Petromantalum
PETROMANTALUM in Gallia, is placed by the Antonine Itinerary on a road which runs from Carocotinum through Rotomagus (Rouen) to Lutetia (Paris). It also appears on a road from Caesaromagus (Beauvais) to Briva Isarae or Pontoise, on the Oise. a branch of the Seine. In the Table the name, is written Petrumviaco. The site is uncertain. The name bears some resemblance to that of Magni; but the site of Magni does not accurately correspond to the distances in the Itineraries.
[G.L]The site, known locally as Les Vaux de la Celle, has been excavated systematically since 1961. It consists of a temple with two cellae (28 m sq) fronted by a flagstone path and with a nymphaeum on one side and a huge theater nearby. A few outlying buildings have been located in the vicinity.
From the coins and potsherds found on the site it is clear that it was inhabited from the Gallic period on. Both the theater and temple appear to have been built in the second half of the 2d c. The carved blocks discovered just near the temple facade show that in a place of a colonnade the monument had arched bays alternating with piers with niches carved in them, and several series of entablatures (architrave, frieze, cornice). A bronze statuette of Mercury was discovered inside the temple. In 1968 a collection of sculpture was found in the nymphaeum on the S side of the same temple: a group showing a seated god holding a patera and scepter with a child at his feet and a nymph beside him; another group representing a recumbent nymph with a child behind her, a child holding a tortoise, and a small figure offering a bird. Many pieces of wall paintings have been found near the temple (both white and colored), showing that it was no doubt richly ornamented. Like Châteaubleau, the site of Genainville belongs to the series of monumental complexes built in the countryside of Gaul after the conquest. But where the Genainville monuments appear isolated, with no residential quarters nearby, those of Châteaubleau are built next to a true vicus.
BIBLIOGRAPHYM. Fleury, “Informations arch.,” Gallia (1965, 1967).
J.-M. DESBORDES