses have been put forward as to the function of this Early Empire building: a structure related to commerce and craftsmanship on the one hand, a military barracks on the other (Frascone 2015a; Helly 2018). Whichever hypothesis proves to be accurate, the public nature of the building is clear. As with other cases in Vienne, it must be noted that this building was abandoned at the beginning of the 3rd century and that the funerary occupation began very rapidly, starting in the middle of the century, as indicated by the artefacts including a medallion made from a coin struck in 228 CE (a Julia Mamaea dupondius), a type of coin jewellery that became popular from the first half of the 3rd century, and a 14C dating (117-252 CE). The family nature of this burial assemblage is supported by the biological profile of the individuals (Frascone 2015a).

Fig. 8. The 289 rue Trénel site.

Image

Seven burials were placed in a space delineated to the north by a large wall, dating to the Early Empire, still standing to some height. This wall constitutes the northern boundary of the entire funerary occupation. The graves recycled the masonry of the former building into their construction: the walls are reused to be part of the coffrages and one grave even reused a gutter.

Daniel Frascone.

2.2.2. The Colombines site, Sainte-Colombe

17Known only from an archaeological survey carried out in 1992, the site unearthed a grave that was clearly put in place after an Early Empire building of unknown function was abandoned. But the location of this building in a suburbium situated on both sides of the Narbonensis road, as well as the context provided by the excavations and test operations carried out in the area, suggest that it was associated with craftsmanship or commercial activity, perhaps a warehouse (Faure-Brac 2006; Granier 2011).

2.2.3. The Petits Jardins site, Sainte-Colombe

18Several archaeological surveys and preventive excavations were carried out in 2006 and then again between 2015 and 2019 on this Würmian terrace, which dominates the flood plain by a dozen or so meters (Frascone 2015b, 2020; Goy 2006). It was excavation done in 2016 under the direction of B. Clément which identified a small burial area in the southern part of the “domus à la panthère” (fig. 9). Six graves were placed beneath the floors of the main room and in the rooms adjoining the peristyle (Clément 2016). Besides the relative chronology, five 14C dating demonstrate that this funerary area was settled shortly after the house was abandoned in the 3rd century. In the same way as the Rue Trénel site, the small number of graves and the profile of the individuals tend to suggest a family type of group.

Fig. 9. The Petits Jardins 2016 site.

Image

Burial area in the southern part of the “domus à la panthère”. Six graves are placed beneath the floors of the main room and in the rooms adjoining the peristyle of the domus.

Benjamin Clément.

2.2.4. The Bourg site, Sainte-Colombe

19In the course archaeological surveys carried out in 2006, the remains of a building dating to the Early Empire were discovered. The function of these remains was probably once again some form of craftsmanship or commerce. After this building was abandoned in the 3rd century, the space was reused by a funerary occupation: five graves were identified, but only one was able to be excavated during the archaeological test. This funerary area dates to the 4th century (Goy 2006).

20A major excavation was later carried out in 2017 which yielded about 40 graves, 12 of which were dated by 14C to the 3rd and 4th centuries (fig. 10). Five of these were situated in the “domus aux Bacchantes,” already abandoned and partially destroyed. Seven graves were placed in a small storage area located in the north-west corner of a large commercial building (Clément 2020, under press; Clément, Baldassari 2018).

21These two groups of burials, separate from each other, also seem to have been of a family nature. It is interesting to note in passing how these two contemporary groups were not placed in the same type of structure: one was placed in an ancient domus and the other was placed in a storage area of which the public or private nature is yet to be identified.

Fig. 10. Le Bourg site.

Image

Twelve burials, dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries, were found in Early Empire buildings: five of these were situated in the “domus aux Bacchantes,” already abandoned and partially destroyed, and seven graves were placed in a small storage area located in the north-west corner of a large commercial building.

Benjamin Clément.

