Sunday, September 22nd - Day 12 Afternoon - La Turbie and the Trophy of Augustus
Our day hadn't ended there, however! We decided to take a detour on the way back to our villa to the village of La Turbie which is adjacent to Eze. Deb had read about a monument built in about 7 BC to celebrate the victory of the Roman Emperor Augustus over the people of the Alps (between 25 and 7 BC). The enormous monument was erected on the highest point on the Via Julia which Augustus had built to facilitate exchanges with the Gauls. During the Middle Ages the monument was fortified and inhabited, but it was dismantled in 1705 and the carved stone reused to build village homes.
You can see the monument from quite a distance away, rising up from the town.
In Deb's opinion, this was a fantastic site - the monument, location, archaeology and ancient history. A description from the web:
The Tropaeum Alpium, or Trophy of Augustus, dominates the village of La Turbie (next to Eze, above Monaco). This Roman monument was built more than 2000 years ago by the Emperor Augustus to celebrate his victory over the Ligurians, a people living in the mountains who attacked merchants and tried to control the trade routes.
Originally, this monument was 49 metres high, the main base was 35 metres wide and the rotunda had 24 columns, all surmounted by a gigantic statue of the emperor, a veritable symbol of power. The limestone used to build it came from the quarry 500 metres away. This quarry on the Mont Justicier is the only Roman quarry to still be exploited today. On the trophy's west façade is an engraved dedication in homage to the emperor and with the names of the 44 tribes that he vanquished. (The first listed was the Trumpilini. See note below.)
In the 17th century, the Trophy served as a fortress before being dismantled by Louis XIV in the 16th century and transformed into a quarry.
In the 1930s, thanks to a donation from the American philanthropist Edward Tuck, the Trophy was (expertly and painstakingly) restored. Today, a part of the tower with its columns and the niches that held the statues still remain and it has a height of 35 metres.
Note: in consideration of the upcoming US election in November we were amused to find that the provenance of the Trophy was properly identified when the word "Trumpilini" was found in an inscription. These people were the most important of the ancient Alpine tribes that were defeated by the Romans, and thus the Trophy was built.
We first went up the path to the Trophy site and climbed to the top. Amazing views.
