Nemausus
Nemausus, known today as Nîmes, is a historically significant city located in southern Gaul, near the Rhône River in modern-day France. Originally settled during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, it later became the capital of the Celtic tribe of the Volcae Arecomici. The city was strategically positioned along an important trade route from Italy to Spain and came under Roman control as part of the province of Gallia Narbonensis. Between 51 and 37 BC, Nemausus was established as a Latin colony, producing a notable bronze coinage that featured imagery tied to the Roman Empire, including references to the annexation of Egypt.
Under the rule of Emperor Antoninus Pius, Nemausus flourished and became the capital of Gallia Narbonensis after the previous capital was destroyed. The city is renowned for its well-preserved ancient monuments, including the Maison Carrée, a temple dedicated to Augustus' grandsons, and the impressive amphitheater dating from the late first century AD. Additionally, the remains of the Augustan walls and the iconic Pont du Gard aqueduct, which brought water from Uzès, highlight Nemausus's architectural and engineering prowess in the Roman period. The city also holds religious significance, having hosted a Christian synod in 396 AD. Nemausus remains a site of cultural importance, reflecting the rich history and heritage of the region.
Subject Terms
Nemausus
(Nîmes) in southern Gaul (Gallia Narbonensis; Gard, France)
Situated in the plain not far from the right (west) bank of the river Rhodanus (Rhône), at the foot of Mont Cavalier—beside a healing spring which was dedicated to a god bearing the same name as the town—Nemausus was the site of Chalcolithic (Copper) and Bronze Age settlements, and later became the capital of the Celtic tribe of the Volcae Arecomici. The town came within the sphere of influence of Massilia (the Greek Massalia [qv], now Marseille), which profited from its position on the old road from Italy to Spain, improved by the Romans before 124 BC and further reconstructed as the Via Domitia (121). It was at this stage that the province of Gallia Narbonensis was created, and Nemausus passed under Roman control.
At some date between 51 and 37, it became a Latin colony (i.e. a city in which the annually elected officials received Roman citizenship). Its authorities began c 28 to produce the most abundant bronze coinage ever issued by any colonial community in the Roman world, displaying the heads of Octavian (soon to become Augustus) and Marcus Agrippa (whom fragmentary inscriptions link with Nemausus) and, on the reverse side (in front of a palm tree) a crocodile, which appeared on imperial gold and silver issues of the same period and referred to the recent annexation of Egypt (30) after the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra VII at Actium in the previous year. The repetition of this design on the coins of Nemausus apparently refers to the settlement of Egyptian soldiers and sailors from Antony's forces. These issues continued for a considerable time and enjoyed an enormous circulation in the west, playing a major part in the token coinage of the western Roman world.
Nemausus flourished especially under Antoninus Pius (AD 138–61), whose father's family were among its citizens, and when the capital of the province, Narbo Martius, was destroyed by fire, he transferred the provincial capital of Gallia Narbonensis to Nemausus. From the mid-fourth century onward, however, a considerable part of the former habitation area was evidently uninhabited. Nevertheless, in 396, the city was the meeting place of a Christian synod.
It contains monuments of outstanding importance. Not much of the Augustan wall remains, but a gate (the Porte d'Auguste) and a complex octagonal structure (the Tour Magne, commanding Mont Cavalier) are still to be seen. The forum was dominated by a temple, now known as the Maison Carrée, which is perhaps the best preserved religious building in the entire Roman world. It was dedicated (not, as was thought until recently, rededicated after an earlier Augustan foundation) to Augustus' grandsons Gaius and Lucius Caesar in AD 2–5. The amphitheater of Nemausus, again remarkably well-preserved, dates from toward the end of the first century AD. The area of the local spring was adorned in the second or third century by a series of buildings, including a curved double colonnade, a temple of Diana (or of Rome and Augustus), a theater, a dormitory for pilgrims (?), a shrine of the water-god Nemausus, and a nymphaeum (fountain house). Since the spring did not provide the city with a sufficient flow of water, however, Agrippa brought a further supply from Uzès, fifteen miles away, by an aqueduct, of which the span crossing the river Vardo (Gardon), known as the Pont du Gard, is the most famous and one of the best-preserved structures of its kind in the Roman empire.