2.2.5. The Place de l’Egalité site, Sainte-Colombe

22This important preventive excavation which was carried out between 1982 and 1985 revealed the remains of a bath belonging to a guild (Bouet 2003) and a domus, abandoned in the 3rd century before being reused by a large funerary occupation (fig. 11). The 242 excavated graves can be divided into numerous individual groups (Faure-Brac 2006; Granier 2011; Le Bot-Helly 1984). The anthropological study indicated a particular profile among those chosen for burial: there is a notable lack of female subjects among the groups of burials that were discovered. Taken with the existing biological, archaeological and historical data, this fact leads to an interpretation of the site as a funerary area for the collegia (Granier 2011; Granier et al. 2011, 2016b). Many architectural elements of the former bath were recycled for the construction of the numerous graves. Moreover, certain walls, probably still standing at the time, were reused to delineate the enclosures of the various funerary parcels. Two elements in particular give some insight as to the nature of the guild which occupied the site during the Early Empire: an inscription reused in one of the graves mentions a prefect of the workers, and the occupant of another grave, placed in a lead sarcophagus within a coffrage made of stone slabs, was buried with a mason plumb bob (fig. 12). It is likely that the former bath, owned by a guild of masons/ architects, was abandoned at the beginning of the 3rd century and quickly transformed into a funerary area by the same guild. All of the dating elements come together to suggest an occupation of the funerary area between the second half of the 3rd and 4th centuries (Granier 2011; Granier et al. 2011, 2016b).

Fig. 11. The Place de l’Égalité site.

Image

A thermal bath belonging to a guild (on the eastern part) and a domus (on the western part) are abandoned in the 3rd century before being reused by a large funerary occupation. This site shows very clearly the organisation of the burial areas into independent groups, operating autonomously. For example, some of them are organized as enclosure by reusing the walls of earlier structures, others are organised around a privileged burial. We note that several groups are installed in the space of the baths, while one group is installed in the space of the domus.

Anne LeBot-Helly and Gaëlle Granier.

2.2.6. The Rue Joubert site, Sainte-Colombe

23Twelve graves were discovered during a preventive excavation in 1994. The site consists of a single funerary complex that was placed on a road and its sides (fig. 13). The nature of this road remains open to interpretation (Faure-Brac 2006; Granier 2011; Helly 1995). The site features a passage made of masonry reduced in size by 3 m, without track slabs, resting on low vaults apparently intended to allow for the drainage of water from a stream. The graves were placed on top of this road and on its two sides: towards the east up to the portico of the peristyle of a domus and towards the west up to a bunch of shops. The cemetery extended to the west and north as indicated by the presence of two nearby graves discovered in 2015 (on the rue du 11 novembre site: Isnard 2015).

Fig. 12. no1 : The Place de l’Égalité site.

Image

Inscription reused in one grave’s coffrage mentioning a prefect of the workers.

Anne LeBot-Helly.

Fig. 12. no2 :The Place de l’Égalité site.

Image

The male individual of SP70, placed in a lead sarcophagus within a coffrage made of stone slabs, was buried with a mason plumb bob.

Anne LeBot-Helly.

24No 2: The Place de l’Égalité site. The male individual of SP70, placed in a lead sarcophagus within a coffrage made of stone slabs, was buried with a mason plumb bob (Anne LeBot-Helly).

Fig. 13. The Rue Joubert site.

Image

The burials are installed in the space of a portico and on a minor road, which is no longer in use from the 3rd century.

Benoit Hally, Gaëlle Granier.

2.2.7. The Thermes des lutteurs site, Saint-Romain-en-Gal

25Situated in the large residential district discovered in Saint-Romain-en-Gal, these baths ceased functioning towards the end of the 3rd century before quickly being dismantled. A building was constructed in the pool of the baths which initially accommodated one grave inside and 11 graves outside that were arranged along a path created in the space of the former palaestra (fig. 14). This first funerary occupation can be dated to the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century (Faure-Brac 2006; Prisset, Brisseau 2009; Granier 2011).

