Page 47 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

the hist or y of provence  45

Les-Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome Where to See Gallo-
and Mary Jacobe reputedly Roman Provence
sailed here in AD 40. The town
where they landed is Arles (see pp148–50) and Nîmes
named in their honour (see pp136–7), with their amphi-
and continues to attract theatres and religious and
pilgrims (see p142). secular buildings, offer the
most complete examples of
Roman civilization. Orange (see
p165) and Vaison-la-Romaine
(see p162) contain important
monuments, and the Pont du
Gard (see p135) and Le Trophée
d’Auguste (see p93) are unique.

Théâtre Antique d’Orange
Built into a hill, this Roman theatre
would have held up to 7,000
spectators (see pp166–7).

The baths occupied three
rooms, each used for
bathing at a different
temperature.
The Forum, the commercial centre
of the Roman town, was surrounded
by a covered gallery.
Cryptoportico
The foundations of Arles’ forum,
Jewellery from these horseshoe-shaped under-
Vaison-la-Romaine ground galleries were probably
1st-century AD jewellery used as grain stores (see p150).
was found in excavations
of the Roman necropolis.
Roman Flask
Well-preserved ancient
Roman glassware and
everyday items have
been found in many
areas of Provence.

476 Western Roman
Empire collapses
413 Visigoths seize Languedoc

200 300 400 500

300 Arles reaches
height of its prestige Abbaye St-Victor,
as a Roman town founded in AD 416,
in Marseille