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User:Phaisit16207/sandbox/Gallia Narbonensis

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Province of Gallia Narbonensis
Provincia Gallia Narbonensis
Province of the Roman Empire
121 BC–462/477 AD

The province of Gallia Narbonensis within the Roman Empire in 125 AD
CapitalNarbo Martius
Historical eraAntiquity
• Established
121 BC
• Visigothic conquest
462/477 AD
 Succeeded by
Visigothic Kingdom
Today part ofFrance
Italy
Monaco
Gallia Narbonensis can be seen in the south of modern-day France as a Roman province.

Gallia Narbonensis (/nɑːrbəˈnɛnsɪs/; Latin: [narboːˈnẽːsɪs], 'Gaul of Narbonne'),[n 1] also known as Gallia Transalpina ('Transalpine Gaul') and Provincia Nostra ('Our Province'), was a province of the Roman Republic and, subsequently, the Roman Empire from 121 BC to 462–477 AD. Its territory composed of what are now Occitania and Provence in Southern France. Gallia Narbonensis was bordered by the Pyrenees Mountains on the west, the Cévennes to the north, the Alps on the east, and the Gulf of Lion on the south; the province included the majority of the Rhone catchment. The western region of Gallia Narbonensis was known as Septimania.

The province was established after the First Transalpine War against the Gallic tribes, predominantly the Allobroges and Arverni, in 121 BC. By 118 BC, the province's centre, Colonia Narbo Martius (modern Narbonne), was founded. The province was a valuable part of the Roman Empire, owing to the Greek colony of Massalia, its location between the Spanish provinces and Rome, and its financial output.[1] Due to obvious differrences in climate and history from the rest of Gaul, Narbonensis attracted many Roman immigrants. From the third to fifth centuries, Germanic invasions, and the fragility of the Roman Empire, led to the loss of Narbonensis to the Visigoths around 462 to 477 AD.

Names edit

Following the Roman campaign in Southern Gaul in 121 BC, the newly acquired province was named Gallia Transalpina ('Transalpine Gaul', i.e., Gaul beyond the Alps) to distinguish from Gallia Cisalpina ('Cisalpine Gaul', i.e., Gaul inside the Alps); the province, however, was renamed Narbonensis after the name of, founded in 118 BC, Colonia Julia Paterna Claudia Narbo Martius Decumanorum (also known as Colonia Narbo Martius), a Roman colony that served as the centre of the province, to distinguish from three Gallic provinces – Aquitania, Belgica and Lugdunensis – conquered by Julius Caesar in 50s BC.[1] The term Narbonensis most likely originates in the Augustan era; its first recorded use was in a census conducted by Gnaeus Pullius Pollio.[2]

The Romans had called it Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), or simply Provincia ("Province"), as it was the first Roman province north of the Alps. The term was inherited in the modern name of Provence, the region in southern France, for the eastern part of the area.[3]

History edit

Background edit

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

The Greek colony of Massalia was founded in approximately 600 BC, which began the Hellenisation of Celtic Gaul.[4] The Roman involvement in the so-called transalpine Gaul occurred in 218 BC, according to Livy, the Romans tried to establish the alliance against Carthage in Gaul and Spain, but gained no success.[5] Hannibal led the Carthaginian forces and routed the local Gallic tribes, crossing the Rhône. Massalia already formed an alliance with Rome,[6] which agreed to protect the town in exchange for supplying vital information and providing the fleet as Rome needed,[7] furthermore, especially after 118 BC, a small strip of land that it wanted in order to build a road to Hispania, to assist in troop transport.[8] The Romans therefore landed their troops on Massalia to protect the city. After Rome held territories in Hispania, the Romans left control of the route to the city, causing praetor Lucius Baebius to be killed by the Ligures while en route to Hispania in 189 BC.[7]

The Salyes, a Celto-Ligurian tribe, escalated the situation in transalpine Gaul by attacking Massalia in 125 BC, staging the First Transalpine War; the Roman forces, led by Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, defeated not only the Salyes but also Vocontii and other Ligurian tribes.[9] Gaius Sextius Calvinus, consul in 124 BC, forced the Salyes—siding with the Vocantii—to withdraw from the coast, ceding to Massalia the strip and later establishing the garrison in the area would be Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence).[10] The setbacked Salyes king, Toutomotulos, along with their leaders, fled to the Allobroges,[11] who refused to send back these fugitives to Rome, giving Rome a cause of war to capture Toutomotulos along with his leaders.[10]

In 122 BC, the forces, with war elephants, were sent with Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus as the commander.[10] While in Salluvian land, on the account of Appian, Ahenobarbus met the ambassador sent by Bituitus, king of the Allobroges, asking for pardon for Salluvian leaders but not returning them.[10] Ahenobarbus decided to attack before they could join with Arverni,[12] defeating the Allobroges at Vindalium.[13] The Romans later elected Quintus Fabius Maximus as consul in 121 BC.[13] The clash between the Allobroges and Romans occurred on 8 August at the confluence of the Isère and Rhône; although outnumbered, Fabius was able to defeat Bituitus, leading him to escape while the Salyes fugitives, about three quarters, were either slained or drowned into the Isère.[13] Bituitus, nevertheless, was captured by Domitius and sent to Rome.[13] Both victories had secured the area that would be a new province.[14] Gallia Transalpina became a Roman province around 121[1][15][16] to 120 BC.[17]

Establishment edit

 
The augusteum in Nemausus (modern Maison carrée), built in 16 BC, became the best-preserved temple surviving from the Roman period.