26The building was modified in the middle of the 4th century and further burials were placed within the monument starting in the second half of the 4th century until the beginning of the 5th century (Prisset, Brisseau 2015).

Fig. 14. The Thermes des Lutteurs site.

Image

In its first state of occupation, a monument is built on the former baths, which accommodates one burial. The other graves are located outside the building.

Jean-Luc Prisset, Laurence Brissaud.

2.2.8. The St-Ferréol site, Saint-Romain-en-Gal

27The site associated with the martyrdom of Saint Ferréol at the end of the 3rd century is well documented by ancient texts and this early site of worship was discovered in the course of excavations carried out in the 1970s. Several different levels of graves have been documented. Among these, a level dating to before the establishment of the Christian building at the end of the 4th century has been identified (fig. 15): three graves bear witness to a funerary occupation in the area well before the end of the 4th century (Granier 2011; Reynaud 2013, Reynaud et al. 2019).

Fig. 15. The Saint-Ferréol site.

Image

The first settlement of the martyral church occurred in the 4th century, although burials from the 3rd century were already present. The nature of the occupation before the 3rd century is unknown.

Jean-François Reynaud, Gaëlle Granier.

2.2.9. Records of 19th century discoveries

28Similar to the left bank, there are several references to the discovery of ancient burials in the reports of archaeological activities and in newspaper articles from the 19th century. Some of these can easily be located because they were produced during the construction of the Paris-Lyon-Marseille train lines, and others can be found on account of the cadastre Napoléonien. We have included the discovery of burials which can be dated by relative chronology, especially when they have been placed on mosaic floors and when they do not seem to be associated with a Christian religious building. The terminology adopted in reference to the municipality is that of the period.

29In this way, in Sainte-Colombe, Fousseau locality, on the Chaize estate, a grave was discovered a few steps away from the decorative square of a large mosaic (Faure-Brac 2006).

30Still in Sainte-Colombe, at the Chemin de Jacquetières, owing to the construction of a road, a coin hoard dating to between 208-260, a mosaic and four burials were found (Adjadj et al. 2014; Bardin 2016; Faure-Brac 2006).

31Lastly, in Verdier locality, Rue des Missionnaires in Sainte-Colombe, a lead sarcophagus was discovered in the Diederich factory very close to the train station (Bardin 2016; Faure-Brac 2006).

3. Analysis of the distribution of funerary areas: reflections on the nature of plots and access to graves

32The funerary areas appear on the general distribution map according to the status of each plot prior to their abandonment (fig. 16):

  • the private buildings appear in green (domus and shops associated with a house).
  • the structures considered to have been public according to Roman law appear in red, whether they be monuments related to the local community or imperial administration (public warehouses, baths). Buildings owned by associations, collegia (warehouses of the guild of Nauts, collegia baths, scholae) are also shown in red, although it should be pointed out here that collegia were not necessarily public, even if their functioning was often modelled on that of public institutions. The term collegium indicates precisely that the existence of the structure is recognised by law. It is therefore a legal or even social form, as would be the case for example with the societas, without it being possible to presume its private or public purpose, or even the status of its members. While the pontifical collegium or the collegium of the Vestals is obviously public because of its religious community vocation, the same cannot be said of a funerary collegium whose purpose is to provide funerals for its members in exchange for a fee. In this way, the tenants of an insula could have access to a burial in accordance with their ambitions, as they were not as fortunate as the inhabitants of a domus, who were guaranteed a loculus in the family colombarium. There were also funerary collegia that provided funerals for the slaves who were members6.

Fig. 16. General map

Image

Showing in red the funerary occupations installed in former public places and in green the funerary occupations installed in former domus. We can see that on the left bank, the burials were only installed in the public space of the ancient horrea, west of the boundary made by the horrea road. On the right bank, the burials are installed in both public and private spaces, but here again, the Narbonnaise road marks a strong limit.

