History of Arles at the time Roman

Supporting in 49 av. JC Jules César against Marseilles, Arles is rewarded and becomes a Roman colony by it. The initial fortune of the city goes back to this time. Profiting during more than five centuries of and successive support town-plannings of several emperors, it transforms into imperial city then vis-a-vis the dangers of the 5th century in prefecture of the court of Gaules. Besieged in 425, 430, 453, 457 and 471, the city is finally taken by the king Visigoth Euric, first once in 472 then in a final way in 476. Arles enters then the Early middle ages.

I er: Arles, Roman colony

Last conflicts with Marseilles

At the beginning of this century, in 90 av. JC then in 83 av. JC, it is announced new easily subdued revolts salyennes, but information does not make it possible to know exactly what occurs in the city arlésienne at the time of these conflicts. Some archaeological elements like the creation of a cemetery on a zone previously urbanized (district of the Van Gogh hospital), let suppose however a new folding up of the habitat towards a better defended tiny room.

Civil war with the foundation of the colony

The chance of Arles occurs at the time of the Civil war in the years 50 av. J. - C. when Marseilles refuses to take the party of César, entering thus de facto in conflict with him. Jules César then approaches the city of Arles which it indicates by Arelate in the Bellum Civile (I, 36,4) :

Naves longas Arelate number XII facere instituit

(It made build in Arles twelve men-of-war)

These vessels, built in one month month, will enable him to gain its battle against Marseilles in 49 av. J. - C.
To reward Arles for this help, it gives the responsability Tibérius Claudius Néro, father of the future emperor Tibère to found the Roman colony of Arles (autumn 46 av. J. - C) by establishing there the veterans of the VIe legion. The colonists of this new province have a territory taken on that of Marseilles which extends from the the Rhone to the Durance and until Hyères, that is to say practically the equivalent of the current departments of the Rhone delta and half of the Var. The first governor of Arles east Decimus Junius Brutus.
One moment compromised by the assassination of César on March 15th 44 av. J. - C which makes it possible Marseilles to call into question this creation, the foundation finds a new dash thanks to Octave, (adoptive nephew and wire of Jules César), the future emperor Auguste, engaged in his walk towards the capacity and anxious to gather in its political customers the faithful ones of her adoptive father. The official titulature of the colony, formulated under the reign of Auguste, expresses with force this filiation: COLONIA JVLIA PATERNA ARELATE SEXTANORVM . Octave probably comes itself to Arles towards 40 av. J. - C, to organize this bastion of the power romaine.
With the creation of the colony, Arlésiens, released from the Marseilles supervision, become true Roman citizens with the possibility of taking share with the deliberations of the people in the assemblies of the capital when they go there. For this reason, Arlésiens are registered on the registers of one of the tribes of Rome, the tribe Teretina.

The first Roman town-planning

Towards 40 av. J. - C, a monumental town-planning is launched bearing on the installation of vast public spaces, the construction of the first Roman strengthened enclosure and the construction of three major buildings: the forum, the arc of the Rhone and the theater, this last dominating the hill of the Hauture. The ambition of such a project lets suppose that its design and its control concern directly the more high level of the State. These monuments are supplemented a few years later by the first Roman enclosure whose historian F. BENOIT recognizes vestiges in the substructions of the tower of Mourgues in the south-east of the city. It is of size limited to judge of it by the preserved parts and it is clear that very quickly the wall is overflowed as the vestiges discovered in the south to the Strings and Trinquetaille testify some. Excavations show indeed that as of the end of the first century before our era, the city not being able to gain ground by the south and is because of the marshy nature of these zones, undertakes the first stages of urbanization of the site of Trinquetaille on Right Bank of large the the Rhone, with the northern point of the the Camargue. This first urbanization of the Roman colony which finishes at the end of the east called Augustéenne . The initial fortune of the city goes back to this time and this first period will last almost three centuries until the cruel Invasions of the middle of the 3rd century.

