Roman villa of Chiragan

Roman villa of Chiragan

Villa romaine de de Chiragan
Albert Lebègue excavation in the villa of Chiragan in Martres-Tolosane (1890)
Shown within Occitanie
Location	Martres-Tolosane
Type	villa
Area	16
History
Founded	1st century
Abandoned	4th century
Cultures	Roman
Site notes
Excavation dates	1826–1830, 1890–1891, 1894–1895, 1897–1899, 1905, 1920, 1930, 1969
Archaeologists	Alexandre Du Mège, Albert Lebègue, A. Ferré, Léon Joulin
Condition	ruined
Monument historique
Designated	1998

The Roman villa of Chiragan is a Roman villa located in Martres-Tolosane (France).

The villa was located on the banks of the river Garonne, on the road to Toulouse and was occupied between the 1st and 4th centuries. The buildings spread over an area of 16 hectares and consisted of both the agricultural buildings of a latifundium and the owner's residence, with a monumental portico, numerous garden areas and private baths.

The residential areas were decorated with marble reliefs depicting the Labours of Hercules, dated to the 3rd century, or with clipei (shields) with images of deities. There were also numerous statues, copies of Greek originals made in Rome, and a gallery of portraits of emperors and other personalities. The sculptures are now in the Saint-Raymond Museum in Toulouse. There were also decorations with acanthus swirls mixed with small animals.^[1]

After the first discoveries in the 16th century, due to the digging of a canal, excavations in the villa took place in the years 1826–1830 and again in 1897–1899.^[1]