Benoit Helly.

33While a predominance of cemeteries on the right bank would be imaginable at first glance, it would be dangerous to draw any definitive conclusions because while the southern district on the left bank extends over approximately the same surface area as the districts on the right bank, the surveyed areas are not as extensive.

34On the left bank of the river, the analysis of the distribution of funerary areas and the excavated regions that did not reveal any burials demonstrates that cemeteries were only placed to the west of the north-south road that delineates the eastern edge of the horrea. The Vimaine 2 site is located to the east of this road, but outside of the city limits. While the excavated zones are small in terms of surface area, the distribution of spaces without graves tends to suggest that this entire part of the city was not used for any sort of funerary occupation, whether in public monuments like the circus or in residential and commercial areas. The abandonment of this area was progressive. While some buildings like the circus no doubt remained in use until the end of the 3rd century, this was not the case for many of the houses and warehouses, like those on Rue Laurent Florentin site, which did not contain graves.

35On this bank of the river, cemeteries have only been observed in parcels that had previously been public or associated in some way with storage and commerce. No burial was placed in a private plot. At first sight, this may seem curious, as it was customary at the time to bury the dead on the borders of private land, as many legal sources repeatedly point out, and in particular the Institutes of Gaius7. The advantage was twofold: the surface of the land was not burdened with funerary buildings but the graves were visible to all, safeguarding the memoria of the dead. In Petronius’ Satyricon8, Trimalcion had a clock carved on his tomb to attract the attention of passers-by. Cicero9 had chosen his estate of Clodia on the right bank of the Tiber, a lively place frequented by young bathers, to erect a cenotaph for his daughter Tullia, in order to maintain a closeness to the society of young Romans that she should never have left. This relationship to the world of the living was sometimes extended to the point of caricature, such as a funerary inscription 10 indicates that a certain Lollius wished that people passing by his tomb greet him. These parameters explain why many burials were settled outside the urban pomoerium on the main roads and in many other busy places. On the other hand, it seems that the burial of a dead person in a public place has long been forbidden, whether by religious or legal provisions. The first mention of the impossibility of founding a tomb in a public place comes from pontifical law, as Cicero reports:

Sed ut in urbe sepeliri lex vetat, sic decretum a pontificum collegio non esse jus in loco publico fieri sepulcrum.11

“But as the law forbids burial in the city, the College of Pontiffs has likewise ordered by decree that one should not be allowed to choose a public place for burial.”

36And Cicero went on to say:

“…statuit enim collegium locum publicum non potuisse privata religione obligari.”

“… the College of Pontiffs declared in fact that a public place could not be obliged by private religion.”

37It should be noted that this last statement was made in a particular context. The difficulty did not stem directly from the existence of the tombs in a public place, but above all from the fact that they were located precisely where a temple was to be built. The use of the formula “non potuisse” seems to indicate a form of embarrassment on the part of the pontiffs in the face of the situation, since the decree was issued once the place had been chosen and sanitised, in a retroactive manner.

38The prohibition of burying a dead person in a public place is a constant in funerary legislation and is expressed, among other things, in the Severan period in a responsum by Ulpian, which refers to the penalty incurred by the offender:12

Si in locus publicus usibus destinatum intulerit quis mortuum, praetor in eum iudicium dat, si dolo fecerit et erit extra ordinem plectandus, modica tamen coercitione : sed si sine dolo, absolvendus est.

“If anyone has buried a dead person in a place intended for public use, the praetor shall pass sentence on him; if he has acted fraudulently, he shall also be punished extraordinarily, though with moderate punishment: but if there is no fraud, he is absolved.”

