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ARLES SUR RHONE (Town) FRANCE
Arelate (Arles sur Rhone) Bouches-du-Rhone, France.
Situated 90 km W of Marseille on a rocky spur overhanging ancient marshland. The
first Phokaian settlement was destroyed by the Ligurians in 535 B.C. Revived in
the 4th c. B.C., the settlement developed considerably after Marius had built
the Fossae Marianae, the canals linking Arles with the Golfe de Fos (104 B.C.).
In 49 B.C. the city provided Caesar with seagoing ships for the siege of Marseille,
and in 46 the Colonia Julia Paterna Arelate Sexterum was founded opposite the
Gallo-Greek city. An important seaport and naval shipyard grew up on the Via Aurelia.
The city was developed under Augustus and Christianized under Constantine. The
Council of 314 took place here. About A.D. 400 Arles became the residence of the
Prefect of the Gauls, replacing Lyon, and ca. 480 the city was laid waste by the
Visigoths.
The most important extant monuments date from the Augustan and Constantinian
periods. From the first we have the earliest surrounding wall, with its decumanus
gate of half-moon plan marking the beginning of the Aurelian Way to the E; to
the SE is a well-preserved section ca. 200 m long. The rest of the wall must have
formed four more sides, one of them running parallel to the Rhone. Two municipal
arches, now gone but known from descriptions and drawings, marked the limits of
the pomaerium to the NE and SW--the Arcus Admirabilis and the so-called Arch of
Constantine, both dating from the late Republican era. At that time the city probably
was slightly less than 20 ha in area. The modern streets reflect the grid pattern
of the rectangular insulae, as well as the cardo and decumanus, at the crossing
of which was the forum. Its site is marked by huge cryptoporticos, very well preserved,
built below ground on three of its sides. The complex is U-shaped and opens to
the E, 90 x 60 m. It was lit by vents, the outer ends of which terminated at the
base of a podium built inside the U. Traces were found of the fourth side of the
forum and some remains indicate a date from the Augustan period. The N gallery
is lined with a row of stalls set up below the forum.
Outside the forum, to the W, are remains of a large paved courtyard
bounded to the S by a wall that forms a huge exedra with a monumental gate cut
in it. At either end are remains of colonnades leading N. These may indicate the
peribolos of a temple of ca. the 2d c. A.D.
The theater (diam. 102 m) is ca. 300 m E of the forum and fits into
the plan of the ancient city: its scaenae frons is aligned with a cardo. Although
the theater is on the W slope of the city escarpment, every part of it is built;
the cavea was supported by a continuous system of radiating arches, demonstrated
by a modern restoration in situ. The outer walls are almost completely destroyed
except at two points, one of which, known as Roland's Tower, shows three superimposed
architectural orders framing the arcades. The scaenae frons is in ruins except
for two columns which, with their architrave, remain in situ to the right of the
site of the valvia regia. The complex of the postscaenium and the parascaenia
could be restored, and the stone floor of the orchestra is well preserved. Three
altars have been excavated and some statues, among them the famous Venus of Arles
and a torso, with head, of a colossal statue of Augustus. The outer architectural
decoration together with the continuing use of Doric elements suggest that the
theater may have been begun under the second triumvirate, while the statue of
Augustus suggests that it was completed during that emperor's reign.
The amphitheater is less than 100 m from the theater in an oblique
SE-NW position relative to the grid of the insulae. The great axis of the ellipse
is 136.2 m, the small axis 106.75, and the arena 69.10 by 39.65 m. The outer wall
is well preserved up to the first-story entablature; the attic has gone. Two stories
of 60 arcades with two superimposed architectural orders are still standing, among
them four lower ones for entrance on the axes. The lower arcades open on to a
wide gallery with a stone ceiling that serves as the floor of a second gallery
one story above. Corridors and stairways lead to more galleries, then to more
stairways, so as to serve the entire cavea. Many of the seats in the lower section
are still preserved, as is the podium, originally covered with slabs of marble.
Part of the wall surrounding the colony had to be pulled down to build the amphitheater.
Its position in the city and certain details of its structure date it to the Flavian
period.
The circus was outside the city along the Rhone, downstream and ca.
500 m from the surrounding wall (outside width 100 m; inner width 83.3 m; width
of spina 6.00 m; total length probably 400 m). An obelisk found there is now in
the Place de la Republique. Built in the 1st c. A.D., this circus was still in
use in the 6th and 7th c.
Remains of minor monuments were noted in the 17th and 18th c. E of
the theater, at the city's highest point. There were probably two temples here,
one of them consecrated to the Good Goddess. There were doubtless other sanctuaries,
large or small, for indigenous cults and for those from the Orient and Rome, first
pagan, then Christian.
In the Constantine period the N gallery of the crytoporticos was duplicated
by an arcaded gallery that curved back E and W to encircle a second courtyard,
or another forum. This new gallery and that of the cryptoporticos were interrupted
along the axis by the foundations of a monument with a vestibule of four columns,
two of which are still standing in the modern Place du Forum. The frieze and architrave
had an inscription in bronze letters alluding to Constantine II (A.D. 337-340).
Farther N are the remains of a monument (94 x 47 m) that terminates, quite near
the Rhone in a huge, well-preserved, vaulted apse. These are the remains of baths
with several heated rooms; but modern building makes it impossible to tell whether
there were porticos surrounding a vast courtyard, or a basilica. The use of brick,
more systematic than in the arcaded gallery, suggests that the complex dates from
the beginning of the 4th c. A.D.
The city received its water from two aqueducts that came from the
Alpilles and met at Barbegal, where remains of a flour mill can still be seen.
Opposite Arles, on the right bank of the Rhone, was a sizable settlement
now known as Faubourg de Trinquetaille. It was approached by a pontoon bridge;
the remains of one of the first stone arches are still to be seen on the left
bank. This suburb included a seaport and docks; farther off were houses of ship
fitters, merchants, and landowners, and, farther still, farms and villas. The
remains of a cella can be seen 1 km from the river bank. The area of this second
Arles is still to be determined.
Since the left-bank city was partly surrounded by marshlands, the
necropoleis could not be extended along the roads, but spread out parallel to
the SE and S surrounding walls. The largest one, to the SE, famous in legend in
the Middle Ages and known since then as Les Aliscamps, contained several layers
of tombs. Stone and marble sarcophagi have been found there, also funerary monuments,
stelae, cippi, and mausoleums.
There is a museum rich in Roman antiquities and a museum of Christian
art containing a number of marble sarcophagi.
R. Amy, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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