page_title: Nîmes
section_title: Roman period
hierarchical_section_title: Nîmes / History / Roman period
caption_attribution_description: Español: Arena de Nimes
context_page_description: Nîmes is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 151,001.
  Dubbed the most Roman city outside Italy, Nîmes has a rich history dating back to the Roman Empire when the city was a regional capital, and home to 50,000–60,000 people. Several famous monuments are in Nîmes, such as the Arena of Nîmes and the Maison Carrée. Because of this, Nîmes is often referred to as the French Rome.
context_section_description: The city arose on the important Via Domitia which connected Italy with Hispania.
  Nîmes became a Roman colony as Colonia Nemausus sometime before 28 BC, as witnessed by the earliest coins, which bear the abbreviation NEM. COL, "Colony of Nemausus". Veterans of Julius Caesar's legions in his Nile campaigns were given plots of land to cultivate on the plain of Nîmes.
  Augustus started a major building program in the city, as elswhere in the empire. He also gave the town a ring of ramparts 6 km (3.7 miles) long, reinforced by 14 towers; two gates remain today: the Porta Augusta and the Porte de France.
  The Maison Carrée dating from the late 1st c. BC is one of the best-preserved temples to be found anywhere in the former Roman Empire, and appears to be almost totally intact.
  The great Nimes Aqueduct, many of whose remains can be seen today outside of the city, was built to bring water from the hills to the north. Where it crossed the River Gard between Uzès and Remoulins, the spectacular Pont du Gard was built. This is 20 km (12 mi) north east of the city.  
  The museum contains many fine objects including mosaic floors, frescoes and sculpture from rich houses and buildings found in excavations in and near the city. It is known that the town had a civil basilica, a curia, a gymnasium and perhaps a circus. The amphitheatre is very well preserved, dates from the end of the 2nd century and was one of the largest amphitheatres in the Empire. The so-called Temple of Diana dating from Augustus and rebuilt in the 2nd century was not a temple but was centred on a nymphaeum located within the Fontaine Sanctuary dedicated to Augustus and may have been a library.
  The city was the birthplace of the family of emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161).
  Emperor Constantine (306-337) endowed the city with baths.
  It became the seat of the Diocesan Vicar, the chief administrative officer of southern Gaul.
  The town was prosperous until the end of the 3rd century when successive barbarian invasions slowed its development. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the nearby town of Arles enjoyed more prosperity. In the early 5th century the Praetorian Prefecture was moved from Trier in northeast Gaul to Arles.
  The Visigoths captured the city in 472.
caption: Amphitheatre used today for concerts and bullfights
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4160", "Image ImageLength": "2080", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2019:09:02 20:12:07", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "308", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[43, 50, 28087/10000]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[4, 21, 180677/5000]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "96", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[10, 50, 9]", "GPS GPSDate": "2018:09:15", "Image GPSInfo": "5952", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6242", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5241", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1452", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:09:15 12:50:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:09:15 12:50:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1313/125", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2526069/1000000", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "0", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "51/25", "EXIF SubSecTime": "110568", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "110568", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "110568", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "672", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5920", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}