39However, the case mentioned above underlines the possible reallocation of things and places whose future status will determine their vocation. The setting up of a sacred thing like a templum is a process of public assignment that changes the initial status of a place after a decision by the competent authorities. The existence of such processes would therefore mean that a private parcel could theoretically become public and vice versa as long as a new territorial statute endorses the new configuration. The previous status is therefore not necessarily perennial and territorial changes can occur over time and explain why graves are located in places that we think are “public”. This phenomenon would also be favoured by the expansion or retraction of urban areas according to time, which implied a periodic reorganisation of space and territorial status that influenced the management of the dead.

40Three archaeological excavations have revealed the establishment of burials in what had formerly been large warehouses which, once abandoned and their materials recovered, were subsequently reused. While many parts were completely destroyed, as was the case at the Quai Riondet site (given that graves were placed within ruined walls), it seems that some walls were still standing to at least a certain height because they were clearly reused to delineate individual spaces amongst each group of graves, similar to an enclosure, like at the Vimaine 2 site. The organisation of these funerary areas indicates a grouping according to family or guild affiliation.

41On the right bank of the river, a “belt” of funerary areas can be observed around a core with no graves that runs from the domus on the Rue Garon and Doumer in the south, the Narbonensis road in the west and the present extent of the Saint-Romain-en-Gal site in the north (and possibly further in this direction, perhaps even up to the St. Ferréol site?). This area is mostly occupied by the baths of the Palais du Miroir and its massive palaestra (fig. 16). An excavation carried out in 2020 within a large space to the south of the main building revealed how the palaestra, in the southern area, was no longer being used from the 3rd century onwards, but nevertheless contained no burials. This however does not mean the baths themselves were not still in use in the 3rd century (Grosso, à paraître).

42It is on the other hand certain that all the districts corresponding to the Saint-Romain-en-Gal site were not abandoned until the second half of the 3rd century, or potentially even the end of the 3rd century (Leblanc 1996). But it must be noted that only the Thermes des lutteurs site was reoccupied for graves at the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th century. The area thus defined was a district that was still active in the 3rd century, but abandoned at the beginning of the 4th century, allowing for the possibility of burials within these parcels. But they were in fact only placed within the pool of the Thermes des lutteurs site. No graves have been discovered anywhere near the ruins of the archaeological site, whether in the homes, shops, warehouses or even the “northern” baths. Could this have been on account of a prohibition against burials in this area? Should this have been the case, how could the contemporary burials placed in the baths be explained? This had clearly once been a public space. Was the funerary occupation that was put in place during the 3rd century a family concession or was it associated with a guild? L. Brissaud and J.-L. Prisset proposed several hypotheses before finally settling on a family concession (Prisset, Brissaud 2009: 304):

“À l’issu de ce panorama, l’édifice de St Romain-en-Gal dans la forme de son premier état, s’avère atypique. Réalisé à l’emplacement d’un bâtiment public, nous pourrions envisager un édifice funéraire à caractère public destiné à une population défavorisée. Cependant son ampleur et son implantation au sein d’un lieu particulièrement valorisant apparaissent hors de proportion par rapport aux cas funéraires à traiter qui, au quotidien, ne préoccupaient que modérément les élites locales. De ce fait, la possibilité d’un grand tombeau familial, conçu avec une austérité certaine par ses futurs occupants, demeure la plus plausible.”

“When it’s all said and done, the Saint-Romain-en-Gal building, in its original form, proves to be unusual. Constructed on top of a public building, it could be supposed to have been a funerary structure of a public nature that was intended for disadvantaged people. But the size of the structure and its location in such a significant place seem out of proportion with the burials in question which from day to day did not really concern the local elites. As a result, the possibility of a large family cemetery, designed with austerity in mind by its future occupants, remains the most likely.”

43The hypothesis of a collegial building is raised, but without any connection to its function as a bath or its connection to wrestling. The supposedly “austere” nature of the family monument must be tempered by the ostentatious aspect of the structure and the wealth of its owner, brought up in the study, who clearly had the enormous financial means necessary for the acquisition or at least the occupation of a public building. The construction itself, featuring arcosolia, the only one in the city of Vienne at the time, bears witness to a privileged status.

