Augustomagus
AUGUSTOMAGUS(Senlis), is placed in the Antonine Itin. on the road between Caesaromagus ( Beauvais) and Suessonae ( Soissons). In the Notitia Imperii the Silvanectes are mentioned as belonging to Belgica Secunda, and the Civitas Silvanectum is mentioned in the Notitia of the provinces of Gallia. The name Silvanectes points to the modern Senlis, in the department of Oise.
[G.L]The capital of the civitas of the Silvanectes, it extended along the N bank of the Nonette. Only the amphitheater remains, but the modern city preserves the ring formed by the wall which protected the fortified sector of Augustomagus under the Late Empire.
There appears to have been no Gallic settlement on the site but several neighboring oppida (Gonvieux, Canneville, Le Tremblaye) bear witness to the importance throughout the Iron Age of the path along the left bank of the Oise. And the sanctuary in the forest of Halette N of Senlis, where more than 200 votive sculptures have been found, must have replaced a very ancient cult-site. Despite the absence of large-scale exploration, it has been possible to reconstitute the plan of the Roman city: an area (846 x 564 m) was divided into 36 rectangular insulae intersected by the cardo inaxiinus (a segment of the road from Senlis to Lutetia), and the decumanus inaxiinus (part of the road from Beauvais to Rheims).
It has been suggested that the site of a capitolium can be made out under the cathedral, and a temple of Venus under the church of St. Vincent, but this is hypothetical. Only two parts of the city of the Early Empire have been explored, the amphitheater and the sector of the praetorlum.
The amphitheater, to the SW, was excavated 1865-89. Its dimensions are small: the axes of the arena are 42 and 34 m. The E and W entrances, on the long axis, were vaulted; the vaulting has disappeared, but the pilasters which supported it were built of large blocks and can still be seen. A few stone seats are visible behind the parapet preserved in the N part of the cavea. On either side of the main entrances were narrow rooms with barred openings probably used for wild animals. On the N-S axis two recesses (ca. 3 x 2 m) opened into the arena. There were niches with semicircular arches in the walls of these recesses: seven in the S and larger one, three in the N one. The discovery of sculpture remains (torsos of Hercules and Mercury, and of a head of Venus) suggests that these recesses were sanctuaries dedicated to the gods of the theater. As for a platform in the amphitheater too big to be a tribune, it may have been a stage added for theatrical performances. This modification probably dates from the end of the 3d c., while construction of the building itself must have begun in the early 1st c.
In the royal castle at Senlis, S of a large tower built of large blocks and set against the inside face of the wall of the Late Empire Roman fortress, an architectural complex was uncovered at a depth of over 3 m. The main feature is a sill (4 x 60 m), with an alignment of column bases. A bronze socle 1.5 in high, on which a statue of the emperor Claudius must have stood, was also found in this area. The perfectly preserved inscription from the year A.D. 48 rendered homage to Claudius for his creation of the civitas of the Silvanectes at the expense of the civitas of the Suessiones. A bronze fragment representing a seinirecumbent river god is more puzzling: perhaps it was part of the ornamentation of Claudius' cuirass. Recently a large funerary stele has been found, representing a man in a toga seated in a niche.
We know nothing of the other monuments of the city of the Early Empire. They were doubtless destroyed and the building materials reused in the fortress, which forms an oval of 840 m protecting 6 ha of the ancient city. The wall was flanked by 28 semicircular towers, 3 in high with two stories. Another wall with one tower perpendicular to the ring wall, has been found buried in a layer of burned debris inside the royal castle. Some see these remains as the vestiges of an earlier surrounding wall destroyed ca. 355 and then leveled to make way for a more extensive one built under Valentinian.
Artifacts from the excavations, including the socle for the statue of Claudius, are exhibitcd in the Musée du Haubergier at Senlis.
BIBLIOGRAPHYGrenier, Manuel III (1958) 246-49, 886-90; F. Amanieux, “Présentation des fouilles de Senlis,” Mémoires et Compte-rendus de la Société d'Histoire et d'archéologie de Senlis (1964-66) LI-LIII; M. Roblin, “Cités ou citadelles? Les enceintes romaidu Bas Empire d'aprés l'exemple de Senlis,” REA 67 (1965) 368-91.
P. LEMAN