Iuliobona, modern Lillebonne in Normandy, was the civitas capital of the Caletes, situated at the head of a small valley draining into the Seine estuary. Founded in the early 1st century AD and flourishing through the 2nd and 3rd centuries, it functioned as the administrative, commercial and religious centre for the Caletes territory, with a substantial urban population engaged in trade along the Seine corridor.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As the chief town of one of the Gallo-Belgic civitates of Lugdunensis (rather than strictly Belgica), Iuliobona linked the lower Seine valley with cross-Channel trade routes to Britain, serving as a key port and redistribution hub between Rotomagus (Rouen) and the coast. Its monumental public buildings reflect its status as a politically integrated provincial capital granted Julio-Claudian patronage, indicated by its theophoric name.
The site is best known for its remarkably preserved Roman theatre, one of the largest in northern Gaul with a capacity of around 3,000, alongside excavated remains of a forum, baths, domus with mosaics, and a notable bronze statue of Apollo recovered in the 19th century. Recent excavations and the modern Juliobona museum have further documented the urban grid, port infrastructure on the Bolbec, and craft quarters.
Iuliobona, modern Lillebonne in Normandy, was the civitas capital of the Caletes, situated at the head of a small valley draining into the Seine estuary. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Iuliobona is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Gallo-Roman Theater of Lillebonne (0.2 km), Loium? (13.6 km), Caracoticum (24.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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