1.
La Jonquera
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La Jonquera is a municipality in the comarca of lAlt Empordà, in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated next to the border with France, opposite the municipality of Le Perthus, the area has always been an important pass through the Pyrenees. A contemporary motorway runs not far from the ancient Roman road, not far from there is an altar erected by Pompey at the Coll de Panissars. La Jonquera was the site of a conflict involving the retreating French crusaders in 1285 that ended in their defeat, La Jonquera has got 4 civil parishes. The village of Els Límits is situated on the French-Spanish border, contiguous to its French twin town, ruins of Santa Maria de Panissars, in the coll de Panissars. Ruins of the castell de Rocabertí, castell de Canadal, with the church of Santa Cristina or Sant Jaume de Canadal. Romanesque churches (Sant Pere del Pla de lArca and Sant Martí del Forn del Vidre, the New York Times reported that one of Europes largest brothels opened in La Jonquera in 2010, taking advantage of Europes open borders and lax laws. Many of its clients reportedly come from France, according to the paper, Advocates and police officials say that most of the women are controlled by illegal networks — they are modern-day slaves. The area around La Jonquera was seriously affected by fatal wildfires that devastated large swathes of forestry in northern Catalonia in July 2012, panareda Clopés, Josep Maria, Rios Calvet, Jaume, Rabella Vives, Josep Maria. Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona, Caixa de Catalunya, ajuntament de La Jonquera Government data pages
2.
Roman roads
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They provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies, officials, and civilians, and the inland carriage of official communications and trade goods. Roman roads were of several kinds, ranging from local roads to broad, long-distance highways built to connect cities, major towns. These major roads were often stone-paved and metaled, cambered for drainage and they were laid along accurately surveyed courses, and some were cut through hills, or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework. Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations, at the peak of Romes development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the late Empires 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. The whole comprised more than 400,000 kilometres of roads, in Gaul alone, no less than 21,000 kilometres of roadways are said to have been improved, and in Britain at least 4,000 kilometres. The courses of many Roman roads survived for millennia, some are overlaid by modern roads, livy mentions some of the most familiar roads near Rome, and the milestones on them, at times long before the first paved road—the Appian Way. Unless these allusions are just simple anachronisms, the referred to were probably at the time little more than levelled earthen tracks. Thus, the Via Gabina is mentioned in about 500 BC, the Via Latina in about 490 BC, the Via Nomentana, in 449 BC, the Via Labicana in 421 BC, and the Via Salaria in 361 BC. There is hardly a district to which we expect a Roman official to be sent, on service either civil or military. They reach the Wall in Britain, run along the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates, and cover, as with a network, a road map of the empire reveals that it was generally laced with a dense network of prepared viae. Beyond its borders there were no paved roads, however, it can be supposed that footpaths, there were, for instance, some pre-Roman ancient trackways in Britain, such as the Ridgeway and the Icknield Way. For specific roads, see Roman road locations below, the Laws of the Twelve Tables, dated to about 450 BC, specified that a road shall be 8 Roman feet wide where straight and twice that width where curved. Actual practices varied from this standard, the Tables command Romans to build roads and give wayfarers the right to pass over private land where the road is in disrepair. Roman law defined the right to use a road as a servitus, the ius eundi established a claim to use an iter, or footpath, across private land, the ius agendi, an actus, or carriage track. A via combined both types of servitutes, provided it was of the width, which was determined by an arbiter. The default width was the latitudo legitima of 8 feet, Roman law and tradition forbade the use of vehicles in urban areas, except in certain cases. Married women and government officials on business could ride, the Lex Iulia Municipalis restricted commercial carts to night-time access in the city within the walls and within a mile outside the walls. Such roads led either to the sea, or to a town, or to a public river and these roads bear the names of their constructors
3.
Gaul
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It covered an area of 190,800 sq mi. According to the testimony of Julius Caesar, Gaul was divided into three parts, Gallia Celtica, Belgica and Aquitania, during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, Gaul fell under Roman rule, Gallia Cisalpina was conquered in 203 BC and Gallia Narbonensis in 123 BC. Gaul was invaded after 120 BC by the Cimbri and the Teutons, Gallia remains a name of France in modern Greek and modern Latin. The Greek and Latin names Galatia, and Gallia are ultimately derived from a Celtic ethnic term or clan Gal-to-. Galli of Gallia Celtica were reported to refer to themselves as Celtae by Caesar. Hellenistic folk etymology connected the name of the Galatians to the supposedly milk-white skin of the Gauls, modern researchers say it is related to Welsh gallu, Cornish galloes, capacity, power, thus meaning powerful people. The English Gaul is from French Gaule and is unrelated to Latin Gallia, as adjectives, English has the two variants, Gaulish and Gallic. The two adjectives are used synonymously, as pertaining to Gaul or the Gauls, although the Celtic language or languages spoken in Gaul is predominantly known as Gaulish. The Germanic w- is regularly rendered as gu- / g- in French, also unrelated in spite of superficial similarity is the name Gael. The Irish word gall did originally mean a Gaul, i. e. an inhabitant of Gaul, but its meaning was later widened to foreigner, to describe the Vikings, and later still the Normans. The dichotomic words gael and gall are sometimes used together for contrast, by 500 BC, there is strong Hallstatt influence throughout most of France. By the late 5th century BC, La Tène influence spreads rapidly across the territory of Gaul. The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, southwest Germany, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, farther north extended the contemporary pre-Roman Iron Age culture of northern Germany and Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the Romans described Gallia Transalpina as distinct from Gallia Cisalpina, while some scholars believe the Belgae south of the Somme were a mixture of Celtic and Germanic elements, their ethnic affiliations have not been definitively resolved. One of the reasons is political interference upon the French historical interpretation during the 19th century, in addition to the Gauls, there were other peoples living in Gaul, such as the Greeks and Phoenicians who had established outposts such as Massilia along the Mediterranean coast. Also, along the southeastern Mediterranean coast, the Ligures had merged with the Celts to form a Celto-Ligurian culture, the prosperity of Mediterranean Gaul encouraged Rome to respond to pleas for assistance from the inhabitants of Massilia, who were under attack by a coalition of Ligures and Gauls. The Romans intervened in Gaul in 154 BC and again in 125 BC, whereas on the first occasion they came and went, on the second they stayed. Massilia was allowed to keep its lands, but Rome added to its territories the lands of the conquered tribes. The direct result of conquests was that by now, Rome controlled an area extending from the Pyrenees to the lower Rhône river
4.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
5.
