Glaunum uncovered

Two ancient and magnificently beautiful Roman structures lie on the outskirts of  Saint Remy De Provence.  These structures were built to display the power and wealth to travelers as they made their way towards the town about a mile away.  While these large monuments were admired and taken care of over time, the remnants of the ancient town weren't discovered until the early 1900s.   Like most towns, the buildings had been remodeled and added to over the decades until they were finally abandoned and left to be buried by time.  Therefore the structures vary in age and style.  

The oldest structures start at the base of the mountains from the original Gaulish village existing in 30 BC.  The Romans started to dominate the area after Christ died and they changed the city and absorbed the Gaulish culture and its residents into their own.  The city was strategically located at the base of the Alpilles just where the road to pass over the mountains starts.  So, they would demand riches, food and materials from travelers in exchange for the right to pass-a toll of sorts.  Some of the newer Roman buildings, like the one's above were constructed in 30-50 A.D. as the Romans continued to modernize and build up the city.  

A reconstruction of how a wall in a Roman
house would be painted.  They found faded pieces
of these colorful walls and put them together
like a puzzle to figure out the patterns.  

A fountain- water would pour into the large
indoor pools where they would bathe. Some
pools were heated and others tepid and yet
others cold.  

The size and complexity of this area was striking.  I walked on the stone pathway that ran down the center of their town, up the steps that led to their holy shrine, stood in the crumbled walls of their bedroom and gazed at the intricate water system for their latrines.  I imagine the Romans in their daily lives and I ponder the fact that my foot is touching the stone just where one of theirs did and in my lungs the molecules that they once breathed out.

In an ancient Roman City

Where the olive trees delight

The stones that were once burried

Again meet the light

The walls once in color

Though I imagine them white

In an ancient Gaulish village

Re-risen in spite

Of the winds that storm the valley

Like the taureaux hooves in flight

and the sun that bakes and breaks

With its relentless stubborn might

The hills stand like mothers

Holding their rock children tight

But time wastes and chafes

And keeps the mountains awake at night