Photo : Sébastien Thébault / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Le défilé de la pierre Ecrit
The Pierre Écrite is a rock engraved with a fifth-century Latin inscription, beside the road to Saint-Geniez, near Chardavon, about ten kilometres from Sisteron. The text is attributed to Claudius Postumus Dardanus, an influential man of the late Roman Empire, former praetorian prefect of the Gauls and correspondent of Saint Jerome. It recalls that with his wife he had the mountain cut to open a road to a place named Theopolis, which he endowed with walls and gates for everyone's safety.
The defile is narrow and steep-sided, and the engraved rock remains the only known trace of this foundation. The location of Theopolis is unknown: it is not known whether it was a villa, a large agricultural estate, a fortified refuge or a small religious centre. The name itself evokes the Greek title of Saint Augustine's City of God. The site can be seen freely from the road and is part of a limestone gorge landscape typical of Haute-Provence.
