Gallia Narbonensis

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Provincia Gallia Narbonensis

Province of the Roman Empire

123 BC–5th century

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The province of Gallia Narbonensis within the Roman Empire, c. 117 AD

Capital

Narbo Martius

Historical era

Antiquity

Established

123 BC

Visigothic conquest

5th century

Today part of

France

Italy

Monaco

The Roman Provinces in Gaul around 58 BC; note that the coastline shown here is the modern one, different from the ancient coastline in some parts of the English Channel

The Roman Province of Gallia Narbonensis in 20 BC

Gallia Narbonensis (English: Narbonensian Gaul, from the chief settlement of Narbonne) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Gallia Transalpina (Transalpine Gaul), which was originally a designation for that part of Gaul lying across the Alps from Cisalpine Italia and it contained a western region known as Septimania. It became a Roman province in the late 2nd century BC, constituting the first significant Roman territory outside of Italy. Its boundaries were roughly defined by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Cévennes and Alps to the north and west.

Names

The province of Gallia Transalpina (Transalpine Gaul) was later renamed Gallia Narbonensis, after its newly established capital of Narbo Martius (Narbonne), a Roman colony founded on the coast in 118 BC. The Romans had called it Provincia Nostra ("our province") or simply Provincia ("the province"), being the first significant permanent conquest outside the Italian peninsula. The term has survived in the modern French name of the eastern part of the area, Provence, now a région of France.

Founding

By the mid-2nd century BC, Rome was trading heavily with the Greek colony of Massalia (modern Marseille) on the southern coast of Gaul. Massalia, founded by colonists from Phocaea, was by this point centuries old and quite prosperous. Rome entered into an alliance with Massalia, by which it agreed to protect the town from local Gauls, nearby Aquitani, sea-borne Carthaginians and other rivals, in exchange for a small strip of land that it wanted in order to build a road to Hispania, to assist in troop transport. The Massalians, for their part, cared more for their economic prosperity than they did for territorial integrity. In this strip of land, the Romans founded the town of Narbonne, which turned out to be a major trading competitor with Massalia. It was from this that the province of Transalpine Gaul was founded.

During this period, the Mediterranean settlements on the coast were threatened by the powerful Gallic tribes to the north, especially the tribes known as the Arverni and the Allobroges. In 123 BC, the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus (later additionally named Allobrogicus) campaigned in the area and defeated the Allobroges and the Arverni under king Bituitus. This defeat substantially weakened the Arverni and ensured the further security of Gallia Narbonensis.

Later history

Bordering directly on Italia, control of the province gave the Roman state several advantages, such as control of the land route between Italy and the Iberian peninsula; a buffer against attacks on Italy by tribes from Gaul; and control of the lucrative trade routes of the Rhône valley, over which commercial goods flowed between Gaul and the trading center of Massalia. It was from the capital of Narbonne that Julius Caesar began his Gallic Wars.

The area became a Roman province in 121 BCE, originally under the name of Gallia Transalpina (Transalpine Gaul). This name was chosen to distinguish it from Cisalpine Gaul, the part of Gaul on the near side of the Alps to Rome. In 40 BCE, during the Second Triumvirate, Lepidus was given responsibility for Narbonese Gaul (along with Hispania and Africa), while Mark Antony was given the balance of Gaul.^[1]

Emperor Diocletian's administrative reorganization of the Empire in c. 314 CE merged Gallia Narbonensis with Gallia Aquitania into a new province called Dioecesis Viennensis (Diocese of Vienne) with the capital more to the north in Vienne. The new province's name was later changed to Dioecesis Septem Provinciarum (Diocese of the Seven Provinces), revealing that the word "province" had been demoted in Diocletian's reforms to mean smaller subdivisions than traditional usage.

Galla Narbonensis and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom between 462 and 477 CE, permanently ending Roman political control. After the Gothic takeover, the Visigothic dominions were to be generally known as Septimania, while to the east of the lower Rhone the term Provence came into use.

References

↑ Boatwright et al., The Romans, From Village to Empire, p.272 ISBN 978-0-19-511876-6

Badian, E. “Notes on Provincia Gallia in the Late Republic.” In Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire offerts à André Piganiol, vol. 2. Edited by Raymond Chevallier. Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N., 1966.
Dietler, Michael. Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.
Drinkwater, J.F. Roman Gaul: The Three Provinces, 58 B.C.–A.D. 260. Cornell University Press, 1983.
Ebel, Charles. Transalpine Gaul: The Emergence of a Roman Province. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1976. Limited preview online.
Ebel, Charles. “Southern Gaul in the Triumviral Period: A Critical Stage of Romanization.” American Journal of Philology 109 (1988) 572–590.
Fevrier, Paul-Albert. “The Origin and Growth of the Cities of Southern Gaul to the Third Century A.D.: An Assessment of the Most Recent Archaeological Discoveries.” Journal of Roman Studies 63 (1973) 1–28.
Rivet, A.L.F. Gallia Narbonensis: Southern France in Roman Times. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1988.
Woolf, Greg. Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Limited preview online.

