Exhibit |
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Collection title
JT soir Marseille
First broadcast date
11/08/2009
Abstract
The report runs through the exhibit held at the departmental Museum of Ancient Arles. The 700 objects taken out the Rhone make appreciate the activity and the richness of Arles during the Roman time. These items, resulting from twenty-two years of excavations, evoke admiration of visitors, starting with the exceptional bust considered one of Julius Caesar.
Production companies
-
France 3 - Own production
Secondary themes
- Historical heritages / Antiquity
Map locations
- France - South East - Arles
Context
Mediterranean Landmarks
The exhibition which started in October 2009 will be extended till January 2011, due to its remarkable success. It comports 700 pieces, the result of 22 years of excavations in the Rhones organized by the Department of sub aquatic and sub- marine archeological researches (DSSMAR).
The exhibition shows objects from everyday life thrown into the river by the habitants. Here, you can find commercial tools (such as a scale), amphora, and vestiges of boat wrecks. It reminds us about the great commercial role that this city enjoyed in ancient times thanks to its location near the mouth of the Rhone.
Since the VII century BC, the indigenous people here were having commercial relations with Carthage, Etruscan, then Greek seamen. But it was not till the Romans time this activity had such magnitude. In the II century BC, Arles was integrated within the Narbonensis province. The Romans dug the Fos canal in Arles and the city hence became a river and maritime port, making it an international center for the redistribution of merchandise.
Its port extended on two banks, linked together by a bridge of boats. The site which is today submerged was the Ostium metapinum, later called Rhône de Saint-Ferréol. Some powerful corporations mentioned in old inscription and on the bases of statues were in charge of moving and transferring the merchandise from one boat to another.
The city was certainly prosper, it was located in the heart of a vast agricultural land, it had shipyards, and exported oil, wine, and wheat. It was a necessary passage between the Mediterranean and Lyon, making it an advanced post of the Northern Empire.
That strategic location and wealth may explain the importance of the stuff found down the river. The city became a Roman colony in 49, and to reward it for siding with Rome against Marseille, its habitants became Roman citizen. Therefore the city had all the urban aspects and monuments of a Roman city with triumphal arches and theaters, etc.
some architectural vestiges were also found down the river and shown in the exhibition (such as capitals, pedestals, columns) as well as statutes like a 1.8 m marble statute of Neptune, a marble head of Jules Cesar, the founding father of the Roman colony of Arles.
However this spectacular identification that largely helped in the success of the exhibition is challenged by a part of the scientific society.
The rich heritage of Arles made it crucial to create a unique place which gathers archeological collections in the city. The idea proposed by the Arles museums curator Jean-Maurice Rouquette became a reality in 1995, the museum of acient Arles opened its doors in 1995.
References:
Historiens & Géographes n°412, novembre 2010, file « Arles and its region ».
Luc LONG and Pascale PICARD dir, César, le Rhône pour mémoire. Vingt ans de fouilles dans le fleuve à Arles (Czar, the Rhone in the memory, 20 years of search in the River of Arles) Arles, Actes Sud, 2009 (catalogue of the exhibition)
internet site: