Most Recent Visit: June 2018. The Roman town of Arelate (modern Arles) seems to have begun life as a Greek settlement known as Theline, sometime in the 6th century BCE. In 535 BCE, the settlement was captured by the Saluvii and renamed Arelate, a Gallic language reference to the settlement’s proximity to a marsh. The…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018 Many of the sites I visited in my trip through the south of France either weren’t associated with any major or extensively conserved site or were the only remains of a significant urban area. As such, many didn’t warrant their own post, so as I did with the miscellaneous sites…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018 Not far from the confluence of the Rhône and L’Aigue rivers is the French town of Orange, which boasts perhaps two of the most well-known Roman monuments in France; the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Théâtre Antique d’Orange and the Arc de Triomphe d’Orange. Located in the territory of…
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Continued From Vasio Vocontiorum Part I Puymin La Villasse is exited through the same way it is entered, and the entrance to Puymin is just directly across the road where the ticket is purchased. Immediately inside the park is another large residence, the Maison de l’Apollon Lauré (House of the Laurelled Apollo), sometimes referred to…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018. The town of Vaison-La-Romaine, situated along the Ouvèze River in the French department of Vaucluse, owes more than just its modern name to the Roman past. In the Roman period, the settlement was called Vasio Vocontiorum (possibly fully Vasio Julia Vocontiorum), which provides the origin of the modern town’s name,…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018. Tucked into a fertile agricultural valley about 7 kilometers to the west of the Rhône, along the L’Escoutay River, a tributary of the Rhône, are the remains of the Roman town of Alba Augusta Helviorum. The archaeological site is located just to the north of the present-day town of Alba-la-Romaine,…
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Continued From Glanum Part I Monumental Area Further on from the residential area of Glanum to the south is the monumental area, where many of the public buildings or the settlement were located. Immediately south of the bathing complex is what is described as being the curia, or some kind of town council or town…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018 In most cases in Southern France, population centers continue to cluster around settlements that have existed since the Romans occupied the land, and in many cases, even before that. As such, Roman remains can often be found amongst the subsequent periods of occupation in modern cities and towns. Occasionally, though,…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018 Nestled along the shore of Lake Geneva, about 20 kilometers northeast of the city of Geneva is the small town of Nyon. Prior to the arrival of the Romans, the area was under the control of the Helvetii, who apparently had an oppidum at or near the site of the…
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Continued from Lugdunum Part I Theater/Odeon Archaeological Area Adjacent to the museum is a complex that includes the theater, odeon, a sanctuary of Cybele, and a few other miscellaneous remains. This park is open every day from 7:00 to 21:00 during the summer (April 15 to September 15) and from 7:00 to 19:00 the rest…
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