Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The columns of Caesar, also called Peyrous Plantadous, are a set of four Roman miles located at Beaucaire, in the Gard. They marked the 13th mile from Nîmes on Via Domitia, a major route of the Roman Empire linking Italy to Spain. These boundaries date from the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and probably Claude or Antonin, as the Latin inscriptions recorded (CIL XVII-02, 210-213). They were discovered in situ, on the northern edge of the former rural road 56, near the present Beaucaire cement plant.

The pillars were cleared and restored in 1962 by the Historical Monuments, at the initiative of the young Beaucaire History and Archaeology Society. Three of them were classified in 1963, followed by a fourth anepograph base in 1965. The adjacent section of the Via Domitia, extending over several communes of the Gard and the Hérault, was included in the Historical Monuments in 1984 and 1987. These miles are unique in Narbonnaise, especially that of Tiberius, the only one known to indicate a distance during his reign.

The site, accessible by foot or by two wheels, is located 450 meters east of the crossroads of the Bieudon and the Armin Enclosures, in a cul-de-sac extending the Via Domitia. Their preservation illustrates the strategic importance of this Roman route, linking the cities of Nîmes and Beaucaire (Ugernum). Epigraphic studies, such as those of Jacques Gascou, highlight their role in the imperial road administration and the dating of the road repair campaigns.

These boundaries also reflect historical location errors: some specialists misplaced them near Jonquières-Saint-Vincent. Their rediscovery and classification benefited from the work of local historians and archaeologists, such as Michel Provost or André Michelozzi, whose publications (CAG-30-2, 1999) document their context. Today, they remain a rare vestige of the Roman ancient network in Occitanie, protected and studied for its inscription in the ancient landscape.

External links