To commemorate two victories over the Arverni and the Allobroges, a stone tower was erected on the site of the battle; neither of them was ever founded in the contemporary era.[13] In 118 BC, the Romans founded the colonia of Julia Paterna Claudia Narbo Martius Decumanorum, which later abbreviated to Colonia Narbo Martius, becoming the centre of the province and the resident of the proconsular.[18] The Romans also built the Via Domitia, running from Ugernum to the Col du Perthus, which was considered the first Roman road in Gaul; and the Via Aquitania, which led towards the Atlantic Ocean through Tolosa (Toulouse) and Burdigala (Bordeaux).[8][12] Thus, the Romans built a crossroads that made Narbon an optimal trading centre, and Narbo became a major trading competitor to Massalia.[19]

A revolt, led by the Volcae Tectosages, against the Roman garrison stationed in Tolosa occurred in 107 BC, and the Senate chose Quintus Servilius Caepio to be consul. Retaking Tolosa, Caepio, according to the legend, emptied the treasure from Gallic sacred places.[20] Of these, known as the Gold of Tolosa, the gold came from the sack of Delphi in 279 BC by the Brenus-led invading Celts,[21] which was mysteriously lost in transit near Massalia. The Volcae Tectosages also, with the Cimbri and Teutons in the Cimbrian War, had plagued the province after their victory near Arausio, plundering along the way to Hispania.[22] Gaius Marius, consul in 104 BC, routed the joint coalition of Teutons and Ambrones near Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC, restoring stability to the province.[17]

Later history edit

Control of the province, which bordered directly on Italia, gave the Roman state several advantages: control of the land route between Italy and the Iberian peninsula; a territorial buffer against Gallic attacks on Italy; and control of the lucrative trade routes of the Rhône valley between Gaul and the markets of Massalia. It was from the capital of Narbonne that Julius Caesar began his Gallic Wars. Caesar rebuilt Narbo and built the cities of Forum Julium and Arles. Julius Caesar also granted many communities in Gallia Narbonensis citizenship.[3] In 49 BC, the city of Massalia sided with the Pompeians during the civil war. After the war ended, the city of Massalia lost all of its independence and was fully subject to Roman rule.[23]

In 40 BC, during the Second Triumvirate, Lepidus was given responsibility for Narbonese Gaul (along with Hispania and Africa), while Mark Antony was given the balance of Gaul.[24] After becoming Emperor, Augustus made Gallia Narbonensis a senatorial province governed by a proconsul.[1]

Diocletianic reforms edit

In the late third century AD, Diocletian reorganised the administration by merging the provinces of Gallia Narbonensis and Gallia Aquitania into a new administrative unit called the Diocese of Vienna (Dioecesis Viennensis), which later renamed the Diocese of the Seven Provinces (Dioecesis Septem Provinciarum), indicating that Diocletian had demoted the word "province" to mean a smaller subdivision than in traditional usage. In which the diocese consisted of provinces as follows:

Province Capital Towns
Narbonensis Prima Narbona
Narbonensis Secunda Aquae Sextiae
Viennensis Vienna

Galla Narbonensis and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom between AD 462 and 477, permanently ending Roman political control. After the Gothic takeover, the Visigothic dominions were to be generally known as Septimania, while to the east of the lower Rhone the term Provence came into use.

Economy edit

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Military edit

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Religion edit

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Notes edit

  1. ^ The name is also variously expressed as Narbonese or Narbonnese Gaul, Narbonian Gaul, and Narbonensian Gaul.

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d Bunson 2014, p. 230
  2. ^ Bowman, Alan K.; Champlin, Edward; Lintott, Andrew (1996-02-08). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-26430-3.
  3. ^ a b Riggsby, Andrew M. (2006-07-01). Caesar in Gaul and Rome: War in Words. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71303-1.
  4. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 9.
  5. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 27.
  6. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 17.
  7. ^ a b Rivet 1988, p. 32.
  8. ^ a b Rivet 1988, p. 43.
  9. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 38.
  10. ^ a b c d Rivet 1988, p. 40.
  11. ^ Burns 2003, p. 60.
  12. ^ a b Cleere 2001, p. 8.
  13. ^ a b c d e Rivet 1988, p. 41.
  14. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 42.
  15. ^ Boatwright, Gargola & Talbert 2004, p. 170.
  16. ^ Maddison 2007, p. 41.
  17. ^ a b Rivet 1988, p. 47.
  18. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 44.
  19. ^ Cleere 2001, p. 138.
  20. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 45.
  21. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 115.
  22. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 46.
  23. ^ Ebel, Charles (1976). Transalpine Gaul: The Emergence of a Roman Province. Brill Archive. ISBN 978-90-04-04384-8.
  24. ^ Boatwright, Gargola & Talbert 2004, p. 272.

References edit

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