Gallia Narbonensis (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
for "Gaul of
Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
located in what is now
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...
and
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
, in
Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the first
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
province north of the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
, and as Gallia Transalpina ("Transalpine Gaul"), distinguishing it from
Cisalpine Gaul in
Northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative region ...
. It became a Roman province in the late 2nd century BC. Gallia Narbonensis was bordered by the
Pyrenees Mountains on the west, the
Cévennes to the north, the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
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 a valuable part of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
, owing to the
Greek colony of
Massalia, its location between the Spanish provinces and Rome, and its financial output.
Names
The province of Gallia Transalpina ("Transalpine Gaul") was later renamed Gallia Narbonensis,
after its newly established capital of
Colonia Narbo Martius
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...
(colloquially known as Narbo, at the location of the modern
Narbonne), a
Roman colony
A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term '' colony''.
Character ...
founded on the coast in 118 BC. The name Gallia Narbonensis most likely originates in the Augustan era. Its first recorded use was in a
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
conducted by
Gnaeus Pullius Pollio
Gnaeus, also spelled Cnaeus, was a Roman praenomen derived from the Latin ''naevus'', a birthmark. It was a common name borne by many individuals throughout Roman history, including:
Individuals
* Gnaeus Acerronius Proculus, a consul of the Roma ...
.
The Romans had called it ''Provincia Nostra'' ("our province") or simply ''Provincia'' ("the province").
The term has survived in the modern name of
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
for the eastern part of the area (French ''
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
'', Occitan ''Provença''), now a
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
of France.
Founding
By the mid-2nd century BC,
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
was trading heavily with the
Greek colony of Massalia (modern
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
) on the southern coast of Gaul. Massalia, founded by colonists from
Phocaea, was by this point centuries old and quite prosperous. Rome entered into an alliance with Massalia, by which it agreed to protect the town from local
Gauls
The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They sp ...
, nearby
Aquitani, sea-borne
Carthaginians
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
and other rivals, in exchange for a small strip of land that it wanted in order to build a road to
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...
, to assist in troop transport. The Massalians, for their part, cared more for their economic prosperity than they did for territorial integrity.
During the war against
Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius (c. 126 – 73 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the ...
, Gallia Narbonensis was an important base for military activities. This was an important event in the Romanization of Narbonese Gaul, as it resulted in the Romans organizing the province.
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
The Arverni (Gaulish: *''Aruernoi'') were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Auvergne region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were one of the most powerful tribes of ancient Gaul, contesting primacy over the region with the n ...
and the
Allobroges. The area became a
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
in 121 BC,
following a great victory of the Roman general
Quintus Fabius Maximus (later additionally named Allobrogicus), who had campaigned in the area and
defeated the Allobroges and the Arverni under King
Bituitus at the Isère River. This defeat substantially weakened the Arverni and ensured the further security of Gallia Narbonensis.
The province had come into Roman control originally under the name Gallia Transalpina (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 Narbonne in 118 BC. At the same time, they built the
Via Domitia
The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now Southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, and ...
, the first Roman road in Gaul, connecting Gaul to Hispania, and the
Via Aquitania
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''. It then went toward the Atlantic Ocean, via Toulouse and Bordeaux, covering approximately .
...
, which led toward the Atlantic through Tolosa (Toulouse) and Burdigala (Bordeaux). 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, later called Gallia Narbonensis.
Later history
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
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
; a territorial buffer against
Gallic attacks on Italy; and control of the lucrative trade routes of the
Rhône
The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...
valley between Gaul and the markets of Massalia. It was from the capital of Narbonne that
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
began his
Gallic Wars
The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...
. Caesar rebuilt
Narbo and built the cities of
Forum Julium and
Arles
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...
. Julius Caesar also granted many communities in Gallia Narbonensis citizenship.
In 49 BC, the city of Massalia sided with the Pompeians during the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
. After the war ended, the city of Massalia lost all of its independence and was fully subject to Roman rule.
In 40 BC, during the
Second Triumvirate,
Lepidus was given responsibility for Narbonese Gaul (along with Hispania and Africa), while
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...
was given the balance of Gaul. After becoming
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
,
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
made Gallia Narbonensis a
senatorial province
A senatorial province ( la, provincia populi Romani, province of the Roman people) was a Roman province during the Principate where the Roman Senate had the right to appoint the governor ( proconsul). These provinces were away from the outer ...
governed by a
proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
.
Emperor
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
's administrative reorganization of the Empire in 314 merged the provinces Gallia Narbonensis and
Gallia Aquitania into a new administrative unit called ''Dioecesis Viennensis'' (Diocese of Vienne) with the capital more to the north in
Vienne. The new diocese's name was later changed to ''
Dioecesis Septem Provinciarum'' (Diocese of the Seven Provinces), 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
The Visigothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of the Goths ( la, Regnum Gothorum), was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to ...
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
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
came into use.
List of Proconsular governors of Gallia Narbonensis
(This list is based on A.L.F. Rivet, ''Gallia Narbonensis'' (London: Batsford, 1988), pp. 79, 86f.)
*
Gnaeus Pullius Pollio
Gnaeus, also spelled Cnaeus, was a Roman praenomen derived from the Latin ''naevus'', a birthmark. It was a common name borne by many individuals throughout Roman history, including:
Individuals
* Gnaeus Acerronius Proculus, a consul of the Roma ...
—between 18 and 16 BC
*
Titedius Labeo—under Tiberius
*
Manius Vibius Balbinus—15-17
*
Torquatus Novellius Atticus—30-34
*
Titus Mussidius Pollianus—34-37
*
Titus Vinius—under Nero
* L. V
..ius Bassus—c. 77
*
Gaius Iulius Cornutus Tertullus—before 78
*
Aulus Larcius Priscus—103-109
*
Marcus Acilius Priscus Egrilius Plarianus—118-120
*
Lucius Aninius Sextius Florentinus—c. 124
*
Lucius Aurelius Gallus—124-127
*
Lucius Novius Crispinus Martialis Saturninus Lucius Novius Crispinus Martialis Saturninus was a Roman senator of the second century. He was suffect consul in either 150 or 151 AD. His life is primarily known from inscriptions.
The ''cursus honorum'' of Crispinus can be reconstructed from an i ...
—144-5
*
Gaius Seius Calpurnius Quadratus Sittianus—before 150
*
Lucius Cestius Gallus—between 165 and 183
*
Gnaeus Cornelius Aquilius Niger—between 138 and 192
*
Lucius Fabius Cilo Septiminus Catinius Acilianus Lepidus Fulcinianus—between 180 and 192
* ...]dius T.f.—2nd century
*
Lucius Ranius Optatus Novatus—between 197 and 214
* ''Ignotus'', allegedly killed for supporting
Geta—c. 210
* ...]us—between 210 and 230
*
Tiberius Claudius Paulinus—216-217
*
Gaius Aemilius Berenicianus Maximus—between 222 and 235
*
Iulianus—between 222 and 235
* C. Seius Calpurnius Quadratus Sittianus—middle 3rd century
Notes
References
Further reading
*
{{Coord, 44.0000, N, 4.0000, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Provinces of Roman Gaul
History of Narbonne
Provence
Former countries in French history
121 BC
120s BC establishments
2nd-century BC establishments
2nd-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic
5th-century disestablishments
5th-century disestablishments in the Roman Empire
States and territories established in the 2nd century BC
States and territories disestablished in the 5th century
Provinces of the Roman Republic
France in the Roman era