The Big Reveal - Cassinomagus

In a rural setting on the outskirts of Chassenon (16) archaeologists are piecing together the story of a miraculous survivor from gallo-Roman times.

The scale of the baths shows the importance of the Roman complex

© S Laval

One of the best-preserved gallo-Roman sites in all France was constructed beside the Via Agrippa connecting Lugdunum (now Lyon) with Augustoritum (Limoges) and Mediolanum Santonum (Saintes). The walled settlement of Cassinomagus was substantial, boasting a large villa, three temples, an amphitheatre and what researchers have identified as a thermal bath complex supplied with fresh spring water by an aqueduct. Baths were central to Roman life, and the examples at Chassenon replicate those of the Emperor Nero in Rome. They were in use for at least two centuries, but with the fall of the Empire the legions departed and their once-magnificent showpiece at Chassenon was left to degenerate, a process hastened by being plundered to provide construction materials for the village developing nearby.

Early excavations on this scale were labour-intensive

Fond Moreau - ADC

Read the full article in the April May 2020 edition of Living Magazine.