1st century: the extensions flaviennes

Arles is an important city at the time Roman, of which it preserved many vestiges, in particular the arenas and the necropolis of the Alyscamps. Strabon in 18 of our era, announces the commercial role of the city and a little later Pline Old the mentions Arelate Sextanorum (Arles colony of Sextaniens). At the beginning of the century a Roman Way, the way Clutched, links the city with Vienna and Lyon.

In 92, the emperor Domitien promulgates an edict on the vine in the Romain Empire with prohibition to plant vine and obligation in the provinces to tear off half of the vineyard in order to avoid the overproduction. This edict causes an opposition, in particular in Provence, and measurement remains ineffective and without lendemain.
At that time, Arles is in particular the seat of the important corporation of the nautes which intervene on the Rhone, the Durance and the ponds enters around the city.

Arles also profits from a new plan of urban development at the end from because of expansion of the city related to economic development and commercial: indeed after the first urbanization augustéenne , as of the next century, during the dynasty flavienne (69 - 96) the city overflows of the ramparts initially high under Auguste. This new project requires the modification of the northern layout of the first Roman enclosure to allow the construction of the arenas in the years 80.

2nd century

At the 2nd century, the city grows rich with construction by the Roman circus (towards 150) in south-west by the city. The heart of the city is also reorganized and in the south the rampart is bored while a suburban district develops in the prolongation of the Cardo, and that a new hydropathic establishment is created. With Trinquetaille, on Right Bank of the the Rhone, the occupation limited of is transformed into a vast doubled residential district of an artisanal and commercial district. This work shows that installations of the time flavienne, in particular the construction of the arenas, towards 80, continued until under the emperor Antonin the Piles, with the apogee of the Empire.

The city also obtains an industrial complex: the mills of Barbegal. Located at eight kilometers of the city, they allow the flour supply of a population of 12.000 inhabitants. The corns come from the territory arlésien, cereal zone very important which exports its over-production with Rome. At the time Roman, the grounds of the delta are more elevated than maintaining compared to the marine level, therefore less salted, and allow the cereal culture under very good conditions.

One knows some arlésiens of this, such as for example Favorinus Roman citizen of Gallic, philosophical origin and man of letters.

3rd century: the beginning of Christianity and first invasions

At the beginning of the 3rd century, the Roman traditional religion, the Eastern religions and the indigenous gods are honoured in the city of Provence which opens with the Christian worship. If the legend dates from the second quarter of the century the presence of Saint Trophime the first bishop of Arles, the existence of the Church arlésienne however is proven as of 254 in a letter of Saint Cyprien addressed to the pope Etienne I {{er}}.

The historical tradition taken again by Gregoire de Tours in his '' Histoire of the Francs '' also reports that the suburbs of the city burnt and would have been plundered shortly after by cruel troops (Alamans) led by certain Chrocus in the context of the invasions of the second part of the 3rd century, which seems to confirm archeology. The expansion of the suburban districts is indeed stopped by fires and destruction during the years 250 - 270. The same phenomenon is observed with Trinquetaille, on Right Bank of the Rhone, where rich person houses are destroyed following a large fire which has occurred towards 260/275. Perhaps that work of fortification, following the example those undertaken in many cities is then completed.
The urban development will take again only under Constantin I {{er}}, with a new political and administrative growth.

4th century: Arles, imperial city

At the beginning of the century, the persecutions of Dioclétien against the Christians left trace to Arles of a legend (perhaps true): the martyr of saint Genoa. Under this emperor who undertakes a vast reorganization of the Provinces, the territory of Arles is decreased considerably on the side of the east, for the benefit of Aix and Marseilles.

