Cahors in antiquity

It was in Quercy, at Uxellodunum in the north of the modern department of Lot, that the ultimate battle of the Gallic coalition against the Roman invasion took place in 51 BC.

Under the reign of Augustus, the Romans completed their conquest by founding a town in the central territory of the Cadourques, a Gaulish tribe inhabiting the region. The town was founded in a wide meander of the river Lot near a spring revered by the Gauls in honour of the goddess Divona (now the Fontaine des Chartreux).

Without texts to recount the stories, we rely on archaeology to reveal the richness of the Gallo-Roman city of Divona Cadurcorum, with its 50 mosaics, a theatre, an amphitheatre, monumental baths, cut stones and much more.

This opulent city probably had a thriving commerce and certainly supported many craftsmen: Roman historians extolled the virtues of the famous Quercy linen and archaeological excavations have unearthed many pottery kilns.