A. The Place where hannibal crossed the pyrenees: Where the story begins with Piri's first significant memory from childhood. These ruts in the limestone of the pass are, no doubt, made by Roman and others' wagon and chariot wheels:
Romans built a fort on this pass, after their rout of the Carthaginians. Once they had taken over, their road from Rome through Gaul (Via Domitia), and their road through Spain (Via Augusta), met here at this fortification where a small garrison was stationed:
The sign for the meeting of the two roads was in the center of the fortified structure along what looked like a narrow processional way.
The processional way was quite narrow:
Larger freight vehicles probably skirted the fort along its perimeter road. Here the two roads divide at the wall of the Roman fort (rising up out of the photo below):
The fortifications were quite involved, with little interior streets and housing, a temple or two, and lookout posts all built into a natural rock setting:
This is a view of the Roman border guarding complex from the Medieval French border guarding castle that sits on the next hill overlooking both usable passes through the Pyrenees, the old Iberian-Carthaginian- Roman pass and the Medieval and current more recent one to its north (see next page):
Another view or three of the ruins should suffice:
This was all built up long after the time that Piri and her brother watched the elephants of Hannibal's army march over this pass. The road at that time looked something like this (and if I had come here first rather than last, the pics would have been better):
Just a primitive trail, on bedrock some parts of its way.
Where the two children hid to watch the road while their mothers and other married women of the tribe were selling blankets and foodstuffs to the soldiers was in these bushes:
From the road, they were quite invisible:
The road came from their tribe's possessions below, just beyond where the present-day lights shine:
From the pass to the north, the road went north then east in France (until it came to the Alps, where it crossed into Italy) (for some views to the north see next page). In case you are wondering where the modern (also Medieval) pass lies, here it is, from the Roman pass:
The view west is looking at the higher part of the Pyrenees, behind which the sun has just set:
From the Roman pass there is a view to the east that shows a large hill dividing it from the modern pass. On top of that hill stands a castle built in the Middle Ages. We will visit it next:
GO TO SECOND PAGE ON THE PASS THROUGH THE PYRENEES
GO HOME