Arles

Sister cities

• Jerez de la Frontera
• Vercelli
• Fulda
• Pskov
• Sagne
• Wisbech
• York
• Kalymnos
• Verviers

History

The Ligurians were in this area from about 800 BC. Later Celtic influences have also been discovered. The city became an important Greek (from Massalia) and Phoenician trading port, before it was taken over by the Romans. In the 6th century BCE, Greek merchants sailed up the Rhône river, 38 km north of the Mediterranean coast discovering a hill surrounded by wetland marshes and inhabited by a small tribe of Ligures. Archaelogical digs have shown they used greek furniture, indicating Arles was established as a Greek trading base. Arelate means "town by the marsh". The Greeks had already founded Marseille (Massalia) and the Greek merchants saw potential in this new site. Arles was on a geographical important location, the first place to cross the Rhône from the sea. It also was at the intersection of major trade routes, and the main route from Italy to Spain. The Romans took the town in 123 BC and expanded it into an important city. They built a canal link to the Mediterranean Sea in 104 BC. Arles had to compete with Massalia (Marseille) further along the coast. The recently discovered republican House of the Harpist is an exceptional example of ancient architecture and interior decoration. Dating from 70-50 BC, it has yielded elaborate frescoes. Arles' leaders sided with Julius Caesar against Pompey, providing military support. Massalia backed Pompey; when Caesar emerged victorious, Massalia was stripped of its possessions, which were transferred to Arelate as a reward. The town was formally established as a colony for veterans of the Roman legion Legio VI Ferrata, which had its base there. Its full title as a colony was Colonia Iulia Paterna Arelatensium Sextanorum, "the ancestral Julian colony of Arles of the soldiers of the Sixth." Arelate was a city of…

Geography

The river Rhône forks into two branches just upstream of Arles, forming the Camargue delta. Because the Camargue is for a large part administratively part of Arles, the commune as a whole is the largest in Metropolitan France. Over seven times greater in area than Paris, Arles occupies and has a population of 51,156. In addition to the city proper in the north of the territory, the commune of Arles includes a number of outlying towns and hamlets, including Albaron, Gageron, Mas-Thibert, Moulès, Pont-de-Crau, Raphèle-lès-Arles, Saliers, Salin-de-Giraud and Le Sambuc.