SAINT-ROMAIN-EN-GAL, FRANCE—French archaeologists were surprised to find an unknown and extraordinary Roman mausoleum in Saint-Romain-en Gal, near Lyon. Finestre sull’Arte reports that the funerary structure was built around a.d. 50 and was likely modeled after the grand tomb of the emperor Augustus (reigned 27 b.c.–a.d. 14), which stood near the Tiber River in Rome. The round structure would have once stood around 20 feet high, and its interior has a 50-foot diameter. According to Giulia Ciucci, director of the Musée Gallo-Romain in Saint-Romain-en-Gal, the monument would have been visible to all travelers entering the Roman colony of Vienna in Gaul, especially those arriving along the Rhone River. “These dimensions demonstrate the importance of the person buried here, a person who, even when dead, must have still been present in the world of the living,” she said. Only 18 similar ancient mound mausoleums have been documented across France, but the one recently uncovered is by far the best-preserved example. Although the occupant of the tomb is as yet unknown, the impressive monument not only attests to the individual’s aristocratic background, but to the grandeur of Roman Gaul and the site’s close economic and political ties with the imperial capital. To read about other discoveries from Vienna, go to "A Day by the Rhone."
