A plateau to the south of Poitiers had long borne the name of Chiron Martyrs. Chiron means a heap of stones, but why the epithet of Martyrs attached to the heaps of stones there nobody knew. The old Roman road leading to and athwart it was named La Route des Martyrs, also for no known reason. But in October 1878 the plateau was being levelled by the military authorities, when it was discovered that the stones were actually broken tombs, and that they were clearing a pagan Necropolis. Soon they came on a portion where were sarcophagi orientated and crowded thickly about a subterranean building. The distinguished antiquary, Le Père de la Croix, now undertook the investigation, and discovered that these latter were the tombs of Christians, and that they surrounded a hypogee Martyrium. This was excavated and proved to be a chapel erected over the bodies of certain martyrs of Poitiers, of whom no records had been preserved, or at all events remained, whose very existence was unknown; also, that it had been constructed by an abbot Mellebaudes at the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century. It contained an altar built up of stone, plastered over and painted, measuring at the base 2 feet 8-1/2 inches by 2 feet 2 inches and 3 feet 7 inches high. Also sarcophagi for the bodies of the martyrs there found, also one that Mellebaudes had prepared for himself. In the floor were many graves, possibly of his kinsfolk. Numerous inscriptions in barbarous Latin, some paintings and carvings, were also found. Among the latter a rude sculpture represented two of the martyrs, Hilarius and Sosthenes, who had been crucified. A bracelet of amber and coloured glass beads, amber ear-rings, and bronze ornaments were also discovered. [Illustration: Plan of the Martyrium. 1-4. Stone sarcophagi. 5, 6, 9, 10, 14. Graves sunk in the rock, covered with flat slabs, containing bones. 8. Pit covered with a carved slab. 11, 13. Children's graves covered with carved slabs brought from elsewhere. 12. Pit containing no bones. A. Altar. B. Arcosolium containing the sarcophagus with the bones of the martyrs. C. The sculpture of the crucified saints. D. Doorway. F.F. Pilasters. O.O. Broken pilasters. G.G. Benches. H. Sarcophagus of Mellebaudes. E. East window.] Mellebaudes certainly built his mausoleum where there had been one earlier, that had become completely ruinous, for he complains that he had not been able to recover all the bones of the martyrs that had been laid in it. This destruction had probably been effected by the Visigoths, and the building by Mellebaudes took place some time after the defeat and expulsion of these Arians in 507. The final ruin of the Martyrium he raised may have been the work of the Saracens in 732. [Footnote: For full account with plates see P. Camille de la Croix, _S. J. Hypogée Martyrium de Poitiers, Paris, 1883._]