44Apart from this area without graves corresponding to the area near the baths of the Palais du Miroir and the Saint-Romain-en-Gal district (excluding the funerary area of the Thermes des lutteurs), the “belt” of funerary occupations can easily be seen to the south, such as with the significant occupation at the place de l'Égalité, but also those of the rue Joubert, the Bourg, the Domus à la Panthère, the Domus des Bacchantes and the rue Trénel sites. The western extent can be determined by the discoveries of the 19th century which record burials on top of mosaics or terrazzo, indicating the abandonment of the former buildings. While it is unfortunately hard to precisely date these occupations (3rd or 4th century?), it must be noted that all of them are situated to the west and south of the Narbonensis road, while no graves have been recorded to the north or east.

45It must be emphasised that on this bank of the river, burials were placed in private spaces (houses), contrary to the left bank, as well as “public” spaces (guild baths at the Place de l’Égalité site, a storage space in the Bourg site). There is only one case where burials were placed within an ancient street (the Rue Joubert site). When the city is taken as a whole, no graves were discovered within a road. We emphasised above the uniqueness of this tiny street, no doubt already out of commission after the 3rd century.

46The analysis of this distribution map, which will be confirmed or disproven by future discoveries, reveals limits that remained strong between funerary and living spaces, marked by two main roads running through the city from north to south: the warehouse street on the left bank and the Narbonensis road on the right bank. On the right bank of the river, there also seems to have been a north-south limit at the location of the Rue Garon.

47This data, while preliminary, makes it possible to pose the dual question of the laws relating to the occupation of the land and the laws relating to burial: does the law create practice or do practices end up codified into law?

48In fact, in the Roman context, we can see from the texts that it is often both: the social generally precedes the law, but the law may see its solutions tempered by social ideology, because Roman law is a casuistic law in which religious parameters, and therefore socio-ideological ones, sometimes modify the legal solution. This is particularly true in the funerary field, insofar as the emotional and collective ideology in all its forms are touched upon. It is a question of legal but above all social regulation. In De Legibus,13 Cicero indicates that P. Mucius, the then great Pontiff, circumvented the norm that a dead person should be returned to the land - by which he meant buried - when it came to an individual who had died at sea. He thus reassured the families of the drowned that they were not really unburied because the body did not, strictly speaking, lie on the ground. It is difficult to assess the real social impact of such subterfuges on the consciences of families, but they at least had the advantage of limiting the “scandal” caused by a death without burial, which was unacceptable in the social imagination.

49As far as we know, there are no specific texts for the Vienna region. But the empire was still unified during this period, so everything concerning the imperial constitution and funerary legislation, which became increasingly refined between the 1st and 3rd centuries, entails a certain linearity in terms of the laws relating to the dead since the XII Tables. This is evidenced in particular by the uninterrupted prohibition of burial in civitatem from the Lex Duodecim Tabularum (450 BCE) to the Sentences of Paul (3rd-4th century BC), and even later. Beyond this, what took place was the same as what happens within any society: social practices are sedimented and sometimes “accidents” occur (burials in a house) which we often try to explain systematically (does this represent a social practice? Is this legal?) while hardly ever considering that it might just be a “deviation” from the norm. They could represent micro-practices, anecdotes, which may not necessarily be explicable from the information at our disposal. The documentary evidence very clearly shows continuity in the strict observation of the symbolic separation of the worlds of the dead and the living, so critical in the Roman context, to avoid impurity. The dead body is indeed a source of impurity for the community of the living (Paturet 2017). Thus, the locus religious containing human remains in the sepulchral context, is part of a scrupulous and symbolic distinction between living quarters, those destined for collective use and other areas of a more marked religious character such as temples and sanctuaries 14. The burial of the body keeps this impurity at bay, which is relegated in terram15. Funerary rituals were always about creating a clear and reassuring separation between the dead and the living in Rome. This produced all of the sacrifices and rituals that were meant to purify the family sullied by death. It is then hard to imagine, for example, a cohabitation between the dead and the living when it comes to the domus in Vienne which started containing graves in the 3rd century. When burials are present inside a domus, it must therefore be considered to have no longer been inhabited.

