Gallia Narbonensis

Coordinates: 44°00′00″N 4°00′00″E / 44.0000°N 4.0000°E / 44.0000; 4.0000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Narbonese Gaul
)
Province of Gallia Narbonensis
Provincia Gallia Narbonensis
Narbo Martius
Historical eraAntiquity
• Established
121 BC[1]
• Visigothic conquest
5th century
Succeeded by
Visigothic Kingdom
Today part ofFrance
Italy
Monaco
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.
Gallia Narbonensis can be seen in the south of modern-day France as a Roman province.

Gallia Narbonensis (

Rhone catchment. The western region of Gallia Narbonensis was known as Septimania. The province was a valuable part of the Roman Empire, owing to the Greek colony and later Roman Civitas of Massalia, its location between the Spanish provinces and Rome, and its financial output.[2]

Names

The province of Gallia Transalpina ("Transalpine Gaul") was later renamed Gallia Narbonensis,

region
of France.

Founding

By the mid-2nd century BC, Rome was trading heavily with the Greek colony of Massalia (modern Marseille) 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, nearby Aquitani, sea-borne Carthaginians and other rivals, in exchange for a small strip of land that it wanted in order to build a road to Hispania, to assist in troop transport. The Massalians, for their part, cared more for their economic prosperity than they did for territorial integrity.[citation needed]

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 and the Allobroges. In the First Transalpine War (125–121 BCE),[5] the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus (later additionally named Allobrogicus) campaigned in the area and defeated the Allobroges and the Arverni under king Bituitus in the Battle of the Isère River. This defeat substantially weakened the Arverni and ensured the further security of Gallia Narbonensis. The area became a Roman province in 121 BCE.[1]

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.[citation needed] 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 first Roman road in Gaul, connecting Gaul to Hispania, and the Via Aquitania, 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.[citation needed]

During the Sertorian War (80–72 BCE) against the breakaway state of former Roman senator and general Sertorius, 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.[citation needed]

Later history

Control of the province, which bordered directly on

civil war. After the war ended, the city of Massalia lost all of its independence and was fully subject to Roman rule.[6]

In 40 BC, during the

Emperor Diocletian's administrative reorganization of the Empire in c. AD 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 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.

List of proconsular governors of Gallia Narbonensis

(This list is based on A.L.F. Rivet, Gallia Narbonensis (London: Batsford, 1988), pp. 79, 86f.)

Notes

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

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ .
  5. ^ Webster, Jane (1996). "Ethnographic barbarity: colonial discourse and 'Celtic warrior societies'.". In Cooper, Nick (ed.). Roman Imperialism: Post-Colonial Perspectives (PDF). School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester. pp. 117–118. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  6. .
  7. ^ CIL XIV, 2831

Further reading

44°00′00″N 4°00′00″E / 44.0000°N 4.0000°E / 44.0000; 4.0000