Hispania
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Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces, Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, during the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova. The name, Hispania, was used in the period of Visigothic rule. The modern placenames Spain and Hispaniola are both derived from Hispania, one theory holds it to be of Punic derivation, from the Phoenician language of colonizing Carthage. Specifically, it may derive from a Punic cognate of Hebrew אי-שפניא meaning Island of the Hyrax or island of the hare or island of the rabbit. Others derive the word from Phoenician span, in the sense of hidden, and make it indicate a hidden, that is, Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis. Occasionally Hispania was called Hesperia Ultima, the last western land in Greek, by Roman writers, another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for border or edge, thus meaning the farthest area or place. The use of Latin Hispania, Castilian España, Catalan Espanya and French Espaigne, a document dated 1292 mentions the names of foreigners from Medieval Spain as Gracien dEspaigne. You are, Oh Spain, holy and always happy mother of princes and peoples and you, by right, are now the queen of all provinces, from whom the lights are given not only the sunset, but also the East. Navarre followed soon after in 1512, and Portugal in 1580, during this time, the concept of Spain was still unchanged. The King of Portugal would protest energetically when during a public act King Fernando talked about the Crown of Spain and it was after the independence of Portugal in 1640 when the concept of Spain started to shift and be applied to all the Peninsula except Portugal. Even so, Portugal would still complain when the terms Crown of Spain or Monarchy of Spain were still used in the 18th century with the Treaty of Utrecht. The Iberian peninsula has long inhabited, first by early hominids such as Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis. In the Paleolithic period, the Neanderthals entered Iberia and eventually took refuge from the migrations of modern humans. In the 40th millennium BC, during the Upper Paleolithic and the last ice age and these were nomadic hunter-gatherers originating on the steppes of Central Asia. When the last Ice Age reached its maximum extent, during the 30th millennium BC, in the millennia that followed, the Neanderthals became extinct and local modern human cultures thrived, producing pre-historic art such as that found in LArbreda Cave and in the Côa Valley. In the Mesolithic period, beginning in the 10th millennium BC and this was an interstadial deglaciation that lessened the harsh conditions of the Ice Age
6.
Gallia Narbonensis
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Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra, from its having been the first Roman province north of the Alps and it became a Roman province in the late 2nd century BC. Its boundaries were defined by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The western region of Gallia Narbonensis was known as Septimania, the province of Gallia Transalpina was later renamed Gallia Narbonensis, after its newly established capital of Colonia Narbo Martius, a Roman colony founded on the coast in 118 BC. The Romans had called it Provincia Nostra or simply Provincia, the term has survived in the modern French and Occitan names of the eastern part of the area, now a région of France. By the mid-2nd century BC, Rome was trading heavily with the Greek colony of Massalia on the southern coast of Gaul, Massalia, founded by colonists from Phocaea, was by this point centuries old and quite prosperous. The Massalians, for their part, cared more for their economic prosperity than they did for territorial integrity, in this strip of land, the Romans founded the town of Narbonne in 118 BC. At the same time, they built the Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul, connecting Gaul to Hispania, and the Via Aquitania, thus the Romans built a crossroads that made Narbonne an optimal trading center, and Narbonne became a major trading competitor to Massalia. From Narbonne, the Romans established the province of Transalpine Gaul, during this period, the Mediterranean settlements on the coast were threatened by the powerful Gallic tribes to the north, especially the tribes known as the Arverni and the Allobroges. In 123 BC, the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus campaigned in the area and defeated the Allobroges and this defeat substantially weakened the Arverni and ensured the further security of Gallia Narbonensis. It was from the capital of Narbonne that Julius Caesar began his Gallic Wars, the area became a Roman province in 121 BC, originally under the name Gallia Transalpina. The name distinguished it from Cisalpine Gaul on the side of the Alps to Rome. In 40 BC, during the Second Triumvirate, Lepidus was given responsibility for Narbonese Gaul, while Mark Antony was given the balance of Gaul. Emperor Diocletians administrative reorganization of the Empire in c. AD314 merged the provinces Gallia Narbonensis, the new dioceses name was later changed to Dioecesis Septem Provinciarum, indicating that Diocletian had demoted the word province to mean a smaller subdivision than in traditional usage. Galla Narbonensis and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom between AD462 and 477, permanently ending Roman political control. After the Gothic takeover, the Visigothic dominions were to be known as Septimania. 210. ]us -- between 210 and 230 Tiberius Claudius Paulinus -- 216-217 Gaius Aemilius Berenicianus Maximus -- between 222 and 235 Iulianus -- between 222 and 235 William Smith, ed. Gallia Transalpina, dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
7.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
8.
Heracles
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Heracles, born Alcaeus or Alcides, was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson and half-brother of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of clans who claimed to be Heracleidae. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well. Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him, together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a figure who used games to relax from his labors. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have made the safe for mankind. Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve Labours of Heracles and his figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was widely known. Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, the core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld. Heracles role as a hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling, was accepted into the Olympian Pantheon during Classical times. Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds scattering left, in Christian circles a Euhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death. The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of the Heracleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, what is believed to be an Egyptian Temple of Heracles in the Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BCE. A reassessment of Ptolemys descriptions of the island of Malta attempted to link the site at Ras ir-Raħeb with a temple to Heracles, several ancient cities were named Heraclea in his honor. A major factor in the tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the goddess Hera. A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, thus, Heracles very existence proved at least one of Zeus many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus mortal offspring as revenge for her husbands infidelities. His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon, was Iphicles, Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too was Eurystheus
9.
Allobroges
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The Allobroges were a Gallic tribe of ancient Gaul, located between the Rhône River and Lake Geneva in what later became Savoy, Dauphiné, and Vivarais. Their cities were in the areas of modern-day Annecy, Chambéry and Grenoble, the departement of Isère. The location of the Allobroges is deduced from mention of them in ancient writings, on the north, the Rhône divided the Helvetii from the Allobroges, i. e. the latter were on the south bank of the river and Lake Léman from which it flows. Caesar says the Allobroges were recently subdued, the first recorded reference to the Allobroges is from the Greek historian Polybius in 150-130 BC. He tells how they unsuccessfully resisted Hannibal when he crossed the Alps in 218 BC, in 123 BC, the Allobroges gave shelter to King Tutomotulus, of the tribe of the Salluvii which Rome had conquered, and refused to hand Tutomotulus over. Rome declared war and moved against the Allobroges, on August 8,121 BC the legions of Quintus Fabius Maximus defeated them and forced them to submit, Maximus earned the cognomen Allobrogicus for this feat. Crixus, the lieutenant of Spartacus during the Third Servile War was an Allobrogian Gaul. It was a plot by ostracized high political Roman elites and allied plebeian military connected to their cause, the conspirators made the mistake of attempting to recruit the Allobroges via their ambassadors delegation, who happened to be in Rome during the planning of the conspiracy. The conspiracy was revealed to the Allobroges, however their diplomatic envoys informed the current consul Cicero, Cicero instructed the Allobroges envoys to get tangible proof of the conspiracy. Thinking they were gaining allies, five of the leading conspirators wrote letters to the Allobroges so that the envoys could show their people that there was hope in a real conspiracy. However, Cicero had the letters intercepted as the envoys left Rome and read them before the Senate the following day, with the plot exposed, the ringleaders were rounded up or sacrificed themselves, mostly in unprepared pitched battles around Rome. However, they rebelled on their own shortly thereafter, in 61 BC chief Catugnatus revolted but Gaius Pomptinus defeated them at Solonium. Next, loyal once more, Allobrogian warriors joined Julius Caesar during his conquest of Gaul and these included two brothers, Roucillus and Egus, the sons of Adbucillus who had been chieftain of the Allobroges for many years. In The Civil War Caesar explains that these were men of outstanding courage and had been availed of their excellent, consequently, they had been greatly honoured by Caesar who had assigned to them the highest magistracies among their own people. Under the Roman Empire, Vienne grew and in 100 AD Tacitus described it as historic, archaeological excavations have revealed extensive warehouses. They collected tolls from traffic passing up Via Agrippa and various other Roman roads, from the Palace of Mirrors baths at Saint-Romain-en-Gal, across the river from modern Vienne, but part of ancient Vienne, comes a statue of the towns tutelary goddess. North-east of Vienne and north of Cularo, is a healing sanctuary at the modern town of Aix-les-Bains. This was dedicated to a southern Gaulish healing god Borvo, gauls Initial material derived from the public domain Lemprières Classical Dictionary of 1824
10.
