Gallia Narbonensis

Province of Provincia Gallia Narbonensis
Province of the Roman Empire
121 BC– 462
The province of within the Roman Empire in 125 AD
Capital
Area
• Coordinates
Historical era	Classical antiquity
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Today part of	France Italy Monaco

File:Map Gallia Tribes Towns.png

The Roman provinces in Gaul around 58 BC; the coastline shown here is the modern one, different from the ancient coastline in some parts of the English Channel.

File:Gaul in the Time of Caesar.jpg

can be seen in the south of modern-day France as a Roman province.

(Latin for 'Gaul of ', from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what today are and , in Southern France. It was also known as ('Our Province'), because it was the first Roman province north of the Alps, and as ('Transalpine Gaul'), distinguishing it from Cisalpine Gaul in Northern Italy. It became a Roman province in the late 2nd century BC. was bordered by the Pyrenees Mountains on the west, the to the north, the Alps on the east, and the Gulf of Lion on the south; the province included the majority of the Rhône catchment. The western region of was known as . The province was a valuable part of the Roman Empire, owing to the Roman (and former Greek colony) of (modern ), its location between the Spanish provinces () and Rome, and its economic output.

Names

The province of ('Transalpine Gaul') was later renamed , after its newly established capital of (colloquially known as , at the location of the modern ), a Roman colony founded on the coast in 118 BC. The name most likely originated in the Augustan era. Its first recorded use was in a census conducted by . The Romans had called it ('Our Province') or simply ('the Province'). The term has survived in the modern French name of (Occitan: ) for the eastern part of the area, which is now a region of France.

Founding

The ancient Greek colony of was founded in approximately 600 BC, by which the Hellenisation of Celtic Gaul began. The Roman involvement in Transalpine Gaul occurred in 218 BC; according to Livy, the Romans tried to establish the alliance against Carthage in Gaul and , but gained no success. Hannibal led the Carthaginian forces and routed the local Gaulish tribes, crossing the Rhône. , by then known as to the Romans, had already formed an alliance with Rome, which agreed to protect the town in exchange for supplying vital information and providing a fleet as Rome needed. Rome also demanded from a small strip of land in order to build a road to , to assist in troop transport. The Romans therefore landed their troops at to protect the city. After Rome held territories in , the Romans left control of the route to the city, causing to be killed by the while en route to in 189 BC.

During this period, the Mediterranean settlements on the coast were threatened by the powerful Gaulish tribes to the north, especially those known as the and the . In the First Transalpine War (125–121 BC), the Roman general (later additionally named ) campaigned in the area and defeated the and the under king in the Battle of the Isère River. This defeat substantially weakened the and ensured the further security of . The area became a Roman province in 121 BC.

The province had come into Roman control originally under the name (Transalpine Gaul), which distinguished it from Cisalpine Gaul on the near side of the Alps to Rome. In this strip of land, the Romans founded the town of in 118 BC. At the same time, they built the , the first Roman road in Gaul, connecting Gaul to , and the , which led toward the Atlantic through () and (). Thus, the Romans built a crossroads that made an optimal trading center, and it became a major trading competitor to . From , the Romans established the province of Transalpine Gaul, later called .

During the Sertorian War (80–72 BC) against the breakaway state of former Roman senator and general , was an important base for military activities. This was an important event in the Romanisation of Narbonese Gaul, as it resulted in the Romans organising the province.

Later history

Control of the province, which bordered directly on , gave the Roman state several advantages: control of the land route between Italy and the Iberian Peninsula; a territorial buffer against Gaulish attacks on Italy; and control of the lucrative trade routes of the Rhône valley between Gaul and the markets of . It was from the capital of () that began his Gallic Wars. Caesar rebuilt and built the cities of () and . Caesar also granted many communities in citizenship. In 49 BC, the city of sided with Pompey during the civil war. After the war ended in Caesar's favour, lost all of its independence and was fully subject to Roman rule.

In 40 BC, during the Second Triumvirate, was given responsibility for Narbonese Gaul, along with ; Mark Antony held the balance of Gaul; and Octavian (the future Emperor as ) took control of Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily.

After becoming emperor, made a senatorial province governed by a . By the late first century BC, the traditional hilltop village pattern in had largely disappeared. In its place emerged a new settlement framework, probably shaped by the relative peace and security during the early imperial period: the countryside was dotted with small farms, as defensible elevated sites were no longer essential.

Emperor Diocletian's administrative reorganisation of the empire in c. 314 AD merged the provinces and into a new administrative unit called (Diocese of ) with the capital more to the north in . The new diocese's name was later changed to (Diocese of the Seven Provinces), indicating that Diocletian had demoted the term "province" to mean a smaller subdivision than in prior usage.

and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom between 462 and 477 AD, permanently ending Roman political control. After this takeover, the Visigothic dominions were to be generally known as , while to the east of the lower Rhône, the name came into use.

List of proconsular governors of Gallia Narbonensis

The list has gaps as well as incomplete names due to missing and damaged records from the era; dates are mostly approximate.

• , 18–16 BC
• , between 16 BC and 12 AD
• , 12–15 AD
• , 15–17
• , 30–34
• , 34–37
• , c. 54–60
• , 77
• , before 78
• , 103–109
• , 118–120
• , 124
• , 124–127
• , 144–145
• , before 150
• , between 165 and 183
• , between 138 and 192
• , between 180 and 192
• , 2nd century
• , 197–214
• Unknown, 210, allegedly killed for supporting
• , between 210 and 230
• , 216–217
• , between 222 and 235
• , between 222 and 235
• , mid-3rd century

References

Sources

• Bunson, Matthew (2014). Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-1027-1 – via Google Books.
• Bowman, Alan K.; Champlin, Edward; Lintott, Andrew (1996). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 10. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-26430-3 – via Google Books.
• Maddison, Angus (2007). Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD: Essays in Macro-economic History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-164758-1 – via Google Books.
• Riggsby, Andrew M. (2006). Caesar in Gaul and Rome: War in Words. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71303-1 – via Google Books.
• Rivet, Albert Lionel Frederick (1988). Gallia Narbonensis, with a Chapter on Alpes Maritimae: Southern France in Roman Times. London: B. T. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-5860-2 – via Internet Archive.

Further reading

• Burns, Thomas S. (2003). Rome and the Barbarians: 100 BC – AD 400. Ancient Society and History ser. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-7306-5 – via Internet Archive.
• Cleere, Henry (2001). Southern France: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-288006-2 – via Internet Archive.
• Smith, William, ed. (1872) [1854]. "Gallia Transalpina". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. hdl:2027/hvd.ah5cuq – via HathiTrust.