50The changes in topography reveal that funerary occupations followed suit with the evolution of the urban frame, but the question of the limits between the city and the cemeteries remains. On the left bank of the river, we can see that graves were only put in place within the horrea along the Rhone, from the southern extent of the city delineated originally by the enclosure. East of the horrea road, no graves have been mentioned in the records from the 19th century or unearthed through excavation, whether they would be in habitat, commercial spaces or in the amphitheatre, whether or not the site was abandoned in the 3rd century. It is therefore clear that it was the horrea road that marked the limit, raising the question as to whether or not this was an administrative decision.

51On the right bank of the river, the same phenomenon can be seen: it seems the Narbonensis road represented the limit between the funerary occupations and the areas that were still in use at least during the 3rd century.

52The textual evidence reveals that apart from the urbs which remained inaccessible, public space was not normally compatible with the establishment of a grave, because it deprives the community of the use of part of this public place. But at the same time, funerary regulation through the burial of the dead is part of the public order of the city, and the status of public places is actually relatively close to that of religious places, even if they are not of the same nature. What they have in common is that they cannot be appropriated by private persons, in order to guarantee their use by all in case of a public place, and in order to mark their allocation to the Mânes gods to whom the tombs are abandoned in case of a religious place 16. Nevertheless, it is fundamental to identify the public space, within which burials are theoretically prohibited, as well as the sacred boundary of the city and its evolution over time. In this context, the continued existence of the road network seems to have been a essential element. The road network appears to have delineated the areas available for burials more than the previous boundaries of plots. The types of burials and burial groups can help to guide us towards an interpretation: when it comes to small groups with a corresponding biological profile, we tend towards a family concession (in the Roman sense of the term), but in the case of other groups with a specific location, typology or population profile, a different kind of community is probably in question (like for example a guild). The use of an enclosure is common to all cases and can be found in many places on both banks of the river (former walls being used to delineate them).

53This general configuration on the scale of the city, in groups independent of each other, suggests independent management, even if it is conceivable that, for the large warehouses for example, the fragmentation was initially managed by the public authorities. Examples from Rome show that colombaria may have been sold at retail level. Indeed, the funerary collegia built colombaria whose ollae were distributed among the members. The members could give them away or sell them at will.17 Parcels could be traded in much the same way in Vienne: some could have been subdivided and/or privately resold as multiple funerary concessions. This fits particularly well with the groups settled in the great horrea. On the right bank of the river, in the northern area, we saw how the Palais du Miroir - the only significant public monument - did not contain even a single grave, although it was unknown whether or not it remained in function until the end of the 3rd century. A single funerary occupation was added to the Thermes des lutteurs in the 4th century without all the abandoned houses in the district receiving burials. Unlike the Saint-Romain-en-Gal site, in the western and southern areas, we can see the establishment of graves inside several domus, clearly abandoned as places of residence but still potentially the property of local elites.

Conclusion

54The results of this initial study show the significance of the changes which took place throughout the city of Vienna in Late Antiquity as well as the complexity of the developments that were seen in the funerary sphere, particularly in the topography of cemeteries. These developments cannot be understood without taking into consideration the changes to the city as a whole and without accounting for the legal context in which the establishment of these new funerary areas occurred. While the recent archaeological data shed some light on the textual data, historiographical studies are essential for understanding the obligations, choices or desires which lay behind the establishment of these groups of burials during the 3rd and 4th centuries. The formerly public or private nature of the plots does not ultimately seem to have been a hindrance to the later establishment of a new type of occupation, which in this case turned out to be funerary. The clear falling out of former function allowed for the space to be reattributed. The large public spaces were apparently divided up in order to be made available for burials and, in this case, the public authorities must necessarily have managed this process. It is also clear that private spaces were transformed; here it is necessary to consider a continuity in the ownership of parcels, each owner taking legal and religious responsibility for the transformation of the space.