v t e Provinces of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent (117 AD)

Achaea Aegyptus Africa Alpes Cottiae Alpes Maritimae Alpes Poeninae Arabia Petraea Armenia Asia Assyria Bithynia et Pontus Britannia Cappadocia Cilicia Corsica et Sardinia Creta et Cyrenaica Cyprus Dacia Dalmatia Epirus Galatia Gallia Aquitania Gallia Belgica Gallia Lugdunensis Gallia Narbonensis Germania Inferior Germania Superior Hispania Baetica Hispania Tarraconensis Italia Iudaea Lusitania Lycia et Pamphylia Macedonia Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Tingitana Mesopotamia Moesia Inferior Moesia Superior Noricum Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Superior Raetia Sicilia Syria Thracia

Late Roman provinces (4th–7th centuries AD)

History

As found in the Notitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed and dioceses established by Diocletian, c. 293. Permanent praetorian prefectures established after the death of Constantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by the theme system in c. 640–660, although in Asia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.

Western Empire (395–476)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Gaul

Diocese of Gaul	Alpes Poeninae et Graiae Belgica I Belgica II Germania I Germania II Lugdunensis I Lugdunensis II Lugdunensis III Lugdunensis IV Maxima Sequanorum

Diocese of Vienne¹	Alpes Maritimae Aquitanica I Aquitanica II Narbonensis I Narbonensis II Novempopulania Viennensis

Diocese of Spain	Baetica Balearica Carthaginensis Gallaecia Lusitania Mauretania Tingitana Tarraconensis

Diocese of Britain	Britannia I Britannia II Flavia Caesariensis Maxima Caesariensis Valentia (369)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Italy

Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy	Apulia et Calabria Campania Corsica Lucania et Bruttii Picenum Suburbicarium Samnium Sardinia Sicilia Tuscia et Umbria Valeria

Diocese of Annonarian Italy	Alpes Cottiae Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium Liguria et Aemilia Raetia I Raetia II Venetia et Istria

Diocese of Africa²	Africa proconsularis (Zeugitana) Byzacena Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Sitifensis Numidia Cirtensis Numidia Militiana Tripolitania

Diocese of Pannonia³	Dalmatia Noricum mediterraneum Noricum ripense Pannonia I Pannonia II Savia Valeria ripensis

Eastern Empire (395–c.640)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Illyricum

Diocese of Dacia	Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Ripensis Dardania Moesia I Praevalitana

Diocese of Macedonia	Achaea Creta Epirus nova Epirus vetus Macedonia I Macedonia II Salutaris Thessalia

Praetorian Prefecture
of the East

Diocese of Thrace⁵	Europa Haemimontus Moesia II⁴ Rhodope Scythia⁴ Thracia

Diocese of Asia⁵	Asia Caria⁴ Hellespontus Insulae⁴ Lycaonia (370) Lycia Lydia Pamphylia Pisidia Phrygia Pacatiana Phrygia Salutaria

Diocese of Pontus⁵	Armenia I⁵ Armenia II⁵ Armenia Maior⁵ Armenian Satrapies⁵ Armenia III (536) Armenia IV (536) Bithynia Cappadocia I⁵ Cappadocia II⁵ Galatia I⁵ Galatia II Salutaris⁵ Helenopontus⁵ Honorias⁵ Paphlagonia⁵ Pontus Polemoniacus⁵

Diocese of the East⁵	Arabia Cilicia I Cilicia II Cyprus⁴ Euphratensis Isauria Mesopotamia Osroene Palaestina I Palaestina II Palaestina III Salutaris Phoenice I Phoenice II Libanensis Syria I Syria II Salutaris Theodorias (528)

Diocese of Egypt⁵	Aegyptus I Aegyptus II Arcadia Augustamnica I Augustamnica II Libya Superior Libya Inferior Thebais Superior Thebais Inferior

Other territories

Taurica Quaestura exercitus (536) Spania (552)

¹ Later the Septem Provinciae.
² Re-established after reconquest by the Eastern Empire in 534 as the separate Prefecture of Africa
³ Later the Diocese of Illyricum.
⁴ Joined the Quaestura exercitus in 536.
⁵ Affected (i.e. boundaries modified, abolished or renamed) by Justinian I's administrative reorganization in 534–536.

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Gallia Narbonensis

Names

Founding

Later history

References

Further reading