We study even modular lattices having level $\ell$ and dimension
$2(p-\nobreak 1)$, for p prime, and arising from the ideal class
group of the p-th cyclotomic extension of $\Q(\sqrt{-\ell})$. After
giving the basic theory we concentrate on Galois-invariant ideals,
obtain computational results on minimal vectors and isometries, and
identify several old or new extremal lattices.