Averni
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The Arverni were a Celtic tribe. The tribe was located in what is today the French Auvergne region, one of the most powerful tribes in ancient Gaul, the Arverni opposed the Romans on several occasions. Their most important stronghold was Gergovia, near the commune of Clermont-Ferrand. The Arverni are known to have had the most powerful tribal hegemony in Gaul during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC under their kings, Luernios, and his son Bituitus. But when Arvern king Bituitus was defeated by the Romans of Quintus and Gnaeus Ahenobarbus in 121 BC, their ascendancy passed to the Aedui and Sequani. No further Arvernian kings are mentioned in the record between 121 BC and 52 BC, and they may have adopted a constitutional oligarchy at this time. However, there were at least two attempts to re-establish rulership by Celtillos and Vercingetorix. The King Luernios was mentioned in writing by the Greek ethnographer Posidonius, Luernios was known to have scattered gold and silver coins to his followers while riding in his chariot. Under Luernios, the Arverni were at the head of a formidable Gallic military hegemony which stretched from the Rhine to the Atlantic coast and they joined Bellovesus migrations towards Italy, together with the Aeduii, Ambarri, Aulerci, Carnutes and Senones. The Arverni later played an important role in the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar from 58 BC to 51 BC, at first the Arvenian nobles tried to avoid confronting Caesar during his early incursions. They executed the leader Celtillus, evidently for trying to gain sovereignty over all the Gauls, in 52 BC, Celtillus son Vercingetorix rallied his supporters to fight the Romans, but was expelled from Gergovia by the nobles, including his uncle Gobanitio. He then raised an army in the country, and returned to the city where he ejected his opponents and was declared king. This accomplished, Vercingetorix forged an alliance with at least 15 Gallic tribes and he then led the majority of the Gauls and won the Gergovia battle against Julius Caesar and his cavalry did marvels in pursuing the Roman troops. After Julius Caesar saved half of his legions and received food from other Gauls, Vercingetorix was defeated by Caesar at the Battle of Alesia, after several months where the legions built 14 ranges of military equipment to block the Gallic soldiers. After several weeks of support from the western Gallic people with huge troops coming to support Vercingetorix, when the western Gallic people decided to depart, Vercingetorix took the decision to surrender to save the people of Alesia. The Arverni territories and over 75% of the Gauls were subsequently incorporated into the Roman imperium, Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus, conquered King Bituitus Alba Fucens, town where Bituitus was held after capture
11.
Narbonne
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Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies 849 km from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture, once a prosperous port, and a major city in Roman times, it is now located about 15 km from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is marginally the largest commune in Aude, although the prefecture is the slightly smaller commune of Carcassonne, Narbonne is linked to the nearby Canal du Midi and the Aude River by the Canal de la Robine, which runs through the centre of town. The towns original name is very ancient, the earliest known record of its original name is by the Greek Hecataeus of Miletus in the fifth century BC. In ancient inscriptions the name is rendered in Latin and sometimes translated into Iberian as Nedhena. Narbonne was established in Gaul by the Romans in 118 BC, as Colonia Narbo Martius and it was located on the Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul, built at the time of the foundation of the colony, and connecting Italy to Spain. In addition, it was crossed by the Aude River, surviving members of Julius Caesars Legio X Equestris were given lands in the area that today is called Narbonne. Politically, Narbonne gained importance as a competitor to Massalia, Julius Caesar settled veterans from his 10th Legion there and attempted to develop its port while Marseille was supporting Pompey. Among the amenities of Narbonne, its rosemary-flower honey was famous among Romans, later, the province of Transalpine Gaul was renamed Gallia Narbonensis after the city, which became its capital. Seat of an administration, the city enjoyed economic and architectural expansion. At that point, the city is thought to have had 30, 000–50,000 inhabitants, according to Hydatius, in 462 the city was handed over to the Visigoths by a local military leader in exchange for support, as a result Roman rule ended in the city. It was subsequently the capital of the Visigothic province of Septimania, for 40 years, from 719, Narbonne was part of the Umayyad Empire with a strong Gothic presence. The Carolingian Pepin the Short conquered Narbonne from the Muslims in 759 after which it part of the Carolingian Viscounty of Narbonne. He invited, according to Christian sources, prominent Jews from the Caliphate of Bagdad to settle in Narbonne, in the 12th century, the court of Ermengarde of Narbonne presided over one of the cultural centers where the spirit of courtly love was developed. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Narbonne was home to an important Jewish exegetical school, Jews had settled in Narbonne from about the 5th century, with a community that had risen to approximately 2000 in the 12th century. At this time, Narbonne was frequently mentioned in Talmudic works in connection with its scholars, one source, Abraham ibn Daud of Toledo, gives them an importance similar to the exilarchs of Babylon. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the community went through a series of ups, Narbonne itself fell into a slow decline in the 14th century, for a variety of reasons. One was due to a change in the course of the Aude River, the Aude river had a long history of overflowing its banks
12.
Durance
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The Durance is a major river in south-eastern France. Its source is in the south-western Alps, in Montgenèvre ski resort near Briançon and it flows south-west through the departments and cities, Hautes-Alpes, Briançon. The Durances main tributaries are the Bléone and Verdon, the Durance itself is a tributary of the Rhône and flows into the Rhône near Avignon. The Durance is the second longest of the tributaries of the Rhône, the Durance is documented in Ancient Greek as drouentios potamos and in Latin as Druentia, Durantia and Durentia. The traditional forms are probably derivatives of *Dūrantia, based on the Celtic dour, the Latin form drou changed into the proto-Occitan dur. Similar names are found in the names of rivers in the Western Alps, Dora in Italy, Dranse in Haute-Savoie. All these rivers have their sources in mountains, and are fast-running, the Durance retains its name rather than either the Clarée or Guisane, even though the latter two are longer than the Durance when they each merge. The Durance is better known than the two rivers because the Durance valley is an old and important trade route, whereas the valleys of the Clarée. The Durance is 305 kilometres long from its source at the foot of Sommet des Anges, at 2,390 metres high, above Montgenèvre, however, a longer route is traced by the Clarée-Durance system with a length of 325 kilometres. Its descent is unusually rapid at 81 m/km in its first 12 km, then 15 m/km to its confluence with the Gyronde, and then still nearly 8 m/km to the confluence with the Ubaye. This descent stays relatively steep after this confluence, then shallows to approximately 0. 33% in its middle course and it drops 1,847 metres from its source to Mirabeau and approximately 2,090 metres from its source to the confluence with the Rhône. The Durance catchment area extends to three departments, Var, Drôme and Alpes-Maritimes. The Durance is the longest river in Metropolitan France without a department named after it, the source of La Durance is on the northern slope of the Sommet des Anges, where the first small streams combine into a river. This runs near to Montgenèvre and then flows into the larger Clarée river and it then continues south combining with the Gyronde — the Écrins glacial stream — at LArgentière-la-Bessée. The confluence with the Guil occurs below Guillestre and Mont-Dauphin, the Durance then flows south-south-west and flows into the Lac de Serre-Ponçon just downstream of Embrun. The confluence with the Ubaye was flooded as the lake filled, the middle part of the Durance runs through a landscape that changes as the valley increasingly widens. The river itself becomes steeply banked by terraces, and carves a channel, sometimes a few metres deep, in its middle and lower reaches the Durance is affected by the Mediterranean climate, flooding after autumnal rains, with low water levels in summer. Just before the narrow gap in the mountains at Sisteron, the Durance joins Buëch, water also flows in from the EDF Canal
13.
