AUGUSTOBONA
(Troyes) Aube, France.
Situated in the marshy Seine valley in Champagne, at a
crossroads of ancient highways (to Poitiers, Reims,
Langres, Autun, Orléans), Augustobona was the center
of the civitas of the Tricasses, who had been separated
from the Senones tribe by Augustus. The Early Empire
settlement, 80 ha in area, replaced a Gallic one of unknown size. Some traces of the ancient roads have been
found, including the SW-NE urban section of the Lyon-Boulogne road that served as the cardo, as well as some
cellars and other residential elements (especially in the
Chaillouet quarter), some remains of an aqueduct, and
several necropoleis. However, no public monument has
been found.
Reduced to an area of 16 ha in the Late Empire, from
which time on it was known as urbs Tricassium or Tricassae, the city was ringed by a wall with four gates;
construction of the wall caused the surrounding areas to
be at least partly abandoned. Christianization probably
took place under Aurelianus, and the city, situated in
Lugdunensis Secunda, was the seat of a bishopric after the
reign of Constantine.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ptol. 2.8.10; Plin.,
HN 4.107; Amm.
Marc. 15.10.11-12; 16.2.6.
Corrard de Bréban,
Mém. Soc. Arch. de l'Aube (1831-62) passim; H. d'Arbois de Jubainville,
Répertoire archéologique de l'Aube (1861); A. Blanchet,
Les enceintes
romaines de la Gaule (1907); M. Toussaint,
Réertoire
archéologique de l'Aube (1954) 82-110; J. Scapula,
La
Vie en Champagne (1962, 1964, 1968); E. Frézouls,
Gallia 25 (1967) 280f; 31 (1973) 406.
E. FRÉZOULS
