Saint-Leomer
The Gallo-Roman sanctuary discovered in 1964 at the place called Masamas in the commune of Saint-Léomer is at the boundary of the cities of the Pictavi, the Bituriges Cubi, and the Lemovices. It consists of a rectangular peribolos (39 x 54 m), oriented E-W and built of small blocks pointed with iron. The entrance, on the short side, consists of a large N-S gallery and an axial passage; the foundations of early and late walls can be discerned.
In the W half of the sacred enclosure stood twin temples, separate and built with similar masonry. Their walls suggest a Classical plan, prostyle perhaps, with a podium and steps; the whole measured 14.25 by 7.5 m, and the walls were ca. 7.5 m high. Little has been found above the foundations: a cornice angle with cyma and terracotta antefixes decorated with gorgons with snakelocks. At a later date the pronaos of the S temple was spoiled by an oblique construction. Outside the peribolos have been found the remains of walls with the same orientation and doubtless of the same date. The artifacts are poor: fragments of statues of a seated goddess and a naked ephebe, terra sigillata and common ware of the 1st-3d c. The presence of Gallic sherds indicates pre-Roman occupation of the site, but the construction of temple and peribolos dates from the 1st c. A.D. The later buildings probably date from a reoccupation of the site in the 3d c. Masamas is similar to numerous rural sanctuaries in frontier zones, which normally include other buildings, such as a theater, bath building, and forum, not yet found here.
BIBLIOGRAPHYGallia 23 (1965) 376-77; 25 (1967) 265; 27 (1969) 282-84; 29 (1971) 273, 276; F. Reix et al., “Les fouilles de la commune de St Léomer à Masamas,” Bulletin de la Socété des Antiquaires de l'Ouest (1968) 565-70.
G. NICOLINI