The Gallo-Roman theatre of Vieux is an entertainment building located within the archaeological site of Vieux-la-Romaine, ancient , situated about south of Caen, in the French department of Calvados, Normandy.
The site of Vieux has been the subject of organized archaeological excavations since the late 17th century. However, as early as the late 16th century, the famous statue base known as the marble of Thorigny was discovered there. Excavations confirmed that the site was indeed the Roman city of , capital of the Viducasses, founded in the 1st century and reached its peak during the 2nd and 3rd centuries. During this period, the city acquired monumental architecture, including an entertainment building, reflecting the adoption of the Roman way of life by the local population.
The city declined rapidly, losing its status as an administrative capital at an unknown date prior to the beginning of the 5th century. A process of ruralization gradually erased distinctions between the former city and other settlements in the Caen plain before the end of the Merovingian dynasty.
Excavated in the mid-19th century by the Société des antiquaires de Normandie, the structure was rediscovered during excavations in the early 21st century, but these later investigations were superficial and did not significantly improve upon the findings of the 19th century, which remain the basis of current knowledge about the monument. Although not visible today, the remains lie at a very shallow depth, and a mound marks their presence near the visitor parking area of the site museum.
Location
The present-day commune of Vieux lies approximately southwest of Caen,Pascal Vipard, 2006, p. 29. and from the English Channel,Delacampagne, 1990, p. 79. on the slope of the northern bank of the Guigne, a tributary of the Orne.Jardel, Quévillon, Germain-Vallée, Jeanne, Paez-Rezende and Schütz, 2015, p. 8 (Ar7).
The entertainment building, located in the northwestern part of the ancient city on “a gently southward-sloping hillside”,Vipard, 2002, p. 31. stands from the present-day locality known as Le Jardin PoulainDelacampagne, 1990, p. 82. and east of the Château de la Palue.Bertin, 1977, p. 133. The area corresponded to plots 343 and 346 in section B during the mid-19th-century excavations.Charma, 1855, p. 22. According to Antoine Charma,Charma, 1855, p. 28. this sector formed part of the northeastern suburb of the ancient city, a view also supported by Dominique Bertin.Bertin, 1977, p. 135.
In the same sector of the ancient city stands the House with a U-shaped courtyard, an urban residence more modest than the very wealthy House with the Grand Peristyle in Vieux-la-Romaine, and which has been carefully presented following excavation. The house with a U-shaped courtyard included both a workshop and shops facing the street.Delaval, 2004, p. 498.
History Early history of the site City of the Viducasses
, capital of the Viducasses, one of the peoples of Gallia Lugdunensis, occupying the present-day Caen Plain, was founded in the 1st century. The territory of the Viducasses has been estimated at .Hincker, 2007, p. 4. The presence of the Gallic sanctuary of Baron-sur-Odon may have influenced the choice of the site. According to historian and archaeologist Dominique Bertin (1948–1986), “the assimilation of the Viducasses into the Empire was rather slow”.Bertin, 1977, p. 132. The city experienced major monumental development around 120–140, notably with a public building at the Champ des Crêtes and possibly the theatre, alongside improvements in the quality of private housing.Vipard, 2006, p. 32. The city may have benefited from the privilege of , exempting it from land tax, as well as the status of a Latin-right municipality, a “privileged status” and a sign of the “success of Romanization,” according to Pascal Vipard, giving it “a prominent place” among neighboring communities.
The city expanded during the 2nd century with the development of a suburb. After reaching its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, especially under the Severan dynasty, it was heavily affected by the crises that struck the Roman Empire during the 3rd century. Its zenith may be dated from the last of the Antonines to the reigns of the Gordians. Housing mainly consisted of wattle-and-daub and timber structures, except for more luxurious residences such as the House with the Grand Peristyle at Vieux-la-Romaine.Hincker, 2007, p. 5.
Decline began in the early 3rd century. New construction ceased, reflecting “financial exhaustion” among local elites and possibly demographic decline.Vipard, 2006, p. 33. Signs of euergetism by the ruling class disappeared. By the 3rd century, the city was known as , according to the inscription on the Thorigny marble,Delaval, 2004, pp. 497–498. discovered in 1588 and catalogued as .Matter, 1992, p. 32. At its peak, the city covered and may have had a population of to inhabitants. T. Sennius Solemnis held civic and religious offices there for about twenty years between 220 and 238, including service as “delegate to the Council of the Gauls and high priest of Rome and Augustus”. Archaeological evidence also attests to the city’s integration into the short-lived Gallic Empire: an altar to Mars dedicated between 263 and 267.
The eastern sector of the city was no longer active by the end of the 3rd century, reflecting “major disorganization”. Peripheral districts were no longer restored. An industry producing worked bone objects nevertheless survived, though archaeology indicates a more modest standard of living at the site of the of Bas de Vieux in the early 4th century. After the destruction, the city recovered somewhat in the early 4th centuryDelaval, 2004, p. 498. under local authority,Vipard, 2006, pp. 33–34. but unlike sites such as Jublains or Corseul, it was not fortified with defensive walls. Road works were nevertheless carried out within the city. The “recovery” of 289–325 corresponded to a “restoration of Roman power in the Empire” accompanied by “relative security”.Vipard, 2006, p. 34. The city merged with Bayeux and disappeared “administratively” around 400.Delaval, 2004, p. 497. Pascal Vipard suggests that it lost this status during the 4th century, although administrative records still mention it around 400; he links the loss of status to the administrative reforms of Diocletian.Vipard, 2006, pp. 34–36. The event may also date to the creation of Lugdunensis Secunda between 364 and 388.Vipard, 2006, p. 42. The merger may have been driven by a desire for “administrative efficiency”.Vipard, 2006, p. 37. According to Vipard, the absence of city walls may also be related to this administrative transformation. Bayeux subsequently became a bishopric.
