Roujan-Medilianum (?) de l'Antiquité au Moyen Âge. De la fouille du quartier des sanctuaires à l'identification d'une nouvelle agglomération de la cité de Béziers

Résumé En Fr

An emergency excavation carried out in the Saint- Jean district of Roujan (Hérault) uncovered a set of three Greco-roman temples built on a podium, incorporated within a peribolos, itself opening onto a 33 meter wide square to be uncovered. This lst century AD monumental quarter, which must be associated with another ancient town (Medilianum ?) in the Béziers area, goes through some important alterations as from the 5th century AD. The large central temple is pulled down ; the northern sanctuary is transformed into a funeral building which is soon equipped with an apse, whilst a baptismal building is built on the site of the southern sanctuary. Up until the beginning of the llth century, many graves are dug near both buildings. Throughout this century, settlements are henceforth reorganised around a new castle whilst a canonical priory is founded in its vicinity. Around this time, a heated debate émerges about the processions of the relies of Saint Majan relies which are fought over by several local monasteries (Villemagne, Saint-Thibéry, Aniane) at the expense of the Roujan inhabitants. This topic allows us to grasp through an anthropological angle the complexity of religious displays which are here indissociable from the médiéval constitution of a memory of origins in local Christianity. It also brings forward questions about the récognition of the status of the ancient locality, as well as the part played by this locality in the organisation of the suburbs of Béziers between the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The Christianisation process is associated with the development of a funeral function inside the ancient peribolos as well as the building of a baptistery. Such an equipment unmistakeably evokes the part played by Episcopal action faced with an organised decentralization which favoured the city's communities. The other way round, this theme also questions the vigour of a civic and religious centre which may have developed during the Early Roman Empire around a hypothetical forum.

FRE: Roujan, Cassan, Saint-Majan, agglomération secondaire, forum, villa, temples, église, baptistère, territoire, espace rural, christianisme.