As of the following years, the history of the east city closely mingled with that with Rome. In 308, Maximien driven out by its troops takes refuge in the city until in 310. Then the victory of Constantin over this last with the bridge of Milvius (312) will upset the destiny of the town of Arles. The city becomes the favorite residence then of Constantin, become the emperor Constantin I {{er}} which considers one moment to make a capital of Empire of it. It resides at it in 314 and 316, his son Constantin II is born on August 7th to with it 314 and the city of Arles a little later will receive in 328, the nickname of Constantina which she will preserve until in 340. As of 313, Constatin transfers the workshop to it from striking of Ostie and strike them arlésiennes will be continued during all the 4th century and at the beginning of. It also makes build the thermal baths of Constantin, if vast that the scholars of the 16th century accepted a palate (palate of the Jitter).

Christianity as of its recognition by Constantin in 313 (Edict of Milan), is spread in the company arlésienne, in particular in the higher classes like illustrates it one of the sarcophagi discovered in 1974 with Trinquetaille. This sarcophagus arlésien of a person of senatorial row is dated from the first quarter of the 4th century. Christianity or more precisely its internal struggles becomes also a business of State, and Arles will be the seat of two councils organized by emperors:

in 314: solicited by the African Christian bishops for his imperial arbitration, Constantin organizes a council in Arles (cf Conciles of Arles) on August 1st 314 to make there condemn the Donatisme. This council probably proceeds in the church built on an old ancient temple dedicated to the Good Goddess and become since Sainte Marie Majeure, then Notre Dame of the Major.
in 353: another follows in 353, organized and directed by his/her son Constance II and chaired by the bishop Saturnin. This council will devote the Arianisme temporarily.

Place of important councils, the diocese of Arles develops and it is probable that the basilica paléo-Christian woman discovered in 2003 was built at this period, about the middle of the 4th century.

Arles becomes again at the end of the summer 353, imperial city. Constancy after having torn off the Occident with the usurper Magnence lies a few months in the city and celebrates splendid plays there marking its vicennalia (20 years of reign). It is reported that the emperor offers to the city of Provence an imposing representation with the theater on October 10th 353. It benefits from its presence in the city of Provence to organize the council there where it makes proclaim the Arianisme.

About at that time, towards 365, the poet Ausone draws up a portrait of the town of Arles in a work counting the 17 most important cities of the Empire:

Opens, Arles, soft hostess, your double port, Arles, small Rome Gallic, close to Narbonne and this Vienna which the colonists enrich by the Alps.

You are cut by the impetuous course of the the Rhone in the medium of which a bridge of boats forms a place where you receive the goods of the Roman world.

You do not retain it and you nouveau riches the other people and the other cities which Gaulle and the vast center of Aquitaine have.

Other events, rarer, clarify second half of the arlésien. In 371, Arles is the starting point of the forwarding organized by Théodose to repress the revolt of the Provinces of Africa against Valentinien and towards 384 - 385, certain Bassus owner of important stud farms in Arles announces in its correspondence with Symmaque, prefect of Rome, the many horses of the delta of the Rhone.
At the end of this century (or at the beginning of, according to other sources), the Romans make of it the seat of the prefecture of Gaules which they repatriate of Trier too exposed on the steps of the Empire.

5th century

Arles, transitory capital of Gaules

a transfer of prefecture during one agitated time

After having transferred towards 403, the prefecture of the court of Italy of Milan to Ravenne, the imperial administration moves in 407 that of Gaules located until then at Trier on Arles, Petrone (Petronius) then becoming the first prefect of the Court of Gaules (402-408) lying in the city of Provence. One century exactly after Constantin I {{er}}, the city knows a true rebirth. At this beginning of 5th century, Arles east at the top of its power: it is a city episcopal, administrative, commercial and tax. Its population higher than that nowadays, would have reached 50 000 inhabitants, even 80 000 according to some, which then made of them to the most populated city de Gaulle.