55There is a certain continuity when it comes to funerary practices. Numerous customs and gestures were handed down from earlier Roman traditions, whether this be in the shape and form of the cemeteries, the fact that graves continued to be organised into separate groups, or the architecture of each individual grave. In this way, while the location of funerary areas changed as a function of a significant shakeup in the urban frame, the textual and archaeological data reveals that, in the end, it is in the funerary sphere that traditional Roman practices remained unchanged for the longest time.

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Notes de bas de page

1 Some of these were archaeological test operations in which the graves were studied and recorded, but the skeletons were not removed.

2 Cicéron, De Legibus, 2, 23.

3 Ulpien, lib. 25 ed. praet. Digeste. 47, 12, 3, 5.

4 Ibid.

5 Paul, Sententiae, 1, 21, 2.

6 On this topic, see, Van Nijf O. M. 1997, The Civic World of Professionnal Associations in the Roman East, Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archeology, 17, Amsterdam, p. 31-68. About the legal regime for associations: De Visscher F., 1949, La notion du “corpus” et le régime des associations privées à Rome, Scritti Ferrini, 4, Milan, p. 43-54.

7 Gaius, Institutes, 2, 6 Religiosum vero nostra voluntate facimus mortuum inferentes in locum nostrum… The mention in this text of voluntas and the expression locum nostrum is very clear. The will to make a place religious is the corollary of the property that the dominus possesses over his land and only this will can motivate the future mutation of the status of the burial place. About the text of Gaius, see Fabbrini F., 1970, Dai “religiosa loca” alle “res religiosae”, BIDR, 73, p. 199. The author notes that this text is only applicable to the private sepulchre and that it is necessary to exclude from it the burial instituted on a public place. The author rightly shows that the place referred to is locus noster and that the expression si modo eius mortui funus ad nos pertineat suggests that the inferens justifies the ius funerum. It is clear that Gaius' approach is somewhat reductive and equates res religiosae with private burials, but the pedagogical and practical significance of the Institutes should not be forgotten.

This provision will remain in Justinian's law, as shown by the inclusion of this provision in the IJ. 2, 1, 9 Religiosum locum unusquisque sua vomluntate facit, dum mortuum in locum suum… This principle continued throughout the classical period; the expression locus religiosus still corresponds, in Justinian's time, to the idea of 'just burial' both in legal and religious terms.

8 Pétrone, Sat. 71, 11.

9 Cicéron, Att.12, 35 ; Pro Cael. 36.

10 ILS Dessau, 6746.

11 Cicéron, Leg. 2, 23.

12 Ulpien lib. 25 ed. D. 11, 7, 8, 2.

13 Cicéron, De Leg. 2. 22.

14 There is no trace in classical legal sources of the idea of a sepulchre locus sanctus and consequently it is not certain that the quality of sanctus, which refers to walls, can be applied to tombs.

15 This relegation in terram of a thing that arouses fear is found in the fulguritum, the “burial” of lightning.

16 Gaius 2, 4 Sacrae sunt, quae diis superis consecratae sunt; religiosae, quae diis manibus relictae sunt.

17 De Visscher F., 1963: Le droit des tombeaux romains, Milan, 1963, p. 67: the author quotes a very characteristic inscription which mentions the purchase of ollae (CIL, 10, 10329=ILS Dessau, 7893: “…ex sortitone ollas sex, et emptas ollas duas de Cn. Cornelio Flix ex sort. Prim et a(mico) s(anctissimo)…”).

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