Discovering ghosts of Helvia

We have a house in the Ardèche region of southern France, and on our many visits over the years, we have explored the countryside quite a lot. We have crossed its rivers, driven through the mountain passes, and visited many of the old medieval villages. We were actually beginning to feel confident that there were no major surprises left for us in the area.

The other day we were proven completely wrong.

A local friend told us that some hidden remnants of an ancient capital city actually lie just a few kilometers from our house. The ruins of what was once the center of the Gallo-Roman country of Helvia are more than 2000 years old. They sit atop the Jastre mountain, with no road signs or tourist brochures giving any indication that they even exist. They are completely covered by wilderness and have been lost to common memory for centuries.

This was something we simply had to explore, and like two modern-day Indiana Joneses, we decided yesterday to climb the mountain and try to find this apparent ghost city.

t was a wonderful, crisp autumn day. Walking across the broad plateau on top of the Jastre, we had a very wide view of the surrounding valleys and canyons. 

Eventually, we found the first ruins, which over the millennia have been completely swallowed up by the encroaching forest and scrub.

We tried to imagine how the place looked back then. A thriving city stood here until the start of our common era, when the Gauls for some reason decided to move their capital to the area of Alba la Romaine, some 40 kilometers away. 

Very little is known about the site today, as only a tiny part of the 7 hectares of city structures has actually been excavated. But according to the books by Julius Caesar, he had his army camped right here on his way to conquer most of Europe.

Looking across the uneven ground, we could see the faint outlines of foundations peeking through the underbrush - just small traces of old homes and markets. We located a section of the crumbling but still thick stone wall that once encircled the city for protection. Running our hands over the weathered stone, it was strange to think about all the people who had touched these exact same rocks over the centuries.

Clambering through the brush, we even found parts of columns that probably belonged to old government buildings, and some shallow depressions in the earth that likely marked where they stored grain. As the autumn breeze moved through the trees, the silence of the ruins was very noticeable. It is strange to think that the area was once filled with the noise of merchants, playing children, and citizens debating in the forums. Now, there was only birdsong over the faint impressions left in the soil.

From the ruins we looked across the Louyre Canyon toward Aubenas. A busy town, filled with people. Probably very few of them ever think about what is sitting on the plateau just across the valley.

We sat for a while on a section of the old wall.

The city had its season. Now it has this one.