However, this prosperity does not exclude the threats from invasions. In order to prevent them, a Roman general Constantin III is established in the city in 407. He ambitionne to be made recognize by the emperor legitimates Honorius which, feeling threatened, sends to him in 411 an army led by the Patrice Constance. After three months of seat, the city goes during the summer and Constantin in spite of a negotiated rendering, is delivered to Honorius and is carried out. Constancy lies until in 414 in the city. With insufficient military forces, it must indeed make with the anarchy which reigns as a Gaulle and in Spain with Visigoths which act as nomads. Constancy also does the housework with the head of the archbishop's palace: the bishop of Arles Héros named by Constantin III is then driven out, just like his colleague the bishop of Aix Lazare. In Arles, Hero is replaced by the ambitious Patrocle (412- † 426).
La period around the years 407 - 416, is thus a period agitated for the city as the emperor Honorius points out it.

a radiation reinforced

If Arles is a capital, it one is also évêché very influential. The prelates of Arles, conscious of the importance of their diocese, are unceasingly in conflict with their colleagues of Vienna or Marseilles to try to sit the primacy of the church of Arles as a Gaulle. They succeed there temporarily when on March 22nd 417, Zosime which has just reached papacy raises the Church of Arles to the row of primatiale of Gaules in favor of its Patrocle bishop. However this privilege is of short duration: it is cancelled as of 418 by Boniface Ier, the successor of Zosime.

Honorius reinforces the role of the city by the edict of April 17th 418, received in Arles on May 23rd: Arles is selected like place of annual meeting of the seven-provinces, which assembled must be held each year between on August 13rd and on September 13rd, in the presence of the prefect of the court, the governors of the provinces, noble covered official dignities and deputies of the curies. On this occasion, the emperor stresses the commercial importance of the city:

so advantageous is the situation of Arles, if large the number of the merchants who meet there, that one brings there easily the products of all the countries… All that the countered rich person of the East, Assyrie delicate, fertile Africa produce the best, all that is shown in Arles as if the city itself were the country of origin .

Beside the Christians, the presence of Jewish in Arles is attested as of 425, when the emperor Valentinien III going up on the throne of the empire, forwards to a decree in Patrocle the bishop of the city and Amatus the prefect of Gaules, in which it stipulates prohibition made to the Jews occupy of the legal functions, to be useful in the army and to have Christian servants. This presence is confirmed in 443 by the guns of the council held in Arles then in 449 at the time of the funeral of the bishop Hilaire (429-449) ( one intended to sing the Hebrew Psalms by the Jews of Arles )

urban transformations

Under the episcopate of this undertaking " monk-évêque" , the city changes. The episcopal group of the 4th century is transferred from the south-east of the city, towards the center (current place of the Republic) where the Christian community arlésienne begins the construction of the cathedral Saint-Etienne which will become later Saint-Trophime . The Church of Arles, undoubtedly with the agreement of the civil capacity, does not hesitate to plunder the Roman monuments by using them like careers, for example the ancient theater because of its proximity with the new basilica and of the Christian hostility to the actors. In 428, an anecdote brings back at the same time the annual celebration of the martyr of Saint Genoa and the collapse of the bridge of boats of Arles under the multitude of the faithful ones which cross of a bank to the other “without besides, by miraculous protection, which it had there victims”.
At the same time, i.e. towards 430, appears the phenomenon of the parasitic dwellings, essentially modest, in certain buildings and public spaces. Two assumptions are advanced to explain this phenomenon: on the one hand growth of the population due to the transfer of the Prefecture from Trier and the installation of imperial administrations, and on the other hand the search for a protection improved near the ramparts of the city.

Of the military activities always present

Indeed Arles sudden of the attacks, in 425 when the Roman general Aetius obliges the Visigoths with the retirement in front of the city divided on the policy with respect to the barbarians, then in 430. During a short period of lull, in 449, Sidoine Apollinaire attends nineteen years, upright beside the ivory chair of his/her father, with the festivals given to Arles for the inauguration of the consulate of Astère and Protogène. As of 453, the city is again attacked by the Visigoths whom it succeeds in pushing back thanks to the resistance and with the diplomacy of Tonance Ferréol, Préfet of the court of Gaules.
Meanwhile, the town of Arles is used as a basis for military preparations. In spring 451, Aetius is delayed in the city to obtain reinforcements against Attila which it will overcome in June in front of Orleans, then in September at the time of the Bataille of the fields Catalauniques, close to Troyes.