Beaucaire, Gard
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Beaucaire is a French commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of southern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Beaucairois or Beaucairoises, the commune has been awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. Beaucaire is located on the Rhône River some 15 km south-west of Avignon and 10 km north of Arles opposite Tarascon, which is in Bouches-du-Rhône department of Provence. Access to the commune is by the D999 road from Jonquières-Saint-Vincent in the west which passes through the north of the commune, the D966L comes from Saint-Bonnet-du-Gard in the north and comes down the banks of the Rhône to the town. The D90 branches off the D986L in the commune and passes in a circle around the town then continues east across the Rhone changing to the D99B, the D15 goes south from the town to Fourques. The D38 goes south-west from the town to Bellegarde, the D28 links the Ile du Comte to the east bank of the Rhone. A railway passes through the coming from Tarascon in the east with two stations in the commune then it continues to Nîmes in the west. The commune has an urban area in the north-east with the rest of the commune farmland. The Rhône river forms the eastern border of the commune as it flows south to join the sea at Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. The river is also the border between Gard and Bouches-du-Rhône. The Canal du Rhône à Sète passes through the commune from Saint-Gilles in the south-west, a waterway called Laune de Pillet, a branch of the Rhone, cuts through the commune parallel to the Rhone forming the Ile de Pillet. There is a network of irrigation canals covering most of the farmland. The entire town is located in the Rhône Valley and has flat terrain mainly formed by the plain of the Rhône. The north of the commune has hills, especially north of the centre where the castle is located as well as Saint-Roman. Beaucaire probably is the French version of the Occitan language name Bèucaire, Beaucaire appears as Beaucaire on the 1750 Cassini Map and the same on the 1790 version. Founded in the 7th century BC, Beaucaire was known as a city on the famous Via Domitia and it was at this point that the Via Domitia divides in the direction of Arles, Nîmes, Remoulins, and Saint-Gilles. At that time, Beaucaire was called Ugernum and this was where, after the capture of Rome by the Vandals in 455, the Gallo-Roman nobility met to elect Avitus as the new emperor. A Roman mausoleum has been discovered on the Île du Comté, the Middle Ages saw a slowdown in the expansion of the city
14.
Gulf of Lion
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The Gulf of Lion is a wide embayment of the Mediterranean coastline of Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence in France, reaching from the border with Catalonia in the west to Toulon. The chief port on the gulf is Marseille, the fishing industry in the gulf is based on hake, being bottom-trawled, long-lined and gill-netted and currently declining from over-fishing. Rivers that empty into the gulf include the Tech, Têt, Aude, Orb, Hérault, Vidourle, the continental shelf is exposed here as a wide coastal plain, and the offshore terrain slopes rapidly to the Mediterraneans abyssal plain. Much of the coastline is composed of lagoons and salt marsh and this is the area of the cold, blustery winds called the Mistral and the Tramontane. These sources, especially Deroy and Mulon, Diderot and DAlembert, reject the hypothesis according to which the name would be related to the city of Lyon, a former name in classical Latin during Roman antiquity was sinus Gallicus. The Gulf of Lion is not a passive continental margin. This extension rejuvenated a very complex tectonic framework inherited from the Tethyan evolution, the Eocene mountain-building event that built the Pyrenees compressed and thickened the entire crust. Oil geologists predict that there will be considerable oil deposits at the margins of the gulf. The Gulf of Lion is notable, according to C. Michael Hogan, marine topography of the Golfe du Lion
15.
Via Aquitania
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The Via Aquitania was a Roman road created in 118 BC in the Roman province of Gaul. It started at Narbonne, where it connected to the Via Domitia and it then went toward the Atlantic Ocean, via Toulouse and Bordeaux, covering approximately 400 kilometres. Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, along with Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus, successfully defeated the Allobroges and this eliminated almost all opposition to the Romans in southern Gaul. Some portions of the coast were controlled by local tribes. Rome received tribute from Gauls all the way to Toulouse, gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus later served as proconsul in Gaul. In 118 BC, he founded the town of Narbo Martius, modern-day Narbonne, the Via Aquitania is an offshoot of the Via Domitia that goes through southwestern Gaul into the province of Aquitania. It is unknown who commissioned the Via Aquitania, but it is likely that Domitius Ahenobarbus built it in order to easily exact tributes from the conquered tribes. The Via Aquitania was the main Roman road in the province of Aquitania, the province of Aquitania is located in southwestern Gaul. It is bordered on the south and east by the Pyrenees, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, the Via Aquitania begins in Narbonne, where it connects to the Via Domitia. Narbonne was the first Roman colony in Gaul and its purpose was to be an agricultural colony. Narbonne later became an important trade hub in the time of Augustus, during the Pax Romana, traveling became safer. This led to an increase in trade, in addition to Narbonne, two other important cities, Toulouse and Bordeaux, were situated along the Via Aquitania. The Via Aquitania was the trade route which connected the Atlantic seaways to Toulouse. At Toulouse, the Via Aquitania intersected with roads leading north to Lyon, Toulouse later became the Visigoth capital. The Via Aquitania ended in Burdigala, modern-day Bordeaux, Bordeaux was an important international trade city, due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. After Gaul was divided into the three provinces of Aquitania, Belgica, and Lugdunensis, Bordeaux became the capital of Aquitania, the Via Aquitania connected these important cities in southern Gaul
16.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
17.
