Oppidum de Pons

About

The Oppidum de Pons is located on the territory of the commune of Pons, in the department of Charente-Maritime. It is located at the confluence of two small rivers, the Seugne and the Soute, 20 km southeast of Saintes. His name is not mentioned in any ancient source, that of Pons is riman and medieval formation.

A few centuries before the Roman annexation of the province of Santons—which took place without resistance in 58 B.C. during the reign of Julius Caesar—the small town of Celtic origin of Pons occupied the site of a "barred spur" on the top of a rock that dominates the confluence of the Sugna and the Suta. The large Gallic village had become during the two centuries that preceded the Roman annexation "the oppidum of the Santons of independence" and, at the same time, a merchant centre, stimulated by a dynamic and enterprising craft, whose commercial relations with ancient Rome were relatively important.