End of the Roman Empire

the agitation of the federate people

After the death of Aetius (454) and Valentinien III (455), the federate cruel kings do not feel related any more to the Roman Empire, and seek all to increase their territories. The town of Arles, during the twenty-five years which follow, is thus mingled with many events marking the end with the Empire (455-480).

July 9th 455 in Arles (with Beaucaire, according to other sources), Avitus is proclaimed emperor of occident (455-456), with the support of the king Visigoth Théodoric II. But this action turns short: not being able to be maintained in Rome which it must leave following a coup d'etat, Avitus turns over to take refuge in Arles where after having gathered troops, it tries to reconquer its title in Italy. At the time of this new Avitus countryside is captured by the Patrice Ricimer on August 17th, 456, and although saved, it always fears for its life. It is while trying to find refuge as a Gaulle - probably in Arles- that he perishes assassinated a few weeks later.
Emblème of the Roman richness, the city continues to cause many covetousnesses. It is still besieged without success during two years (457 - 458) by the Visigoth Théodoric II and owes its safety only with the intervention of the emperor Majorien. A few years of respite

The emperor Majorien settles in Arles with the end of the year 458 and resides at it until spring 461. The Roman records remain then: thus one announces circus games organized in January 461 by the Severinus consul in the honor of Majorien which takes share there, and the same year, Sidoine Apollinaire underlines the luxury of a reception at notable a arlésien. However, the policy of Majorien is noticed by social measures, such as remissions of tax arrears, and it tries to limit the monopolizations of the Church (captation of an inheritance, setting to the convent of the young girls…), which illustrates the relationships of the Church with the civil society, including in Arles under the episcopates of Ravennius, Augustal or Leonce. Sidoine Appollinaire also draws up us a description of the forum, encumbered columns and statues and political atmosphere reigning then in the city.

Arles, wisigothic city

Starting from 471, the events precipitate. On this date, the emperor Anthémius tries to intervene in Gaulle to contain the Visigoths by sending a powerful army to it. His/her son Anthemiolus takes the head of it, accompanied by three generals, Thorisarius, Everdingus and Hermianus. They meet the troops of Euric close to Arles where the Roman army is crushed and all four killed.
Finally, after having resisted a new seat in 472, the city is taken by the Visigoths in 473 as well as the town of Marseilles. All the low valley of the Rhone is then devastated so much so that the bishop of Lyon, Patiens, is concerned with supply the town of Arles threatened of famine. The wisogothic occupation is temporary, because after the transfer of the Auvergne to the troops of Euric, the Provence returns temporarily under the Roman authority in 474. On this subject, it should be stressed the central role of the bishop of Arles Leonce in these events. He takes part, indeed, with his colleagues bishops, Groecus of Marseilles, Basile of Aix and Fauste of Riez, with the negotiations with Euric at the request of the emperor Julius Népos.

The transactions having failed, Euric continues its conquests while being made initially main from Arles and Marseilles, and all the part of Provence in on this side Durance during the year 476. For Euric memory, which liked the city of Arles, there dies at the time of a stay in November or December 484.

Arles at the end of Ve century

In the twilight of Ve century and Roman Empire, the town of Arles does not have any more that devastated campaigns and loses its role of regional capital with the disappearance of the prefect of the court. This decline benefits Marseilles which knows a renewal of activity, as announces it as of 475 Sidoine Apollinaire.
In the city even, the refittings started in years 430, continue: above the Cryptoportique S, a habitat takes possession of the pavement of the forum augustéen and there is perhaps as of this time, a habitat in the arenas as with the Cirque.

One can thus say that at the end of this century, Arles and Provence occupy on the political plan an average position, even of weakness. They thus will become an object of desire for their Scandinavian neighbors, Francs and Burgondes.

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