Cularo
- a town in Gallia Narbonensis, afterwards Gratianopolis, now Grenoble, Cic. Fam. 10, 23, 7.
CU´LAROafterwards GRATIANO´POLIS ( Grenoble), a town in Gallia, on the Isara ( Isère), a branch of the Rhone. It is placed in the Table, under the corrupted name of Culabone, on a road from the Alpis Cottia ( Mont Genèvre) to Vienna ( Vienne). It has been a matter of dispute whether Cularo was in the territory of the Allobroges, but there is little doubt that it was. There is a letter from Plancus to Cicero ( ad Fam. 10.23), which is dated Cularone ex finibus Allobrogum.The common reading is Civarone,or Ciurone;but there is also a reading Cuiarone,which in fact is the same, the only difference being in the position of the i.There seems no doubt that this name represents Cularone.A modern French writer, who admits that Plancus wrote his letter from Cularo, maintains that ex finibusmeans near the frontiers of the Allobroges,a translation quite inconsistent with Latin usage. The Geographer of Ravenna writes the name Curaro,instead of Cularo;and Curaroonly differs from Cuiaro,one of the readings in Cicero's text, in a single letter, i,which may easily be confounded with r.
It appears from two inscriptions found on one of the old gates of Grenoble, --one of which has only been demolished within the memory of man,--that Cularo retained its name to A.D. 288. Nothing is known of Cularo for a long time after this letter of Plancus. Three hundred and thirty-two years later M. Aurelius Val. Maximianus restored the walls of Cularo, and gave his surname Herculeus to that gate of the city which was previously called Viennensis, and the name Jovia to the gate which was previously called Romana. This is proved by the two inscriptions, which have been correctly published in the work of Champoilion de Figeac, Antiquités de Grenoble. It is said that 83 inscriptions have been found at Grenobleat different times. The restoration of the walls of Cularo, already mentioned, was made about A.D. 288. In A.D. 379, the emperor Gratianus, being in Gaul, enlarged Cularo, and gave to it his own name Gratianopolis, which it preserves in the corrupted form of Grenoble. It seems likely that Gratianus made it a bishop's see; at least we know that there was a bishop of Gratianopolis in A.D. 381. Civitas Gratianopolis appears in the Notitia of the provinces of Gallia among the cities of the division of Gallia called Viennensis; and yet the old name Cularo was sometimes still used, for in the Notitia of the Empire it is called Calaro, which means Cularo.
It has been supposed by some geographers that Cularo was on an eminence on the right bank of the Isère, but Grenobleis on the left bank of the river. There is, however, no foundation for this opinion, which seems to have been adopted by those who suppose that the Isara was the limit of the territory of the Allobroges, and that if Cularo was on the left bank it would not be within this territory. (D'Anville, Notice, &c.;Walckenaer, Géog. &c., vol. 1. p. 263.)
[G.L]A city of Gallia Narbonensis in the territory of the Allobroges on the Isère. Apparently mentioned by Cicero (Ad fam. 10.23.7): Civarone (for Cularone) ex Allobrogum finibus; cited in the Peutinger Table as Culabone; and by the Geographer of Ravenna (4.27) as Curarore. The Celtic oppidum was probably situated on a hill close to the river. It was a customs post of the Quadragesima Galliarum. Between 288 and 292 a rampart was built to protect the city against the barbarian invasions. Under Gratianus it became Gratianopolis, whence the modern name Grenoble (Not. Gall. 11.5; Sid. Apoll. Epist. 3.14.1).
The surrounding wall was oval and had two gateways, known by their inscriptions (CIL XII, 2229): one, known as the Rome gate (near the Frères Prêcheurs), was called the Gate of Jove; the other, the Vienne gate near the cathedral, was called the Gate of Hercules. They seem to mark an oblique axis oriented nearly E-W; the corresponding N-S road has not yet been found.
Slightly to the N along the Isère, the surrounding wall stood until the city was seized by the Protestant forces of Lesdiguières in 1591. A few fragments can still be seen, especially under the Treille de Stendhal (Jardin de Ville). Its circuit can be traced almost in its entirety, thanks to ancient plans. Several fragments have recently been unearthed: near the cathedral parts of the wall and two towers have been preserved, but in the Rue de la République and Rue Lafayette quarter the fragments were destroyed after excavation. The towers, three of which have been found, are 22-24.4 m apart and 7.8 m in diameter; the foundations are very solid. The walls, 4.5-5 m thick at the bottom, are faced on both sides with small rectangular mortared stones; the core consists of irregular blocks and other material bedded in a mortar of broken tiles. The foundations have four main elements: wooden supports 40-50 cm apart (which make it a wall on piles); above these a regular layer of boulders; then some rubble; and finally a course of flat stones. Outside the wall there was probably a ditch.
The main Christian monument is the Saint-Laurent crypt on the right bank of the Isère. The building has been variously dated: from the late 6th to the late 8th c. Some of the capitals follow Graeco-Roman models, others are clearly Roman, and several columns are made of reused material. A 4th c. Gallo-Roman mausoleum, destroyed at the time of the Lombard invasions in 574, and a burial vault of the same period have also been found.
The museum contains inscriptions, pottery, and architectural and sculptural fragments.
BIBLIOGRAPHYA. Blanchet, Enceintes romaines de la Gaule (1907) 149P; R. Blanchard, Grenoble, étude de géographie urbaine (1912) PI; H. Müller, Les origines de Grenoble (1930) P; Grenier, Manuel I (1931) 413-, 518, 552; R. Girard, “La crypte Saint-Laurent de Grenoble,” CahHistArch 6 (1961) 157-63PI; id., Les remparts gallo-romains de Grenoble (1963) PI; M. Leglay, “Informations,” Gallia 22 (1964) 519; 24 (1966) 509; 29 (1971) 427.
M. LEGLAY