Although the city site remained occupied, a significant portion of the population appears to have moved to other urban centers or rural estates. Depopulation in favor of Bayeux or rural domains was offset by continued occupation during the 6th and 7th centuries.Vipard, 2006, p. 38. Necropolises excavated near Vieux reveal population growth, possibly linked to the abandonment of the central site.Vipard, 2006, pp. 38–39. The site nevertheless remained inhabited, and Christianity became established there in the 5th and 6th centuries;Vipard, 1998, p. 8.Vipard, 2006, p. 39. rare early Christian epigraphic remains have been discovered there.Hincker, 2007, pp. 25–26. From the 12th century onward, the village developed around two places of worship dating from the Merovingian period, for a total of three churches,Hincker, 2007, p. 6. originally established between the 7th and 8th centuries.Hincker, 2007, p. 7. By the end of the 7th century, nothing distinguished the site of the former Roman city from other known rural settlements in the region.Hincker, 2007, p. 25.
History of the Theatre District
The theatre district remained poorly understood at the beginning of the 21st century.Vipard, 2002, p. 33. This peripheral quarter of the city was the district of artisans; it is also where the ruins of the theatre were found.Jardel, Lelièvre and Rican, 2021, p. 36. The area was mainly occupied by timber-framed buildings.Vipard, 2002, p. 30.
A first entertainment building was constructed at the end of the 1st century or the beginning of the 2nd century. The theatre may have been built during the construction phase of the years 120–140. A few decades later, it was transformed into an arena building to accommodate amphitheatrical performances. A semicircular extension was added to the .Deniaux, Lorren, Bauduin and Jarry, 2002, p. 113.
This transformation may have occurred in the middleSear, 2006, p. 223. or at the end of the 2nd century. Pascal Vipard places the conversion between the second and last quarter of the 2nd century. The modifications erased most of the structures of the original theatre. The arena sector may also have been altered, as a wall testifies to structural changes. These modifications may have been intended to enable the site to host .Ferreira, 2017, p. 69.
The theatre is attested by “irrefutable evidence” in the largest inscription discovered at the site.de Caumont, 1854, p. 550. Titus Sennius Solemnis, priest of Diana, Mars, and Mercury, mentioned on the inscription known as the marble of Thorigny, spent sesterces in 238 on four days of spectacles.Pilet, 1984, p. 71. Gladiatorial combats are mentioned for Vieux, while other spectacles were held at the amphitheatre of the Three Gauls. In 1855, Antoine Charma remained very cautious regarding the reconstruction of the inscription.Charma, 1855, p. 24.
History of the site since Late Antiquity The theatre was abandoned at the end of the 3rd century, possibly following a fire. Excavations uncovered charred wood at the location of the seating as well as nails. The fire may have occurred after the building had already been abandoned.Vipard, 2002, pp. 31–32.
Based on numismatic discoveries, Pascal Vipard argues for “probable use until the end of the 3rd century” and notes the absence of coins from the 4th century, except for one coin of Valentinian I.Vipard, 2002, p. 32.
The ruins were then used as a source of building material, and a lime kiln was installed.Jardel, Lelièvre and Rican, 2021, p. 37. Stone elements associated with the entertainment building, including frieze fragments carved into sarcophagi, were uncovered during excavations of the Frankish-era necropolis at Grand Champ in the 19th century.Vipard, 2002, p. 34. This reuse of decorative fragments from the theatre as sarcophagus lids or basins probably dates to the 7th century.Vipard, 2006, p. 41. Decorative columns and entablature elements were indeed reused in the necropolis. A Roman milestone of Constantine was also reused as a sarcophagus lid. From this period onward began the “physical disappearance of the Roman city”.
The theatre continued to be used as a quarry during the 7th and 8th centuries. Seven medieval billon coins were found by excavators. Nevertheless, the ruins of the structure remained visible in the landscape for a long time.
Rediscovery of the site
Discovery of the theatre in the 19th century The archaeological site of Vieux was first excavated in 1702 by Nicolas-Joseph Foucault and Antoine Galland; at that time, the southern baths were explored. Other baths in the city were excavated around the 1730s. Around 1840, Arcisse de Caumont believed that the theatre was located southwest of the city, at the site known as the Champ des Crêtes.
The theatre was excavated in the 19th century, specifically between 1852 and 1854, by Antoine Charma of the Société des antiquaires de Normandie. In addition to the theatre excavations, this learned society carried out three other major excavations at the archaeological site: Arcisse de Caumont excavated the baths of the Champ des Crêtes between 1839 and 1841, and another bath complex on the same plot was excavated between 1859 and 1864.