Trophy of Pompey, Roman tropaion ruins at the Panissars pass, Le Perthus, France and La Jonquera, Spain

The Trophy of Pompey is a ruined Roman monument at the Panissars pass, 340 m up in the eastern Pyrenees on the French-Spanish border. Two large parallelepiped bases cut into the rock flank the Roman road, one still holding traces of mortar and sandstone blocks; the plan measured about 120 by 100 Roman feet. Above rose a tower-like trophy, probably modelled on Hellenistic tower monuments.

A Roman general built this monument around 71 BCE to celebrate victories against enemies in Spain. The location was a key point as Romans advanced onto the Iberian Peninsula.

The pass was the Summum Pyrenaeum of Latin authors, where the Via Domitia ended and the Via Augusta began. Sallust reports that Caesar raised an altar to Venus there on one of his journeys. The site later held a Benedictine priory on the Camino de Santiago, and its stones were quarried for the forts at Les Cluses and Bellegarde.

The site sits on a hilltop and can be reached from either side of the border, from Le Perthus in France or La Jonquera in Spain. Information panels at the location help explain what you are seeing.

At this same location stand remains of a medieval monastery built centuries later. This layering shows how people repeatedly used this strategic pass across many time periods.