ALLONNES Sarthe, France.
A sanctuary of the 2d c. on the slopes of a wooded hillock overlooking the Sarthe, near the small town. All that can be seen today are the remains of a large round cella and of the square peristyle that surrounded it, but excavations have traced the general plan of the complex. The peristyle opens to the E on to a colonnaded pronaos. This group of structures forms the sanctuary and stands at the W end of a huge square courtyard with a gallery around it. Backed against the outer N and S walls of this gallery is a series of adjoining rooms, presumed to be shops, while in the NE and SE corners of the gallery are two small buildings connected by three parallel walls which were probably pierced by a monumental gate. This large religious complex seems to have replaced an earlier one of the Augustan period, dated by three dedications to the emperor Augustus and the god Mars Mullo.About 1200 m to the SW, at Les Perrières, the remains of a square building were discovered in 1968. The W wall contains a circular opening edged with radiating bricks. There are openings lined with stones laid edgewise in each of the four sides and near the corners of this small building. Its function has not yet been determined.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. Terouanne, “Dédicaces à Mars Mullo,” Gallia 18, 1 (1960); id., “Les Sanctuaires d'Allonnes,” ibid. 25, 1 (1967).M. PETIT