Site antique de Néris-les-Bains, Archaeological site in Néris-les-Bains, France.

The Site antique de Néris-les-Bains covers the remains of a Gallo-Roman town that grew from a 3-hectare La Tène oppidum on a granite plateau to a 200-hectare city. Its monuments, built mainly in the 1st and 2nd centuries, include two bath complexes, a theatre, an aqueduct system, an amphitheatre and a sanctuary. Excavations also uncovered pottery, bronze and wood workshops, a villa at Cheberne and the Roman camp des Chaudes.

The site began as a La Tène B protohistoric settlement of the Bituriges Cubes, a triangular oppidum of 3 hectares on a granite plateau defended by an earth rampart and ditch. In the Gallo-Roman period it became Aquae Nerii, covering 200 hectares, with two bath complexes, an aqueduct, an amphitheatre and a sanctuary built in the 1st and 2nd centuries. It stood at the crossing of roads linking Lyon to Poitiers, Bourges to Clermont-Ferrand and Limoges to Nevers, and a detachment of the 8th legion was stationed there.

The town's name derives from the god Nerios: Neriomagus and Aquae Nerii are declensions of his theonym, and a monumental inscription found in three copies records that Lucius Julius Equester, twice duumvir and flamen of Rome and Augustus, and his two sons dedicated the baths to the imperial cult and to the god Nerio. The name appears as Aquis Neri on the Peutinger Table.

The site is accessible year-round and can be visited at any time. It is best explored on foot, and wearing comfortable shoes is recommended since the ground can be uneven in places.

The Roman spa was fed by three wells sunk into the hot spring. In 1964, cleaning the bottom of the so-called Puits César brought to light a Roman slab; a monumental inscription, found in three copies, records that Lucius Julius Equester, twice duumvir and flamen of Rome and Augustus, and his two sons holding the same offices, dedicated the bath installations to the imperial cult and to the god Nerio.