Toulouse
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Toulouse is the capital city of the southwestern French department of Haute-Garonne, as well as of the Occitanie region. The city lies on the banks of the River Garonne,150 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea,230 km from the Atlantic Ocean and it is the fourth-largest city in France with 466,297 inhabitants in January 2014. The Toulouse Metro area is, with 1312304 inhabitants as of 2014, Frances 4th metropolitan area after Paris, Lyon and Marseille and ahead of Lille and Bordeaux. Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, the Airbus Group, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. The city also hosts the European headquarters of Intel and CNESs Toulouse Space Centre, thales Alenia Space, and Astrium Satellites, Airbus Groups satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in Toulouse. The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe and, with more than 103,000 students, is the fourth-largest university campus in France, after the Universities of Paris, Lyon and Lille. The air route between Toulouse Blagnac and Paris Orly is the busiest in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers in 2014, according to the rankings of LExpress and Challenges, Toulouse is the most dynamic French city. It is now the capital of the Occitanie region, the largest region in metropolitan France, sernin, the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe, designated in 1998 because of its significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route. Toulouse is in the south of France, north of the department of Haute-Garonne, the city is traversed by the Canal de Brienne, the Canal du Midi and the rivers Garonne, Touch and Hers-Mort. Toulouse has a subtropical climate which can be qualified as submediterranean due to its proximity to the Mediterranean climate zone. The Garonne Valley was a point for trade between the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic since at least the Iron Age. The historical name of the city, Tolosa, it is of unknown meaning or origin, possibly from Aquitanian, or from Iberian, Tolosa enters the historical period in the 2nd century BC, when it became a Roman military outpost. After the conquest of Gaul, it was developed as a Roman city of Gallia Narbonensis. In the 5th century, Tolosa fell to the Visigothic kingdom and became one of its cities, in the early 6th century even serving as its capital. From this time, Toulouse was the capital of Aquitaine within the Frankish realm, in 721, Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeated an invading Umayyad Muslim army at the Battle of Toulouse. Odos victory was an obstacle to Muslim expansion into Christian Europe. Charles Martel, a later, won the Battle of Tours. The Frankish conquest of Septimania followed in the 750s, and a quasi-independent County of Toulouse emerged within the Carolingian sub-kingdom of Aquitaine by the late 8th century
18.
Bordeaux
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Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France. The municipality of Bordeaux proper has a population of 243,626, together with its suburbs and satellite towns, Bordeaux is the centre of the Bordeaux Métropole. With 749,595 inhabitants and 1,178,335 in the area, it is the fifth largest in France, after Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department and its inhabitants are called Bordelais or Bordelaises. The term Bordelais may also refer to the city and its surrounding region, Bordeaux is the worlds major wine industry capital. It is home to the main wine fair, Vinexpo. Bordeaux wine has been produced in the region since the 8th century, the historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble of the 18th century. After Paris, Bordeaux has the highest number of preserved buildings of any city in France. In historical times, around 300 BC it was the settlement of a Celtic tribe, the Bituriges Vivisci, the name Bourde is still the name of a river south of the city. In 107 BC, the Battle of Burdigala was fought by the Romans who were defending the Allobroges, a Gallic tribe allied to Rome, the Romans were defeated and their commander, the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus, was killed in the action. The city fell under Roman rule around 60 BC, its importance lying in the commerce of tin, later it became capital of Roman Aquitaine, flourishing especially during the Severan dynasty. In 276 it was sacked by the Vandals, further ravage was brought by the same Vandals in 409, the Visigoths in 414 and the Franks in 498, beginning a period of obscurity for the city. In the late 6th century, the city re-emerged as the seat of a county and an archdiocese within the Merovingian kingdom of the Franks, the city started to play a regional role as a major urban center on the fringes of the newly founded Frankish Duchy of Vasconia. Around 585, a certain Gallactorius is cited as count of Bordeaux, the city was plundered by the troops of Abd er Rahman in 732 after storming the fortified city and overwhelming the Aquitanian garrison. After Duke Eudess defeat, the Aquitanian duke could still save part of its troops, the following year, the Frankish commander descended again over Aquitaine, but clashed in battle with the Aquitanians and left to take on hostile Burgundian authorities and magnates. In 745, Aquitaine faced yet another expedition by Charles sons Pepin and Carloman against Hunald, Hunald was defeated, and his son Waifer replaced him, who in turn confirmed Bordeaux as the capital city. During the last stage of the war against Aquitaine, it was one of Waifers last important strongholds to fall to King Pepin the Shorts troops. Next to Bordeaux, Charlemagne built the fortress of Fronsac on a hill across the border with the Basques, in 778, Seguin was appointed count of Bordeaux, probably undermining the power of the Duke Lupo, and possibly leading to the Battle of Roncevaux Pass that very year
19.
Mansio
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In the Roman Empire, a mansio was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or via, maintained by the central government for the use of officials and those on official business whilst travelling. The roads which traversed the Ancient World, were surveyed, developed and carefully maintained by the Romans, featuring purpose-built rest stops at regular intervals. Probably originally established as simple places of military encampment, in process of time they included barracks, over time the need arose for a more sophisticated form of shelter for travelling dignitaries and officials. The Latin term mansio is derived from manere, signifying to pass the night at a place while travelling and these substantial structures, normally in the form of a villa, were dedicated to the travellers rest and refreshment. Guests were expected to provide a passport to identify themselves, in many cases infrastructure to sustain them sprang up around the mansio, but also the villas of provincial officials, forts and ultimately even cities. Ox-drawn carts could travel about 30 km per day, pedestrians a little farther, at each mansio cisiarii kept gigs for hire and for conveying government dispatches. The number of leagues or of miles between one place and another is set down. The mansio was under the superintendence of an officer called mansionarius, as the bishops assumed control in the Christian West during the fifth and sixth centuries, the office of mansionarius developed new connotations. Mansionarius is inserted as a synonym of prosmonarius/paramonarius in canon 2 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, alfoldean, Horsham, Sussex Chelmsford Cunetio, Mildenhall, Wiltshire. A private system of cauponae were placed near the mansiones and they performed the same functions but were somewhat disreputable, as they were frequented by thieves and prostitutes. Graffiti decorate the walls of the few whose ruins have been found, genteel travellers needed something better than cauponae. In the early days of the viae, when little unofficial travel existed, frequented houses no doubt became the first tabernae (Latin word taberna, which were hostels, rather than the taverns we know today. A tabernaculum or small taberna was a place of worship for the Hebrews. As Rome grew, so did its tabernae, becoming more luxurious, one of the best hotels was the Tabernae Caediciae at Sinuessa on the Via Appia. It had a storage room containing barrels of wine, cheese. Many cities of today grew up around a complex, such as Rheinzabern in the Rhineland. A third system of way stations serviced vehicles and animals, the mutationes, in these complexes, the driver could purchase the services of wheelwrights, cartwrights, and equarii medici, or veterinarians. Using these stations in chariot relays, the emperor Tiberius hastened 200 miles in 24 hours to join his brother, Drusus Germanicus, Roman Road System Three Taverns Mansio from A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London,1875
20.
