Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis was a
Roman province located in what is now
Languedoc and
Provence, in southern
France. It had previously been known as Gallia Transalpina . The Romans called it
Provincia Nostra or simply
Provincia , a name which has survived in the modern name of the region,
Provence.
Bordering directly on
Italy, 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 Rhone valley, over which commercial goods flowed between Gaul and the trading center of
Massalia, modern Marseille.
Encyclopedia
Gallia Narbonensis was a
Roman province located in what is now
Languedoc and
Provence, in southern
France. It had previously been known as
Gallia Transalpina . The Romans called it
Provincia Nostra or simply
Provincia , a name which has survived in the modern name of the region,
Provence.
Bordering directly on
Italy, 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
Rhone valley, over which commercial goods flowed between Gaul and the trading center of
Massalia, modern Marseille.
History
The area became a
Roman province in 121 BC, originally under the name of
Gallia Transalpina . This name was chosen to distinguish it from Cisalpine Gaul. Transalpine means "the far side of the
Alps", while Cisalpine means "this side of the Alps". Cisalpine Gaul was on the east of the Alps range, in what is now northern Italy and parts of France; while Transalpine Gaul was to the west, in what is now south-east France. Together, the regions made up the region of
Gaul, which was called
Gallia by the Romans.
The province of
Gallia Transalpina was later renamed
Gallia Narbonensis, after its capital the Roman colony of
Narbo Martius , which was founded on the coast in 118 BC.
