Arles

Arles began as a Greek trading post, became a Roman colony rewarded by Caesar, rose to imperial capital under Constantine, and transformed into a pilgrimage gateway. Dante and Ariosto wrote of its dead; Van Gogh and Gauguin painted its light.

The site was settled before history recorded it. Greeks called it Theline. Gallic tribes took it and named it Arelate. When Rome's civil war divided the Mediterranean, Arles chose Julius Caesar while Marseille chose Pompey. Caesar won, punished Marseille, rewarded Arles. Veterans of the Sixth Legion settled there. The Romans built to civilize: amphitheatre for spectacle, theatre for drama, forum for civic life, baths for bodily culture, roads for connection. Arles became 'Little Rome of the Gauls,' a model of what conquered territory could become. Then Christianity transformed everything. The martyrdom of Genesius in 303 CE and the legend of Christ's personal appearance to consecrate his burial place made the Alyscamps one of Europe's most desired cemeteries. Bodies arrived by boat down the Rhône. The wealthy paid for burial near the saints. Constantine made Arles an imperial residence; church councils met to define orthodoxy. When medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela ordered Christian geography, Arles became a starting point. The church of Saint-Trophime—named for the legendary first bishop, disciple of Paul—sent pilgrims west with the Last Judgment carved above the door.