WEBVTT - generated by WebTV Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry

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Arles, which became a Roman colony under Julius
Caesar in 46 BC

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is an ancient city that became heavily Romanised,
as evidenced by its prestigious buildings.

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Arles or Arelate literally means "marshland
dwelling" in Celto-Ligurian.

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With the civil wars, the Roman Republic came
to an end.

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Exhausted by the interminable conflicts that
tore Rome apart,

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the veterans of the Sixth Legion settled in
Arles

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where Caesar demobilised them and granted land
to each of them.

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But even more than on the surface,

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it was at the bottom of the Rhône on the right
bank

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that Luc Long and his teams sought out and
catalogued the forgotten riches of the famous
Roman civilisation.

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-So, for all these years I've been carrying
out these excavations with professional divers

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student divers who are also archaeologists
and who excavate with me

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and also some archaeologists who don't dive

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who are terrestrial and who carry out with
me the research on the material that we extract
from the river,

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and so during the excavation everything is
studied practically ready for the report and
published very quickly.

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-I work here on the Luc Long excavations, and
I'm in charge of the inventory and study of
all the furniture

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all the objects that are discovered during
the excavations, and it's on the basis of the
study of these objects,

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all these amphorae, all these pieces of ancient
crockery that we can reconstruct or try to
reconstruct ancient trade.

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-These students come from Paul Valéry Montpellier3
University, where I'm a lecturer,

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and they're also part of the Lattes team from
the CNRS TP2C laboratory

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and they work on amphorae, ceramics, everyday
objects, soft instruments and numismatics,
i.e. coins.

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-Each object is given a specific inventory
number so that it can be found among the huge
number of objects

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that have been unearthed since the start of
the excavations,

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each object is then documented with photos
and drawings and is written down very precisely

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so that it can be dated and given a very precise
origin.

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-At the same time, it's an incredible opportunity
for them to be able to take advantage of the
manna provided by the Rhône through our team

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i.e. new objects that will enrich our knowledge
and, above all, promote their studies.

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We're here at the Musée Départemental Arlantique

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which displays most of the objects from the
excavations

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that I've been carrying out in the Rhône with
my teams

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and which has made some fantastic discoveries
about the wealth of this Roman city,

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which was to become one of the capitals of
Gaul during the imperial era

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and which was to concentrate the entire flow
of Mediterranean trade.

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So in the Rhône we mainly found two large
port dumps

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since these products arrived in amphorae that
were thrown into the Rhône

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after the contents had been decanted, we also
found elements of navigation, i.e. anchors,

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ink jets, stone anchors, in short the boats
themselves, and today we have around fifteen
wrecks

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that can be divided into maritime boats that
can sail up the river, maritime river boats

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that make the link between the two, and the
typical river boats that stay in the river
and sail up to Lyon.

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Here we're talking about changes in wrecks
that ran aground at the mouth of the Rhône
Saint Ferréol,

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near Sainte Marie and their cargo was iron
bars that came from Narbonne, this iron was
manufactured

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in the form of semi-finished products on the
site of the Montagne Noire, so they came from
Narbonne to Arles,

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but it's not just iron, it's other raw materials,
for example here we have a load of lead ingots.

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We're still in the first century AD, lead ingots
arriving by the hundreds to travel up the river,

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and the other raw materials were copper, for
example, and tin

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which we find in the form of cakes and which
really show the importance of Arles

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as a port for both traditional economic commodities
for direct consumption, which we find in amphorae
in barrels,

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but also the metal needed for the army and
for all sorts of corporations in Gaul.

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So today at least they're going to manage to
put the labels on. The flood washes away the
boat, the rope and the peg that was holding
it.

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Here we have a boat that is being cut up, deconstructed.

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We're looking at a wreck that was brought up
from the river, which I discovered with my
team in 2004,

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it has been excavated for several years and
is in fact a flat-bottomed river barge

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30 metres long and no more than 3 metres wide.

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It's a relatively rudimentary construction
compared to what we know how to do for the
sea,

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it engages in a rather micro-regional trade
since in fact it's loaded when it's about to
sink with bring back from Beaucaire and Tarascon

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we have limestone which is certainly intended
for the construction or the development of
the banks,

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and it's undoubtedly too heavy and not at all
cut out to face the sea, so it's typically
in a fluvial model,

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but alongside it we have to pass boats of the
same size, which are either maritime mergers

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or typically maritime boats, and that's what
ultimately makes the richness

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of this very special Arles onotic space, in
terms of the loads between the great maritime
navigation

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and then the redistribution of products by
the river through boats of very different shapes
and types.

