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Origin and history

The Roman monument from Biot, also called the Brague Trophy, is a set of stone blocks discovered in the early 20th century near Juan-les-Pins. These remains, probably linked to a memorial, funeral or votive construction, were initially found 1 km southwest of the monument of Vaugrenier, without their exact origin being known. In the 1930s, they were brought up in the pine forest of Juan-les-Pins before being transferred in 1949 to the archaeological museum of Antibes, then installed in the Grimaldi castle, then moved to the Saint Andrew bastion.

According to historian J.E. Dugand, this monument dates back to 44-42 B.C. and is a tropaeum (trophium) linked to the fighting between the Romans and the Oxybians, a people whose port was at the mouth of the Brague. The battle, won by Rome in 154 B.C., would have led to the permanent settlement of the Romans in the region. Another hypothesis, put forward by Louis Foucher, relates the monument to the Allobrog revolt in 62 BC. The blocks, classified as Historic Monument since April 19, 1945, bear witness to the conflicts and romanization of ancient Provence.

The trophy illustrates Roman military strategies and local dynamics of the time. Its successive shift — from Biot to Juan-les-Pins and then to Antibes — also reflects the evolution of the development of archaeological heritage in the twentieth century. Today, preserved in the bastion of St Andrew, it remains a symbol of the first Roman conquests in Gaul of Narbonnaise.

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