Mountain traffic is subject to the constraints of geographical relief. Yet this statement of the obvious does not seem to have attracted the attention of Aquitaine scholars. This is apparent more particularly from the study of the Roman road of the Aspe valley in the Bearnaise Pyrenees (fig. 1). On this road that led from Caesaraugusta (Saragossa) to Beneharnum (Lescar, Pyrénées-Atlantiques), (Antonine Itinerary 452.6 – 453.3), the crossing of the mountain ridge, the Summus Pyrenaeus, has traditionally been located at the Somport pass, which has kept the toponym. This tradition was confirmed by the discovery in 1860 below the pass, on the French side, of a fragment of a milestone (fig. 2) incontrovertibly bearing the name of Iluro (now Oloron-Sainte-Marie). Yet in 1955, in a paper in the journal Caesaraugusta, A. Beltrán developed the idea that the true Summus Portus of the Itinerary was to be found not at the Somport but west of it at the Pau pass. The proposal rested on three seemingly sound arguments : 1. A fourth-century inscription (fig. 3) reputedly of local origin conserved at Siresa referring to the repair, in the reign of the usurper Maximus, of a road characterized as via famosa. 2. The existence on the ground, in the 700 m or so climb to the pass from the torrent, of a series of wide hairpin bends. The excavation of one bend had revealed a built roadway. 3. The presence of megaliths at various points on the climb which seemed to corroborate the path was of great age. This compilation of evidence proved that it was there and not at the Somport that the via militaris ran enabling state mail service to travel in carriages. Thereafter archaeological research by A. Magallón along the entire route in Aragon seemed to provide firm and final proof. Yet the proposal had been countered from the outset by French archaeologists who had easily shown that what was a carriageway on the southern side of the mountain was, on the north side, nothing but a steep and narrow mule path (fig. 4). As it was unthinkable that an interprovincial via populi romani could stop at the border of Hispania tarraconensis, the proposal of the Aragonese researchers was unacceptable and dismissed out of hand. The purpose of this short note is to show that both sides were in error because each party was looking for a road suitable for carriages, a methodological mistake that nurtured what was in the end a pointless debate. The fact is that it had escaped everyone’s notice that one needs first to think (including for the Somport) about what travelling conditions in the mountains in Antiquity were like. It is this essential point that enables us to return to the course along the Aspe valley, that of the river known as the gave d’Oloron. To imagine what conditions were like for crossing the Pyrenean range, no help can be hoped for in the arid indications produced by the Antonine Itinerary : the distance between the Summus Pyrenaeus and Iluro/ Oloron-Sainte-Marie is wrong, and the number of relay stations given is clearly insufficient. To restore the likely distance and increase the number of stations needed, the paper suggests placing a staging post – probably a double one for that matter – in the sector of the defile of Escot and Sarrance. This is a key sector for traffic which, on the French side, flags the limit of the mountains. Until the end of the nineteenth century, travellers leaving the wide Oloron basin to the north came up against a tall and massive rock spur (la Pène d’Escot), which left them, on the right hand bank of the river, only a narrow defile under what was then an overhang preventing carriages from passing (figs 5 and 6). This was a tight passage as confirmed by two fragmentary inscriptions (figs 7 and 8), that have now vanished, mentioning work done under the Early Empire. This was therefore a transhipment point. And as one climbs the valley towards the Somport, almost the entire route is but a series of narrow basins, deep gorges and rock outcrops which, even in normal times, prevented the continuous passage of animal-drawn vehicles. So imperial road or not, the constraints of the terrain meant pack animals had to be used. The locations of Escot and Sarrance, on either side of the gorge, made these two modern day villages forced stopping points. There is no archaeological data to confirm this proposal, but at Sarrance, the existence of a pilgrimage to the Virgin and a medieval staging post on the road to Compostela make the hypothesis of an ancient heritage likely. The proximity to a dangerous stretch was justification enough for a hostelry of sorts to be built there as far back as Antiquity (fig. 8). However, the re-assignment of the ancient roadway to its original route by way of the Somport and the Aspe valley should not mean the pathway by the Pau pass is discounted. The route via that pass had its advantages, especially that of being a useful short-cut for anyone heading for the west of the peninsula. That was why it experienced a degree of fortune in the days of the pilgrimage to Compostela. It can be inferred that the same was true in the days of the Roman Empire.
Sur la voie romaine conduisant de Caesaraugusta -Saragosse à Beneharnum -Lescar, Pyrénées-Atlantiques (It. Ant. 452.6 – 453.3), le Summus Pyrenaeus est traditionnellement placé au col du Somport, qui a conservé le toponyme. Il y a plus d’un demi-siècle, cette localisation a été remise en question au nom d’un argument archéologique apparemment décisif qui montrait que seul le col de Pau (Puerto de Palo) était équipé d’une chaussée apte à la circulation des voitures. -It. a Cette contribution veut montrer que l’hypothèse n’est pas recevable et que, là comme partout en montagne, les conditions de la circulation empêchaient d’assurer en continu le passage à des voitures tractées et imposaient le recours à des mulets.
El Summus Pyrenaus, situado sobre la vía romana que unía Caesaraugusta, Zaragoza, con Beneharnum, Lescar, Pyrénées-Atlantiques (It. Ant. 452.6 – 453.3), ha sido localizado desde antiguo en el puerto del Somport, que ha conservado el topónimo. Hace más de medio siglo, esta localización fue puesta en duda siguiendo un argumento arqueológico aparentemente decisivo que demostraba que sólo el puerto de Pau (Puerto de Palo) presentaba un firme de calzada apto a la circulación de vehículos. El objetivo de esta contribución es demostrar que dicha hipótesis no es admisible y que, allí como en todas partes en las montañas, las condiciones de circulación impedían el paso continuo de los coches tirados por animales e imponían el uso de mulas.
