The Romans in Provence

What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

Provence was named as Rome's first province, its first conquest outside Italy. Marseilles had long been a key trading port within the Mediterranean, and before the Romans arrived there was much Greek influence.

Many of the finest Roman monuments in the world exist not in Italy, but right here in Provence.

In Arles, Nimes and Orange are three of the best preserved theatres anywhere, and it is an amazing tribute to the Romans that Orange, for example, is still in use today as a venue for their summer opera festival.

With all of today's rules and regulations about safety and public liability, can you imagine modern builders being asked to comply with building regulations for the year 4,000?

Even more spectacular is the Pont du Gard, the magnificent aqueduct that takes drinking water across the Gardon river, headed for Nimes. The structure is 275 metres (900 feet) long and 48 metres (157 feet) high.

Each of it's three tiers is offset in two dimensions for additional structural strength, so that if you're looking at the aqueduct along its length or from the side, no supports are directly above any other supports.

Traffic still uses the lowest tier today. Two thousand years after it was built, it is still suitable for cars!

Most amazingly of all, all the water that is collected by this aqueduct is gathered from the north of hillsides, never from the south. The water on the north side is colder, and less likely to contain organic pathogens. How could they possibly have known about this?

These are the well-known tourist traps, but there are other Roman remains. Near St Rémy-de-Provence there are two huge monuments, a mausoleum and a triumphal arch. What wasn't known until the early 20th century was that on the other side of the road was an entire town that had gradually become covered by scree falling down from the cliffs and mountains of the Alpilles. The town of Glanum is now largely uncovered and open to visitors, and seems utterly ridiculous that a whole town could be gradually buried within half a mile of St Rémy, and nobody remembered that it was there.