Wanting to see as much of the South of France as possible during their stay, Annie, Bob, and I boarded the train, yet again, this time with the destination being Orange.
We didn't have a lot of time so our focus was on Roman Orange, which was founded in 35 BC as Arausio (after the local Celtic water god). It was the capital of a wide area of northern Provence, which was parceled up into lots for the Roman colonists. "Orange of two thousand years ago was a miniature Rome, complete with many of the public buildings that would have been familiar to a citizen of the Roman Empire, except that the scale of the buildings had been reduced – a smaller theater to accommodate a smaller population, for example."The town expanded around the Roman monuments for which it is famous. Our first visit was to the semicircular theater, probably built during the reign of Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE). It is the best preserved of its kind.The tiered benches, which rise on the slopes of a slight hill, originally seated 5,800 up to 7,300. The magnificent wall that constitutes the back of the theater is 334 feet long and 124 feet high. An imposing statue of Augustus, about 12 feet high, stands in the wall’s central niche.Playing a major role in the life of the citizens, who spent a large part of their free time there, the theater was seen by the Roman authorities not only as a means of spreading Roman culture to the colonies, but also as a way of distracting them from all political activities. This had to have been an active place. Look how worn the stone step is. Wow.Mime, pantomime, poetry readings and the attelana (a kind of farce rather like the commedia dell'arte) were the dominant forms of entertainment, much of which lasted all day. For the common people, who were fond of spectacular effects, magnificent stage sets became very important, as was the use of stage machinery. The entertainment offered was open to all and free of charge.After a delicious al fresco lunch, and wanting to know more, we toured the Museum of Art and History. Housed in a private, 17th century mansion, we ogled its priceless treasures which were discovered during archaeological excavations of the theater.Turns out, graffiti has been around a very long time.Orange also has a triumphal arch that is one of the largest built by the Romans. It is about 61 feet high and has fine sculptures evoking the victories in the 1st century BCE of the Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar.Each façade has four semi-engaged Corinthian columns. The arch is the oldest surviving example of a design that was used later in Rome itself, for the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Arch of Constantine. The visible pocks or holes are supposedly left by practicing medieval crossbowmen with little appreciation for art or history.The arch is decorated with various reliefs of military themes, including naval battles, spoils of war and Romans battling Germanics and Gauls.We didn't get to see all we had hoped but we did see enough to learn about the local Roman history and to know that we would like to return again to see even more.
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1 comments:
Orange you glad you didn't go to banana?
Looks like such an amazingly well preserved Roman town!
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