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In the city of Arles, even on the left bank,
we'll find amphorae dating back to the sixth
century BC,

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which are Massalian, Etruscan and pre-Roman,
on the Rhône at Arles, on the right bank

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the port obviously only began in the first
century BC, so the oldest amphorae to be found
in this river port

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date back to the first century BC, i.e. Caesar's
period, and continue until the end of antiquity,

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up to the sixth century AD. So the main products
that arrived in Arles on the Rhône in amphorae,

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were wine, oil, preserves and fish. For example,
here we have wine arriving from Italy,

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this wine here was going to arrive very quickly
with the change of air in Spain, particularly
Catalonia, so what we call the Tarraconaise,

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and then other regions of Spain, even the Iberian
Peninsula, were going to bring their share
of produce,

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i.e. the Betic with its wine, canned fish,

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salted fish and, of course, the oil found in
these round amphorae.

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The Iberian Peninsula also brought other products
thanks to Lusitania, i.e. Portugal,

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then, towards the second and third centuries
A.D. until the end of antiquity, we see the
arrival

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of Gallic amphorae that were produced here,
such as Gallic three and especially

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Gallic four, which were made for wine, and
the large cylindrical African amphorae

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that we also see, which came mainly from Tunisia
and were made for transporting oil, canned
fish and wine.

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Until the fifth and sixth centuries A.D.

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these large, very tapered cylindrical amphorae
continued to be imported from Africa,

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transporting wine, oil and canned fish, which
are still highly prized,

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very popular in Arles and the rest of Gaul.

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Here we have proof that the Rhône can preserve,
in an exceptional way,

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elements that tend to disappear on land or
at sea, and this is the case of the inscriptions,

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the painted portion that was written on the
amphorae and which are a real traceability
of the product.

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For example on this amphora we see on the first
line 'Garis Combrie'

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which evokes the mackerel garum, hence the
contents of the amphora,

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and the quality of this product is written
underneath,

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the letters Floss, i.e. a garum flower from
mackerel, can be read.

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The very best of spices used to spice up cooking.

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Then there are two small A's on the third line,
Neurum Dourum, which means that for two years

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these fish elements were macerated to make
this famous sauce that arrives here in Arles

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in the form of an amphora, a very expensive
product no doubt because it's highly sought-after.

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In August 2007, one of the divers in Luc Long's
team sent out to scout a new area

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spotted a small sculpted block on the surface
of the sediment, a marble head.

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After the usual surveys, photos in situ, precise
locations, it was decided to raise the object.

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The discovery was fascinating because the features
of this face are surprisingly reminiscent

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of the founder of the city of Arles, Julius
Caesar.

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The famous Roman conqueror was responsible
for the economic, political and cultural development
of the city

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which had sided with him in his battle against
Marseille,

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which had for its part joined his rival's cause,
Pompey. There are also other types of dumps
in the Rhône,

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that are no more directly port-related, but
are what I call urban dumps, where we find
on the right bank

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which is opposite the city, elements of the
city's facade on this bank,

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i.e. a monumental facade that has been destroyed
several times, redeveloped and rebuilt,

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and so it's in these dumps that we'll find
fragments of very large buildings, no doubt
public, political and religious,

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with statuary in limestone, marble and bronze
that is there to mark the greatness of this
city,

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which Roman writers like Ausonius would say
was a double city, located on both the left
bank

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and the right bank, with buildings of equal
grandeur, but we mustn't forget that these
discoveries

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are mainly about the wealth of this Roman city
founded and created by Julius Caesar.

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However, the face of Julius Caesar is not the
one we are used to in our history textbooks.

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It is not triumphant and idealised, but realistic,
and above all it is marked by the weight of
years.

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As no signature appears on this marble figure,
various suggestions about its identity

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and that of its sculptor become plausible.

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As soon as the strange figure emerges it is
already stimulating scientific debate.

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So this statue of Neptune was also found at
the bottom of the Rhône by my team,

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it's in several pieces, but what's interesting
is the base on which an inscription gives us
information

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about the person who offered this gift for
the cult of Neptune, protector of sailors,

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and so it was offered for the sacred majesty
of our three emperors, in this case the three
august ones

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Septimius Severus, Caracalla and Geta. So we're
in the third century

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and honouring the guild of Lenun Clary, and
these Lenun Clary

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we know because they were already in Rome,
settled on the Tiber and navigating

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between I'd say Rome and its river and the
sea boats that were outside,

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that couldn't go up the Tiber. And next to
this statue of Neptune

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we have the altar on which sacrifices were
made to the God,

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and on which it is written IS De Corporis Lenun
Clary Sacrum, i.e. we have both the same inscription

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for the same guild and the sculpture representing
the God and the altar of sacrifice,

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the Rhône gives us elements that are fairly
homogeneous and all this was undoubtedly part
of a large college,

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that was attributed to this guild, where the
bosses,

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craftsmen and customers met to place orders.

