Mons Seleucus is a vicus associated with a contemporary native sanctuary.
The town extends to the south-west and the first Roman occupation dates from around 50-25 BC....

Welcome to our website ! Mons Seleucus Friends.

Mons Seleucus Friends welcome you to a website dedicated to Mons Seleucus, a vicus and a Gallo-roman sanctuary situated in La Batie Monsaléon, in the Haut Buëch region, Hautes Alpes. In this website, we will publish current information about Mons Seleucus,
We will bring to light the history of the Gallo-roman town, and all the elements which have been found since the early 19th century.
On the 'News' page, we will try and give you the latest information we have, concerning the new knowledge acquired from preventive excavations, chance discoveries  or any other means at the archaeolgists' disposal.

La Bâtie Montsaléon is situated between Veynes and Serres, at the confluence of Maraise torrents, the Petit Buëch and the Grand Buëch. It is fringed by the Arambre mountain in the south-west, the Sellas mountain in the north-west, the Marésieu plateau in the north, and the Garenne plateau in the west. The village opens on several plains – Lachau in the south-west, Champuri in the east and Chanal des Pins in the south-east– and on the Marésieu plateau in the north.

The foreword of Xavier Delestre (Heritage General Curator, Regional Curator of Archaeology, Regional Direction for Cultural Affairs,  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) to our book edited in 2006 (see Bookshop page) is quite explicit:

"When you arrive in La Bâtie Monsaléon for the first time, you are just dazzled by the natural setting – an alpine magnificence which seems to put everything else between brackets. However, maybe more than any other village of the department, La Bâtie Monsaléon hides another asset. Invisible for the time being as it is totally buried, it bears a name: the archaeological heritage. Far from our contemporaries' eyes, it is though – as I have noted during my visits and several meetings – quite present in the inhabitants' everyday life.
A rich past revived on many occasions such as the visit of an archaeologist, a chance discovery, or vast campaigns for geophysical prospections as were carried out these last years. So many opportunities for some and others to remember the ancient history of this land and, for scientists, to enrich the archaeological knowledge about this important secondary antique town. But let's say it, this past suddenly brought to light here and there, glimpsed while digging or simply suggested through aerial photographs, may have scared some people. Indeed it had to be talked about, to be better known so that these antique roots inscribed as a collective cultural property and the founding of a village identity could be shared. Thus if this past is better characterised and localised, it will become a major asset for a long-term development (...)"