Nimes

Colony founded by the emperor Augustus in southern Gaul (France), originally a Celtic settlement (capital of the Volcae Arecomici). It became a colony in 121 BC and the walls and gates were built by Augustus; in Roman times one of the richest towns of Gaul. Remains include an amphitheater designed by Titus Crisius Reburrus which holds 24,000 people; the Maison Carrée, a temple from the 1st century BC, and part of the colony's aqueduct, Pont du Gard, built by Agrippa. Maison Carée was a rectangular temple 82 ft (25 m) long by 40 ft (12 m) wide, dedicated to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, adopted sons of the first Roman emperor Augustus, and is one of the most beautiful monuments built by the Romans in Gaul, and certainly the best preserved. The Tour Magne, on top of a hill just outside the city, is the oldest Roman building, 92 ft high, but probably originally higher. Its original function is not known, but it was incorporated into the Roman wall in 16 BC. Nimes seems to have achieved its greatest prosperity somewhere around the end of the 2nd century AD. In the 5th century, Nîmes was plundered by the Vandals and the Visigoths. It was later occupied by the Saracens (Arabs), who were driven out in 737.

[Roman Nemausus]. Important town of Roman Gallia Narbonensis (see Gaul) in southern France and at one time possibly its capital. Earlier, Nemausus had been a Celtic settlement, capital of the Volcae Arecomici, and associated with the shrine of a water-deity. The title Nemausus preserves the name of this deity. Under Roman control since 120 bc, the town was given colonia status by Augustus, who is credited with the construction of its walls (cf the so-called Porte d’Auguste). Increased importance came with Antoninus Pius, who had family connections with the area, and the city seems to achieve its greatest prosperity somewhere around the end of the 2nd century ad. By the middle of the 4th century, however, occupation appears to have ceased over a large area. Impressive remains from the Roman imperial period include the Tour Magne, an Augustan-period structure of unusual design and uncertain function, being an octagon with internal staircase and semicircular rooms; the Maison Carrée, a fine, CoRiNTHiAN-order temple of a pseudo-peripteral type (i.e. the columns of the peristyle are engaged in the wall of the cella) which is now used as a museum, but has seen service variously as a fort and as an Augustinian church; the amphitheatre (Les Arenes); and, at the Fountain Sanctuary, an odd nymphaeum and the barrel-vaulted Temple of Diana. The Augustan period also saw the construction of an aqueduct for the city, built by Agrippa (Augustus’ son-in-law), a portion of which is still extant; see Pont du Gard.