Monumental Losses

CHAPTER 11 Provence and the South: Monumental Losses

If Narbonne and Nîmes managed to retain moderately large quantities of antiquities, this was not always the case elsewhere in the south, as can be charted for several towns. Arles is dealt with at greatest length, because of her antique importance and the stock of buildings she managed to retain. Other towns suffered for a variety of reasons. Aix-en-Provence modernised early, with graceful boulevards and fountains. Avignon tried to do so, wishing to pull down her walls, but national clamour prevented complete destruction. Dax, a very small frontier town, also lost most of its walls in a bid for modernisa- tion. So did the French Riviera (so named by the end of the 19th century), a once sensitive and fortress-rich territory which we now know as a playground. Fréjus, much shrunken over the centuries, survived almost as a village, with antiquities taken for the railway which was to connect with the Italian border, eventually turning Antibes and the rest from frontier strongholds into tourist resorts. Even Cassis once boasted antique inscriptions.[1] In the Rhône valley, Orange retained monuments because her small population did not need to recycle them; and Vaison, even smaller (with about 2,000 by 1900) retained suf- ficient monuments to be given as its modern name, Vaison-la-Romaine.

Arles

Introduction In the 4th century Arles was an important town, housing imperial adminis- tration, including the Praetorian Prefect of the Gauls and other officials, and perhaps an imperial palace.1 According to Theodulf of Orleans, it was still important in the Carolingian period (Urbs Arelas, aliis quae pluribus urbi- bus extat / Prima gradu tamen est, Narbo, secunda tibi). But her subsequent decline was steep, with transformations documented by modern research.2

1 Esmonde Cleary 2013, 210–212 for the archaeology. 2 Heijmans & Sintes 1994, Fig. 6 for plan of ancient town; 158–9 for 5–6th century, showing late wall touching S exterior of the theatre and then curving along to the river; 162–3 for details of the enceinte and what has recently been found. 160: 5th century coins found in the amphitheatre, so many that it must have been inhabited by then. The theatre beginning to be systematically pillaged by the mid-5th century.

She was one of several towns which developed new uses for their monumental architecture, following maintenance of their buildings throughout the 3rd and 4th centururies, as at Aix and Nîmes.3 Sections of the forum (not identified until the eighteenth century) were dismantled only in the 5th century, with some earlier houses surviving until that period; the circus, subject to flooding, lasted in some form until the later 6th century, when it was abandoned and dismantled. The amphitheatre had various successive uses.4 Large cemeteries, from the 5th century, both around Arles itself and over the river at Trinquetaille, suggest some continuing prosperity, as at Bordeaux and elsewhere.5 Of these, the Alyscamps was one of the most famous cemeteries in Christendom. Whether this was a matter of decline, change or transformation is in part a nice etymological point.6 By the 5th century, many erstwhile inhabitants of Gaul would not have rec- ognised their towns: for example, parts of Amiens were abandoned by the mid- 3rd century, and others such as Lillebonne and Tours were largely abandoned by the same date; yet more, such as Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Nîmes and Vienne had shrunk in population well before any wall circuits were constructed,7 with monuments broken up for reuse in the 6th century,8 although some gates survived.9 The whole of southern Gaul was far from secure in the earlier Middle Ages, and Arles was no exception. Between 427 and 587 the Visigoths

3 Esmonde Cleary 2013, 114: “Further west, at towns such as Bordeaux and Périgueux, the con- struction of the new wall circuits left the forum area outside the defences, but one cannot assume that the complexes ceased to function . . . does not support the idea of a systematic abandonment of the centres of civic political identity until late in our period, and it suggests that these cities still had a concept of municipal government and of public life through the fourth century.” 4 Soraluce Blond 2008, 152–153 for uses and reclamation. 5 Halsall 2007, 347 for prosperity in 5th century Arles, Marseilles and Bordeaux, and general christianisation of towns. 6 Esmonde Cleary 2013, 405–408; 117–118 for overview and bibliography on late Roman cities, and the changing etymologies of decline and transformation. 7 Esmonde Cleary 2013, 107–108. 8 Sintes 1994, 185: several mausolea converted into houses, their marble sarcophagi broken up, their limestone ones sawn up. The whole lot, including the circus, was destroyed in the sec- ond half of the 6th century. No trace of circus materials on site, leading G. Hallier to propose official organisation for reusing its materials for the remaking of the city ramparts. 9 Stouff 1985, 239: Porta Lutosa was a Roman triumphal arch which becomes a gate in the mediaeval enciente, as “L’Arc Admirable.” Also, the preserved Porte de la Redoute (twin round towers) was a castellum in the Middle Ages, but it had been the ancient gate guard- ing the decumanus. Fornasier 1994: Evidence for these triumphal arches comes from spolia recovered from the SE bastion of the late Porte de la Redoubte. Author mentions that other