Late antiquity
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Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The development of the periodization has generally been accredited to historian Peter Brown, precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman Empires Crisis of the Third Century to, in the East, the early Islamic period, following the Muslim conquests in the mid–7th century. In the West the end was earlier, with the start of the Early Medieval period typically placed in the 6th century, beginning with Constantine the Great, Christianity was made legal in the Empire, and a new capital was founded at Constantinople. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian traditions formed the foundations of the subsequent culture of Europe, the term Spätantike, literally late antiquity, has been used by German-speaking historians since its popularization by Alois Riegl in the early 20th century. Concurrently, some migrating Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths and Visigoths saw themselves as perpetuating the Roman tradition, Constantine confirmed the legalization of the religion through the so-called Edict of Milan in 313, jointly issued with his rival in the East, Licinius. Monasticism was not the only new Christian movement to appear in Late Antiquity, notable in this regard is the topic of the Fifty Bibles of Constantine. Within the recently legitimized Christian community of the 4th century, a division could be distinctly seen between the laity and an increasingly celibate male leadership. Celibate and detached, the clergy became an elite equal in prestige to urban notables. The Late Antique period also saw a transformation of the political and social basis of life in. The later Roman Empire was in a sense a network of cities, archaeology now supplements literary sources to document the transformation followed by collapse of cities in the Mediterranean basin. Burials within the urban precincts mark another stage in dissolution of traditional urbanistic discipline, overpowered by the attraction of saintly shrines, in Roman Britain, the typical 4th- and 5th-century layer of black earth within cities seems to be a result of increased gardening in formerly urban spaces. A similar though less marked decline in population occurred later in Constantinople. In Europe there was also a decline in urban populations. As a whole, the period of antiquity was accompanied by an overall population decline in almost all Europe. Long-distance markets disappeared, and there was a reversion to a degree of local production and consumption, rather than webs of commerce. The degree and extent of discontinuity in the cities of the Greek East is a moot subject among historians. In the western Mediterranean, the new cities known to be founded in Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries were the four or five Visigothic victory cities
21.
Tabula Peutingeriana
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Tabula Peutingeriana, also referred to as Peutingers Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated itinerarium showing the layout of cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-century parchment copy of the Roman original, and covers Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. The original map which the copy is based on is thought to date to the 4th or 5th century and was itself based on a map prepared by Agrippa during the reign of the emperor Augustus. Named after the 16th-century German antiquarian Konrad Peutinger, the map is today kept at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. After Agrippas death in 12 BC, that map was engraved in marble and put on display in the Porticus Vipsania in the Campus Agrippae area in Rome, bowersock concluded that the original source is likely the map made by Vipsanius Agrippa. The original Roman map, of which this is the surviving copy, was last revised in the 4th or early 5th century. The presence of cities of Germania Inferior that were destroyed in the mid-fifth century also provides a terminus ante quem. The Tabula Peutingeriana is the known surviving map of the Roman cursus publicus. The map itself was created by a monk in Colmar in modern-day eastern France in 1265 and it is a parchment scroll,0.34 metres high and 6.75 metres long, assembled from eleven sections, a medieval reproduction of the original scroll. The map shows many Roman settlements and the roads connecting them, as well as features such as rivers, mountains, forests. The distances between settlements are also given, in total no less than 555 cities and 3,500 other place names are shown on the map. The three most important cities of the Roman Empire at the time – Rome, Constantinople and Antioch – are represented with special iconic decoration. Besides the totality of the empire, the map also shows areas in the Near East, India and the Ganges, Sri Lanka, and even an indication of China. It even shows a Temple to Augustus at Muziris on the modern-day Malabar Coast, the map appears to be based on itineraries, lists of destinations along Roman roads, as the distances between points along the routes are indicated. Travelers would not have possessed anything so sophisticated as a modern map, the Peutinger Table represents these roads as a series of stepped lines along which destinations have been marked in order of travel. The shape of the parchment pages accounts for the rectangular layout. However, a similarity to the coordinates of Ptolemys earth-mapping gives some writers hope that some terrestrial representation was intended by the unknown original compilers. The Peutinger family kept possession of the map for more than two hundred years until it was sold in 1714 and it is today conserved at the Austrian National Library at the Hofburg palace in Vienna
22.
Chorges
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Chorges is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France. The name Chorges derives from Latin Catorimagus, itself coming from the Alpine tribe of the Caturiges in the ancient Roman province of Alpes Maritimae, the village is 11 km away from La Bâtie-Vieille. Communes of the Hautes-Alpes department INSEE Official website in French
23.
Gap, Hautes-Alpes
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Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital and largest town of the Hautes-Alpes department. At 750 m above sea level, it is Frances highest prefecture, together with other Alpine towns, Gap engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Gap was awarded Alpine Town of the Year in 2002, in 2013 Gap was named the sportiest city in France by the national sports newspaper LÉquipe. With its 40,761 inhabitants, it is the town of an urban area of 62,072 inhabitants. The region around Gap is known as Gapençais, the commune of Gap is almost entirely located in the Sillon de Gap, a wide valley bottom located about 735 metres above sea level and including the western slopes almost 2,000 metres. This valley was shaped by the Glacier de la Durance during the last ice age, thus, soils are very often formed by moraine deposits. No less than five levels of lateral and frontal moraines are observable and these are clearly visible, especially on the southern slopes of the Col Bayard, where they were formed in places of the terraces used by agriculture. In retreating, the glacier also left erratics of several metres high, examples include, among others, the erratic boulders of Peyre-Ossel and Justice. The cover of debris is omnipresent in the Sillon de Gap but is not the only vestige of the Quaternary glaciation. There is also the typical topography of glacial valleys, the location of the town of Gap corresponds to an Ombilic glaciaire, where large quantities of clay were deposited. Upstream lies the Verrou glaciaire of Pont-Sarrazin and downstream of Tourronde, the mechanical action of the glacier de la Durance was facilitated by the presence of relatively friable layers. The part which is central and south-east of the town consists mainly of soft rocks and they consist of soft schist of bluish or brown colors. In the northwestern part are the rocks of lighter colours, Tithonian limestone. The geology and terrain of Gap The town of Gap is crossed by the Luye River, during its passage through the commune, the Luye receives several torrents. It merges on the bank with the 5.1 kilometres long Buzon, the Bonne and the torrent du Cristaye, and on the left bank, the La Magdeleine Canal, the Riotord. In the northwest of the commune lie the Petit Buëch sources, around 1,700 metres above sea level, they are formed by several streams which converge at the old village of Chaudun. Waters around Gap Its temperate climate is influenced by a Mediterranean climate, thus the main feature of the local climate is the importance of the sunshine enjoyed by the city. Furthermore, snowfall underscores the mountain character of the city, thunderstorms are frequent in summer, fog is rather rare
24.
Embrun, Hautes-Alpes
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Embrun is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. It is located between Gap and Briançon and at the end of one of the largest artificial lakes in Western Europe. The Canadian town of Embrun, Ontario was named after Embrun in 1856, Embrun was formerly known as Ebrodunum. There is some variation in the writing of the first part of the name and it is Epebrodunum in Strabos text, but later translators corrected it. Ebrodunum was in the civitas of the Caturiges, and just on the borders of the Vocontii, the position of Ebrodunum is easily determined by the itineraries and the name. Ptolemy mentions Eborodunum as the city of the Caturiges, and no other, in the Jerusalem Itinerary Ebrodunum is called Mansio, like Caturiges, which was also in the territory of the Caturiges. Ebrodunum was, for a time, the capital of the Roman province of Alpes Maritimae, in the feudal age, it was an important episcopal see. In stage 17 of the 2013 Tour de France, Embrun was the point for an individual time trial. Embrun was the see of a bishopric since the fourth century, Embrun Cathedral Écrins National Park Communes of the Hautes-Alpes department This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. Ebrodunum. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. Diocese of Gap. Media related to Embrun, Hautes-Alpes at Wikimedia Commons Embrun
25.