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While the divers were continuing their research,
Paul Zancker, a German archaeologist specialising
in Augustan sculpture,

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put forward the hypothesis that a prominent
figure from Arles might have had himself represented
in the manner of Julius Caesar.

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This hypothesis was based on the hair details
of the mysterious head, which he believed to
be typical of the Augustan period.

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Under the Republic, it is not improbable that
the emblematic figure of Julius Caesar could
have inspired

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one of the city's leading figures, whose protector
he was.

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For his part, renowned Danish art historian
Flemming Johannsen supports Luc Long's hypothesis,

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highlighting the impressive similarity between
the portrait's physiognomy and that of the
Roman dictator.

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The physiognomic features of Caesar's portrait
include

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the folds in the neck, the Adam's apple which
is very pronounced,

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the supratiroid dimple, and then all the wrinkles
and fine lines around the mouth,

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around the eyes, the lion's wrinkle, the forehead
wrinkle, obviously the receding gulfs

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and the whole face, which is reminiscent of
the dictator.

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Differences of opinion in no way detract from
the coherence of the discoveries,

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and the rewriting of the history of the ancient
city, whether in terms of statuary, monuments,

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trade objects or means of transport,

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inexorably reveals the contours of a common
destiny as part of this long investigation.

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And it's here that we're trying to reconstitute
the first elements of plating

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and these elements of plating are made up of
elements of pilaster capitals with parts of
vaulting,

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and we're actually managing to put back in
place on the ground for the moment a marble
façade of an edifice.

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Either an exterior edifice, perhaps a mausoleum,
but given the wear of the marble it's rather
something quite well preserved,

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and we're thinking of the interior as either
a residence or a large domus, but that's a
fairly classic type of representation

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even though the study is ongoing, we haven't
really defined it yet, I'd opt for the interior
of a sanctuary

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which would fit in well with the rest of the
sculpture that we found in this same area of
the Rhône excavation,

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i.e. sculptures of pagan divinities that would
fit in well with the interior of a small temple.

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Here, still in the same place, we're in the
process of preserving in water a cartwheel
from the Carpentum that we brought up

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from the Rhône a short while ago.

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It was taken from the same layer as these marble
veneers and must have been part of a cart,

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and we might also wonder whether it is not
used to compensate for the other plating, whether
there wasn't a device with a hot oven at the
edge of the bank

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and then the supply of recycled marble that
was stored, some of which was still in trolleys

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when there was a flood that must have frozen
everything and swept it away.

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With this new fragment, which is decorated
with two griffins putting their paws

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as protection on a crater, we believe it was
a very large building as well,

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but one that takes us back to the funerary
world,

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and is undoubtedly a mausoleum,

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this type of building with this decoration
is  well known, for example in Orange

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there's a mausoleum that's  quite similar.

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In a way it's the urn of the deceased and the
soul of the deceased  that's protected in the
afterlife by these animals,

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they have such power in the Roman  and pagan
funerary world

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that they'll even end up on Christian sarcophagi,
as animals that  will pass from the pagan world
to the Christian world

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because of the power they represent symbolically
as  guardians of the deceased and guardians
of the soul.

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What we're seeing here is a large capital that
also  comes from the Rhône, the interesting
thing is its size,

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it's not far from a metre high,  it's about
eighty centimetres, in local stone,

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and in fact it takes us back to a building
we know well, as it's  not far from the capitals
of the Maison Carrée in Nîmes.

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You can immediately imagine the grandeur, the
eloquence, in fact the magnificence of this
right bank

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with these buildings that are as imposing as
those  found in the very heart of the city.

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We found it in 2007, not far from the portraits
of Caesar and other sculptures. In the end,
all roads lead back to Rome

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and to Julius Caesar.

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The idea of a portrait depicting a notable
person being portrayed 'in the manner of',

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in this case in Caesar's way, is interesting
because  it's the principle of the period image

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developed by the German school and Paul Zancker,
but  which was to work especially in the Augustan
period.

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However, if we come back to this hypothesis,
there are two elements

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that allow us to reconsider  the idea that
it was indeed Caesar,

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firstly, the marble in question is white dokimeion
marble,

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a very expensive marble that  comes from Phrygia

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in other words present-day Turkey,

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certainly a marble that no notable Arlesian
would have been able to obtain,

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we have a number of portraits of Arlesian notables,
no doubt very wealthy ones, often in limestone,

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and the second element is that the  sculptor
who worked this marble

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was not just a practitioner, he was a true
artist,  and everyone agrees on that,

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he was undoubtedly the Michelangelo or Roden
of that time,

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and it's clear that no notable person in Arles
could have obtained this marble, and above
all

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00:22:09.020 --> 00:22:11.020
could have called on such a great sculptor,
no doubt of Greek origin,

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only Caesar, who had full legitimacy and  a
place in the city he had created

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could be represented by such a great  artist
and in such high-quality marble.

