Mediolanum Santonum was a Roman town in

Gallia Aquitania Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Gal ...

, now Saintes. It was founded in about 20 BC in connection with an expansion of the network of

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

s serving

Burdigala Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

. The name means 'centre of the Santones', the tribe that then inhabited the area; the town became an important center in the Roman province of Gallia Aquitania.

Monuments

The principal extant monuments of the Roman period are: *a Roman

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, go ...

now called the

Arch of Germanicus :''There was also an Arch of Drusus and Germanicus, made up of two arches built in 19 in honour of Nero Claudius Drusus and Germanicus either side of the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus, in honour of their German campaigns.'' The Arc ...

*a fairly large Roman lapidary collection *a large

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

Gallery

Drussus 03251.JPG, Bust Arc de Germanicus.JPG,

Saintes amphitheatre.jpg, The

Structures roman amphitheatre Saintes Charente-Maritime.jpg, Close up of the vomitoria of the Roman amphitheatre Deambulatory north Saint-Eutropius romanesque Basilica Saintes Charente-Maritime.jpg, Deambulatory north Saint-Eutropius romanesque Basilica Saintes Charente-Maritime

References

;Bibliography * 20s BC establishments in the Roman Empire Populated places established in the 1st century BC Roman towns and cities in France Santones Gallia Aquitania Saintes, Charente-Maritime {{Poitou-geo-stub