It is a very solid three doorway whose decor evokes the omnipotence of Rome building. The Arc of Orange erected north of the city, 70 meters high at the north of the wall. 9000 spectators could attend tragedies, comedies but also to dance, acrobatics and juggling. Designed to accommodate the Gallo-Roman public, it was a place for the dissemination of culture and the Roman language. It has all the components of the Latin Theatre by Vitruvius: the cavea (semicircular tiers), side access and stage wall flanked parascenia. Built at the beginning of the Christian era, it owes its reputation to the remarkable preservation of its stage wall. Orange became an independent county in the 11th century and later passed to the House of Nassau.Įxceptional witness of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ancient theater of Orange is the best preserved in Europe. This because the Church opposed what it regarded as uncivilized spectacles. As the Roman Empire declined during the 4th century, by which time Christianity had become the official religion, the theatre was closed by official edict in 391 AD. The amphitheatre, probably built during the reign of Augustus (27 BC), is the best preserved of its kind.
It is a fact that one of the great Roman roads, the “Via Agrippa”, connecting Lyon to Arles, passed on the land, close to the Rhône, between Châteauneuf, Sorgues and Orange.Īrausio expanded around the existing Roman remnants for which this area is famous. These include clay, glass, bronze and iron objects, as well are bones, jewelry and coins in bronze, which were found in a vineyard in Châteauneuf in the lieu-dit Bois Sénéchal (in the eastern sector). Various objects from Roman times have been discovered in this area.
Thus Orange hosted the veterans of the Second Legion who also settled in the territories of Mondragon, Uchaux and in the hills of Châteauneuf. In recognition of service, veterans received plots of land. During the Roman Empire, 120 BC to AD 476, the village farms, and large rural holdings increased. Orange was the capital of a wide area of northern Provence, which was parceled up into lots for the Roman colonists. A major battle, which is known as the Battle of Arausio, was fought in 105 BC between two Roman armies and the Cimbri and Teutones tribes.
Previous Celtic settlements existed in and around Orange.
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