Sisteron
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Sisteron is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. Sisteron is situated on the banks of the River Durance just after the confluence of the rivers Buëch and it is sometimes called the Gateway to Provence because it is in a narrow gap between two long mountain ridges. It is 135 km from Marseille, also 135 km from Grenoble,180 km from Nice and 40 km from Forcalquier, Sisteron has been inhabited for 4000 years. The Romans used the route through Sisteron as can be shown by a Latin inscription in the rocks near the road to Authon and it escaped the barbarian invasions after the fall of Rome, but was ravaged by the Saracens. It was first fortified by the Counts of Forcalquier in the 11th century, in 1483 during the reign of Louis XI, Sisteron re-joined the kingdom of France. Around this time there were seven plagues that killed two thirds of the population, between 1562 and 1594 the town and its citadelle was fought over by Protestants and Catholics including two sieges. During this time the walls of the town were built, the plague returned in 1630, and typhus in 1744, killing many of the towns population. During the French Revolution the town remained Royalist, consequently, when Napoleon arrived on his march north after his escape from Elba in 1815, the town ignored him and let him through. On 15 August 1944 French B-26 Marauder bombers and American B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 42nd Bomber Wing tried to destroy the railway bridge, the weather was unfavorable and the bridges were not destroyed. A bomber during a manoeuvre to avoid a collision accidentally dropped bombs on the town, including a full church, causing about 100 fatalities. On August 17, the French aircraft returned and destroyed the bridges, the towns buildings include the citadel and the 12th century former Sisteron Cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Thyrsus. There is a festival with many events throughout the summer months. There is a market every Wednesday, a long distance walk, the GR6 passes east–west through Sisteron. Sisteron is served by the A51 autoroute, which now by-passes the town, there is also a railway station on the line from Marseille to Briançon and Grenoble. Jean-Baptiste dOrnano, an illustrious French noble, governor of Gaston, Duke of Orléans and instigator of the Chalais conspiracy was born in Sisteron The poet Paul Arène was born in the town
26.
Apt, Vaucluse
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Apt is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. It lies on the bank of the Calavon,41 miles east of Avignon. It is the town of the Luberon mountains. Apt lies north of Aix-en-Provence and the river Durance, in the valley of the river Calavon, the original type locality is in the vicinity of Apt. The Aptian was introduced in literature by French palaeontologist Alcide dOrbigny in 1840. Early 5th-century bishop Saint Castor of Apt is mentioned in contemporary liturgical documents, the diocese appears in documents of the same century as a suffragan of Aix. No longer a residential bishopric, Apta is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, important manuscripts were found in Apt concerning music in the 12th/13th centuries. They are known as the Apt Manuscript and the Ivrea Codex and they contain Motets and Mass Movements, all of which are polyphonic. Nine out of fourteen Motets by Philippe de Vitry are recorded in the Ivrea Codex and it is purported to have been derived from the repertoire used in the Papal Palace at Avignon, since it is so close and offers a sampling of music from the Ars Nova movement. According to documentation, Jews lived in Apt as early as the half of the 14th century. The earliest documentation of Jews in Apt is dated back to the half of the 13th century. Columbia University Library owns a twelve documents collection of notarial written money lending transactions between Jews and Christians in Apt, one of them describes a transaction between a local Jew called Gartus Bonafossi and a Christian named Iohannes Raymundi. A synagogue was documented as soon as 1416, and around 15 Jewish families were listed by the tax register by 1420, by then, Apt became the fourth largest Jewish community of Provence. The Jewish quarter was situated by the nowadays Place du Postel, the council of Apt was held on 14 May 1365 in the cathedral of that city by the archbishops and bishops of the provinces of Arles, Embrun and Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France. The town was surrounded by massive ancient walls, but these have now been for the most part replaced by boulevards, many of its streets are narrow. Many Roman remains have been found in and near the town, a fine bridge, the Pont Julien, spanning the Coulon below the town, dates from 2 BC. A tribunal of first instance and a college are the chief public institutions. Côtes du Luberon AOC Communes of the Vaucluse department This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
27.
Goult
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Goult is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. The village is perched on a hill with a road to the peak. Near the end of the road is a 12th-century castle, the Chateau de Goult, the commune lies in the parc naturel régional du Luberon. The Calavon flows westward through the part of the commune
28.
Cavaillon
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Cavaillon is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. Saint Veran was bishop here in the 6th century, the Durance forms the communes south-western border. Cavaillon is famous for its melons, Cavaillon Cathedral Ancient Diocese of Cavaillon Colline St-Jacques Luberon Cavaillon has been twinned with Weinheim, Germany, since 1958 and Langhirano, Italy, since 2001. Communes of the Vaucluse department Luberon Antoine Sartorio INSEE Town council website Tourism office website Website dedicated to the melons of Cavaillon
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Glanum
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Glanum was an oppidum, or fortified town in present day Provence, founded by a Celto-Ligurian people called the Salyes in the 6th century BCE. It became officially a Roman city in 27 BCE and was abandoned in 260 AD and it is particularly known for two well-preserved Roman monuments of the 1st century B. C. known as les Antiques, a mausoleum and a triumphal arch. A shrine was built at the spring to Glanis, a Celtic god, the town grew, and a second wall was built in the 2nd century BC. The people of Glanum were in contact with the Greek colony of Massalia, present day Marseille. The contact influenced the architecture and art of Glanum- villas were built in the Hellenic style, but by the 2nd century BC conflicts and wars arose between the Salyens and the Greeks of Marseille, who not having a powerful army, called upon the assistance of their Roman allies. In 125 BC the Salyens were defeated by the army of the Roman consul Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, many of the old monuments of Glanum were destroyed. Due to its commercially useful location on the Via Domitia, and the attraction of its healing spring, the city produced its own silver coins and built new monuments. The prosperity lasted until 90 BC when the Salyens again rebelled against Rome, the public buildings of Glanum were again destroyed. The rebellion was crushed this time by the Consul Caecilius, in 49 BC Julius Caesar captured Marseille, and after a period of destructive civil wars, the Romanization of Provence and Glanum began. A triumphal arch was built outside the town between 10 and 25 BC, near the end of the reign of Augustus, as well as a mausoleum of the Julii family. Glanum did not survive the collapse of the Roman Empire, after its abandonment Glanum became a source of stone and other building materials for Saint-Remy. Since the Roman system of drains and sewers was not maintained, the mausoleum and triumphal arch, together known as Les Antiques, were famous, and were visited by King Charles IX, who had the surroundings cleaned up and maintained. Some excavations were made around the monuments as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, finding sculptures and coins, the first systematic excavations began in 1921, directed by the architect of historic monuments, Jules Foremigé. From 1921 until 1941, the archeologist Pierre LeBrun worked on the site, discovering the baths, the basilica, from 1928 to 1933, Henri Roland worked on the Iron Age sanctuary, to the south. From 1942 until 1969, Roland took over the work and excavated the area from the forum to the sanctuary, the objects he discovered are on display today at the Hotel de Sade in nearby Saint-Remy. New excavation and exploration began in 1982, devoted mainly to the preservation of the site. The Mausoleum of the Julii, located across the Via Domitia, to the north of, and just outside the city entrance, dates to about 40 BCE, the mausoleum is built in three stages. The upper stage, or tholos, is a chapel with Corinthian columns
