The Massalians also established a series of small colonies and trading posts along the

coast; which later became towns; they founded Citharista (La Ciotat); Tauroeis (Le
Brusc); Olbia (nearHyres); Pergantion (Breganson); Caccabaria (Cavalaire); Athenopolis (S
aint-Tropez); Antipolis (Antibes); Nikaia (Nice), and Monoicos (Monaco). They established
inland towns at Glanum(Saint-Remy) and Mastrabala (Saint-Blaise.)
The most famous citizen of Massalia was the mathematician, astronomer and
navigator Pytheas. Pytheas made mathematical instruments which allowed him to
establish almost exactly the latitude of Marseille, and he was the first scientist to observe
that the tides were connected with the phases of the moon. Between 330 and 320 BC he
organised an expedition by ship into the Atlantic and as far north as England, and to
visit Iceland, Shetland, and Norway. He was the first scientist to describe drift ice and the
midnight sun. Though he hoped to establish a sea trading route for tin from Cornwall, his
trip was not a commercial success, and it was not repeated. The Massalians found it
cheaper and simpler to trade with Northern Europe over land routes.[16]

Roman Provence (2nd century BC to 5th century AD)[edit]

Triumphal Arch of Orange, first century AD

The Roman arena at Arles (2nd century AD)

The baptistery of Frjus Cathedral (5th century) is still in use

In the 2nd century BC the people of Massalia appealed to Rome for help against the
Ligures. Roman legions entered Provence three times; first in 181 BC the Romans

suppressed Ligurian uprisings near Genoa; in 154 BC the Roman Consul Optimus defeated
the Oxybii and the Deciates, who were attacking Antibes; and in 125 BC, the Romans put
down an uprising of a confederation of Celtic tribes.[17] After this battle, the Romans
decided to establish permanent settlements in Provence. In 122 BC, next to the Celtic town
of Entremont, the Romans built a new town, Aquae Sextiae, later called Aix-en-Provence. In
118 BC they founded Narbo (Narbonne).
The Roman general Gaius Marius crushed the last serious resistance in 102 BC by
defeating the Cimbri and the Teutons. He then began building roads to facilitate troop
movements and commerce between Rome, Spain and Northern Europe; one from the coast
inland to Apt and Tarascon, and the other along the coast from Italy to Spain, passing
through Frjus and Aix-en-Provence.
In 49 BC, Massalia had the misfortune to choose the wrong side in the power struggle
between Pompey and Julius Caesar. Pompey was defeated, and Massalia lost its territories
and political influence. Roman veterans, in the meantime, populated two new towns, Arles
and Frjus, at the sites of older Greek settlements.
In 8 BC the Emperor Augustus built a triumphal monument at La Turbie to commemorate
the pacification of the region, and he began to Romanize Provence politically and
culturally. Roman engineers and architects built monuments, theatres, baths, villas, fora,
arenas and aqueducts, many of which still exist. (See Architecture of Provence.) Roman
towns were built at Cavaillon; Orange; Arles; Frjus; Glanum (outside Saint-Rmy-deProvence); Carpentras; Vaison-la-Romaine; Nmes; Verngues; Saint-Chamas and Cimiez (a
bove Nice). The Roman province, which was calledGallia Narbonensis, for its capital, Narbo
(modern Narbonne), extended from Italy to Spain, from the Alps to the Pyrenees.
The Pax Romana in Provence lasted until the middle of the 3rd century. Germanic tribes
invaded Provence in 257 and 275. At the beginning the 4th century, the court of Roman
Emperor Constantine (280337) was forced to take refuge in Arles. By the end of the 5th
century, Roman power in Provence had vanished, and an age of invasions, wars, and chaos
began.

Arrival of Christianity (3rd6th centuries)[edit]

There are many legends about the earliest Christians in Provence, but they are difficult to
verify. It is documented that there were organised churches and bishops in the Roman
towns of Provence as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries; in Arles in 254; Marseille in
314; Orange, Vaison and Apt in 314; Cavaillon,Digne, Embrun, Gap, and Frjus at the end
of the 4th century; Aix-en-Provence in 408; Carpentras, Avignon, Riez, Cimiez (today part
of Nice) and Vence in 439; Antibes in 442; Toulon in 451; Senez in 406, Saint-Paul-TroisChteaux in 517; and Glandves in 541.[18] The oldest Christian structure still surviving in
Provence is the baptistery of the cathedral in Frjus, dating from the 5th century. At about
the same time, in the 5th century, the first two monasteries in Provence were
founded; Lrins, on an island near Cannes; and Saint-Victor in Marseille.

Germanic invasions, Merovingians and Carolingians (5th9th

centuries)[edit]

King Boson and San Stephen(fragment of fresco at Charlieu Abbey)

Beginning in the second half of the 5th century, as Roman power waned, successive waves
of Germanic tribes entered Provence; first the Visigoths (480); then the Ostrogoths; then
the Burgundians; finally, the Franks in the 6th century. Arab invaders and Berber pirates
came from North Africa to the Coast of Provence in the beginning of the 7th century.
During the late 7th and early 8th century, Provence was formally suzerain to the Frankish
kings of Merovingian dynasty, but it was in fact ruled by its own regional nobility of GalloRoman stock, who ruled themselves according to Roman, not Frankish law. Actually, the
region enjoyed a prestige that the northern Franks hadn't, but the local aristocracy feared
Charles Martel's expansionist ambitions.[19] In 737 Charles Martel headed down the Rhne
Valley after subduing Burgundy. Charles attacked Avignon and Arles, garrisoned by
the Umayyads. He came back in 739 to capture for a second time Avignon and chase the
duke Maurontus to his stronghold of Marseille.[20] The city was brought to heel and the
duke had to flee to an island. The region was thereafter under the rule
of Carolingian Kings, descended from Charles Martel; and then was part of the empire
of Charlemagne (742814).
In 879, after the death of the Carolingian ruler Charles the Bald, Boso of Provence, (also
known as Boson), his brother-in-law, broke away from the Carolingian kingdom of Louis
III and was elected the first ruler of an independent state of Provence.