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Archaeology has its say in the matter and today
we realise, it has taken several years to do
so,

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that this portrait is part of a group,  which
I call a sacred group

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made up solely of sculptures representing pagan
divinities, that was formed at the end of the
fourth century.

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No notable Arlesian has a place in this group,
which is made up of divinities, except of
course Caesar,

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who I would remind you was deified in 42 BC.
Indeed, the stratigraphic details,

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the geographical distribution of the objects
found and their late chronology are significant
clues.

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00:23:14.080 --> 00:23:19.080
Even if to this day the debate is not closed
within the scientific community,

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Julius Caesar reaffirmed his divine  status
to posterity, more than ever.

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00:23:30.080 --> 00:23:36.080
But why and how were such treasures delivered
in droves to the dark waters of the Rhône?

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00:23:39.080 --> 00:23:45.080
A large number of representations of men or
divinities  that people no longer want to see
were thrown into the Rhône,

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knowing that in antiquity, the great rivers
and  in particular the Rhône, were the gates
of hell,

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the ones into which people who  wanted to be
forgotten were thrown.

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00:23:53.080 --> 00:23:58.080
In the fourth century, Constantine had to rebuild
a very beautiful Arles on the right bank

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so here too there were a lot of  things that
were dumped in the river,

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00:24:02.040 --> 00:24:06.040
then, at the end of the fourth century,  there
was another wave of destruction

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00:24:07.040 --> 00:24:12.040
but this time it was ordered by the state,
the Christians,  the emperors who had now become
Christians

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00:24:14.040 --> 00:24:18.040
and who wanted to clean up the city, so a good
part of  everything that represented the old
religion was removed.

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00:24:19.040 --> 00:24:23.040
Another unpredictable player is the Rhône
itself,  which can freeze everything in place
with a flood,

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00:24:24.040 --> 00:24:30.040
preventing the statues from disappearing and
instead  being sucked back into the river where
they were found.

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00:24:30.040 --> 00:24:37.040
The Christian world triumphing over the pagan
religion,  the successive redevelopments of
a town with a flourishing economy,

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the erosion of the riverbanks and  the devastating
floods of the river.

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00:24:43.040 --> 00:24:49.040
All these large-scale events were to save
what they were supposed to destroy,

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00:24:50.040 --> 00:24:54.040
for if these priceless richness, condemned
to oblivion and destruction

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00:24:54.040 --> 00:25:00.000
had not been swallowed up by the Rhône, it
is likely that  they would never have been
able to reappear one day.

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00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:07.000
This port provides us with an enormous amount
of information about the economic exchanges

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00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:14.000
between the sea and the continent, which we
can  compare thanks to the studies of land-based
archaeologists

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00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.000
of PhD students and students from  Paul-Valéry
University, this can help me

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00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:25.000
to draw comparisons between the economic  flows
in Arles and those arriving in Narbonne.

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00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:31.000
Arles and Narbonne were both Caesar's cities,
and Caesar  clearly understood their strategic
importance,

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00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:38.000
since the former, Narbonne, controlled the
passage to the Atlantic via the Gallic isthmus,

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00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:46.000
by Toulouse via Bordeaux, while the second,
Arles, commands  the entire entrance to the
Rhône and Somme axes,

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00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:52.000
to the north of Europe and above all to the
Roman legions, which were soon established
in the area,

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00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.000
on the border of the Empire to  protect it
from Germanic troops.

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00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.060
This is the message that the Rhône excavations
have been conveying for the past 25 years,

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00:26:01.060 --> 00:26:07.060
a new image of Julius Caesar and also a new
image  of the city on both banks, the right
bank,

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00:26:07.060 --> 00:26:10.060
where the excavations are taking place

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00:26:10.060 --> 00:26:15.060
being devoted to large-scale trade from the
beginning of the Augustan Empire onwards,

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00:26:16.060 --> 00:26:19.060
and it was here that the city's  river port
was to be developed,

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00:26:20.060 --> 00:26:25.060
given that the left bank was not sufficient
and that  the city itself did not have enough
space

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00:26:25.060 --> 00:26:30.060
in its ramparts to accommodate all the shops
that are now going to be built directly opposite.

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00:26:30.060 --> 00:26:34.060
That's the message of the Rhône today,  the
message of these excavations.