Glanum - The Valley of The Sacred Spring

The Valley of The Sacred Spring

The sacred spring of Glanum is located at the southern and highest part of the town. The valley was closed by a stone wall, built at the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 1st century B.C.. This wall had a gate large enough for chariots, a square tower, and a smaller gate for pedestrians. To the left and right of the gate are vestiges of the older walls, dating between the 6th and 3rd century B.C., making a rampart 16 meters thick.

• The Doric Portico. Just inside the gate was a building with a portico of doric columns. Vestiges remain of the original structure from the 2nd to 1st century B.C.. It was rebuilt in about 40 B.C., and parts of the columns and portico from this period have been restored. Inside the building were small basins fed by water conduits in the back wall, suggesting that this building was a place where pilgrims to the spring would ritually wash and purify themselves.

• The Temple of Valetudo. This small temple was dedicated to Valetudo, the Roman goddess of health. The inscription indicates that it was built by Agrippa, the son-in-law of the future Emperor Augustus. The Corinthian columns are in the style of the late Roman Republic; it probably dates to Agrippa's first voyage to Gaul in 39 B.C.

• The sacred spring. The spring and its healing powers were the basis of the reputation and wealth of the town. Originally it was simply a basin carved into the rock. In the 2nd century B.C. it was covered by a stone building with a decorative facade of stones in a fishscale pattern. A stone stairway led from the spring up to the top of the nearby hill. In the 1st century A.D. the Roman legionnaire M. Licinius Verecundus built an altar to the right of stairway, dedicated to the god Glanis, the Glannicae, and Fortuna Redux, the goddess responsible for the safe return of those far from home. The inscription reads: "To the god Glanis, and the Glanicae, and to Fortuna Redux: Marcus Licinius Verecundus, of the tribe Claudia (an electoral district in Rome), veteran of the XXI legion Rapaces (Rapaces, or predators, was the nickname of the XXI legion, which was serving at the time in Germany.).- has accomplished his vow with gratitude and good faith."

• The chapel of Hercules. The remains of a small chapel devoted to Hercules, the guardian of springs, is located near the spring. Against the walls the archeologist Henri Roman discovered six altars to Hercules, and the torso of a large statue of Hercules, 1.3 meters high, holding a vase of water, evidently the water of the Glanum spring. The inscription on the base of the statue indicated that it was placed in gratitude for the safe return of the tribune C. Licinius Macer, and the centurions and soldiers from Glanum from a campaign during the 2nd century A.D..