Pièce de jeu ou de maquette

This piece represents a scale model of a tower with a five-sided polygonal forebody. Incisions, perhaps made after firing, attempt to reproduce the wall apparatus (assembly of bricks and stones in the masonry). The tower is framed by two vaulted openings (doors) which are unfortunately broken. The knob above the tower appears to be a tenon for the attachment of a second element. If the appearance of this object, incomplete, is that of a model of a fortified gate of a rampart, its function remains undetermined: toy? ex-voto? architect's model (imported model to be imitated, project to be executed)? Found in a heap of bricks and tiles accumulated at the foot of the curtain wall of the Roman enclosure of Toulouse, near the Place Saint-Pierre, this object could just as well be a simple architectural terracotta whose function has yet to be determined.

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Dfound at the foot of the antique walls of Toulouse, this terra cotta object remains a mystery. While it is recognizable as a scale model of a fortified gate, it is difficult to determine its function. Is it a toy? A model? An offering? In Roman Gaul, there are two main groups of urban enclosures. If those built during the High-Empire (1st - 3rd centuries) are rarer and often more symbolic than defensive, the numerous enclosures of the Low-Empire, built between the middle of the 3rd century and the end of the following century, are as for them provided with imposing defensive devices, displaying an obvious military vocation. They resulted from the feeling of insecurity that struck a Roman Empire then in crisis, confronted with the violence of the first barbarian invasions. This is how the rampart becomes a familiar element of the ancient landscape.