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Tarascon
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Tarascon, sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune situated at the extreme west of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region. Inhabitants are referred to as Tarasconnais or Tarasconnaises, the patron saint of the city is Saint Martha, whose motto is Concordia Felix. Tarascon is located 23 km south of Avignon and 20 km north of Arles, on the other side is the similarly sized town of Beaucaire in the département of Gard, région of Languedoc-Roussillon. Directly opposite each other and connected by bridges, Beaucaire and Tarascon effectively constitute one town. An irrigation canal of 18,00 km length rejoins the Rhone near Tarascon, the climate in the Alpilles is considered Mediterranean. The winters are mild and dry and the hot and dry. The maximum temperature is observed in July and August, the temperature in December. The most rainy month is January with seven days of rain on average, the Alpilles region receives more rainfall than the coast of the Mediterranean,500 mm / year in the Camargue against 600–700 mm / year for the Alpilles. The mistral blows violently from the north or northwest, especially in winter, the mistral blows strongly 100 days a year on average and more weakly for 83 days, which leaves only 182 windless days per year. Two types are distinguished, the mistral, which clears the sky, and the rarer black mistral. Settlement spread in the early Iron Age, at Tarascon, the sites sit alongside the Rhone, near the church of Sainte-Marthe. In the second part of the first Iron Age, the population, shifted from a lifestyle to a sedentary one. Trade intensified with the Eastern Mediterranean, with the people of the area likely trading grain for luxury goods, located along the Rhone, at the crossroads between Avignon, the Camargue and the Luberon, Tarascon is still associated with fairy tales and legends dating back to prehistory. According to tradition, Martha of Bethany, who came from Judea and she tamed the beast only for it to be butchered by the townspeople. Many pilgrims visit the Royal College of Sainte-Marthe, built in her honor near the castle of King René. This sanctuary, the monument of the city, contains the relics. Rostagnetus of Tharascone, knight, was provost of Nice, Alderman of Tarascon and son of former co-lords of the city in the 12th century, in 1366-67, Guillam de Sault ruled Tarascon. He received a salary of 90 florins
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Ambrussum
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Ambrussum is a Roman archaeological site in Villetelle, Hérault département, in southern France. It is close to the modern town Lunel, between Nîmes and Montpellier, Ambrussum is notable for its museum, its staging post on the Via Domitia, its bridge Pont Ambroix over the Vidourle, painted by Gustave Courbet, and for its oppidum. Its history of settlement spanned 400 years, the whole site is still being excavated. The higher settlement was based on a pre-Roman oppidum which was within a wall including 21 towers. The Romans re-modelled the oppidum, so there is evidence of a range of housing styles from the earliest one room dwellings to sophisticated courtyard houses on the second century AD. The Roman road, the Via Domitia, ran at the foot of the settlement, the Roman bridge was used until the Middle Ages but fell into disrepair, and only one complete arch remains. All place it midway between Nimes and Castelnau-le-Lez, that is 22 kilometres from each, the Via Domitia linked the Alps with the Pyrenees, and is the oldest Roman Road in Gaul, more specifically Gallia Narbonensis in France. It was laid out by Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus around 120 BC, at Ambussum the Via Domitia crosses the Vidourle, and the settlement provided a staging point on this road. Directly adjacent to the site, the modern A9 autoroute, the Languedocienne crosses the Vidourle and at this point there is the modern day equivalent of a mutatio, the site is reached through the village of Villetelle. The bridge is 20 m above sea level, and the highest point of the oppidum is 58 m, when in spate the Vidourle will rise by 8 m. From the highest point, the Oppidum de Nages is easily seen, further one can see Mont Ventoux, Pic Saint-Loup, and the hills of the Cevennes including the Causse du Larzac and Mont Aigoual. The site was first settled in 2,300 BC and the construction started on the oppidum around 300 BC and it was a settlement of Gauls. The Romans conquered the area in 120 BC, the paved road at the heart of the oppidum was laid around 100 BC. Between the oppidum and the river was a staging post on the Via Domitia and that, and the Pont Ambroix were constructed at around 30 BC. The flow patterns of the river changed around 10 BC, it became more aggressive, the large houses on the south of the oppidum were built in AD50. The whole oppidum abandoned in AD100, but parts of the settlement were still in use in AD400. It took a battering from the Vidourlades, or violent floods or crues on the Vidourle, During a crue, floods were recorded 8 October 1723. The floods of 18 November 1745 reduced the bridge from four arches to three, further major floods occurred 6 October 1812,21 October 1891,21 September 1907
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Montpellier
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Montpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Hérault department, Montpellier is the 8th largest city of France, and is also the fastest growing city in the country over the past 25 years. Nearly one third of the population are students from three universities and from three higher education institutions that are outside the university framework in the city. Located on the south coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, it is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice. Montpellier is one of the few cities in France without any Roman heritage. In the Early Middle Ages, the episcopal town of Maguelone was the major settlement in the area. Montpellier, first mentioned in a document of 985, was founded under a feudal dynasty, the Guilhem. The two surviving towers of the city walls, the Tour des Pins and the Tour de la Babotte, were built later, william VIII of Montpellier gave freedom for all to teach medicine in Montpellier in 1180. This era marked the point of Montpelliers prominence. The city became a possession of the Kings of Aragon in 1204 by the marriage of Peter II of Aragon with Marie of Montpellier, who was given the city and its dependencies as part of her dowry. Montpellier gained a charter in 1204 when Peter and Marie confirmed the traditional freedoms. Under the Kings of Aragon, Montpellier became an important city, a major economic centre. It was the second or third most important city of France at that time, with its importance steadily increasing, the city finally gained a bishop, who moved from Maguelone in 1536, and the huge monastery chapel became a cathedral. In 1432, Jacques Cœur established himself in the city and it became an important economic centre, at the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, many of the inhabitants of Montpellier became Protestants and the city became a stronghold of Protestant resistance to the Catholic French crown. In 1622, King Louis XIII besieged the city surrendered after a two months siege, afterwards building the Citadel of Montpellier to secure it. Louis XIV made Montpellier capital of Bas Languedoc, and the town started to embellish itself, by building the Promenade du Peyrou, the Esplanade, after the French Revolution, the city became the capital of the much smaller Hérault. During the 19th century the city developed into an industrial centre, in the 1960s, its population grew dramatically after French settlers in Algeria were resettled in the city following Algerias independence from France. In the 1980s and 1990s, the city drew attention with a number of redevelopment projects, such as the Corum
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