Editing Nîmes (section)

===Roman period===
{{See also|Maison Carrée|Nimes Aqueduct|Arena of Nîmes|Temple of Diana (Nîmes)}}<gallery mode="nolines" heights="60" style="text-align: center">
File:Arena de Nimes.jpg|Amphitheatre used today for concerts and bullfights
File:2015-Arena-of-Nîmes-Interior.JPG|Amphiteatre Interior
File:Nîmes-Temple de Diane-2.jpg|Temple of Diana
File:Maison Carree in Nimes (16).jpg|Roman temple, the "Maison Carrée"
File:Nimes, Roman wall foundations.jpg|Roman wall foundations
File:Nîmes La porte Auguste.png|The Augustan Gate
</gallery>The city arose on the important [[Via Domitia]] which connected Italy with [[Hispania]].

Nîmes became a Roman colony as ''Colonia Nemausus'' sometime before 28 BCE, as witnessed by the earliest coins, which bear the abbreviation <small>NEM. COL</small>, "Colony of Nemausus".<ref>Colin M. Kraay, "The Chronology of the coinage of Colonia Nemausus", ''Numismatic Chronicle'' '''15''' (1955), pp. 75–87.</ref> Veterans of Julius Caesar's legions in his Nile campaigns were given plots of land to cultivate on the plain of Nîmes.<ref>Alain Veyrac, "Le symbolisme de l'as de Nîmes au crocodile" ''Archéologie et histoire romaine'' vol. 1 (1998) ([http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/dha_0755-7256_2000_num_26_2_2560 on-line text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405014021/http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/dha_0755-7256_2000_num_26_2_2560 |date=5 April 2010 }}).</ref>

[[Augustus]] started a major building program in the city, as elsewhere in the empire. He also gave the town a ring of ramparts 6&nbsp;km ({{convert|6|km|abbr=off|disp=output only}}) long, reinforced by 14 towers; two gates remain today: the Porte d'Auguste and the Porte de France. Internally, the city was organized around the [[cardo]] and [[decumanus]], intersecting at the forum. The [[Maison carrée|Maison Carrée]], an exceptionally well-preserved temple dating from the late 1st century BCE, stands as one of the finest surviving examples of [[Roman temple|Roman temple architecture]]. Dedicated to [[Roma (personification)|Roma]] and Augustus, it bears striking resemblance to Rome's [[Temple of Portunus]], blending [[Etruscan architecture|Etruscan]] and [[Ancient Greek architecture|Greek]] design influences.<ref name=":0" />

The great [[Nimes Aqueduct]], many of whose remains can be seen today outside of the city, was built to bring water from the hills to the north. Where it crossed the river [[Gardon|Gard]] between [[Uzès]] and [[Remoulins]], the spectacular [[Pont du Gard]] was built. This is {{cvt|20|km|0}} north east of the city.

The museum contains many fine objects including mosaic floors, frescoes and sculpture from rich houses and buildings found in excavations in and near the city. It is known that the town had a civil basilica, a curia, a gymnasium and perhaps a circus. The [[Arena of Nîmes|amphitheatre]] is very well preserved, dates from the end of the 2nd century and was one of the largest amphitheatres in the Empire. The so-called [[Temple of Diana (Nîmes)|Temple of Diana]] dating from Augustus and rebuilt in the 2nd century was not a temple but was centred on a [[nymphaeum]] located within the [[Sanctuaire de la Fontaine|Fontaine Sanctuary]] dedicated to Augustus and may have been a library.

The city was the birthplace of the family of emperor [[Antoninus Pius]] (138-161).

Emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] (306-337) endowed the city with baths.

It became the seat of the Diocesan Vicar,{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} the chief administrative officer of southern Gaul.

The town was prosperous until the end of the 3rd century when successive barbarian invasions slowed its development. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the nearby town of [[Arles]] enjoyed more prosperity. In the early 5th century the Praetorian Prefecture was moved from [[Trier]] in northeast Gaul to Arles.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

The [[Visigoths]] captured the city in 472.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="105" caption="Finds from Roman Nimes in the Musée de la Romanité">
File:Mosaic Nimes 1.jpg|Mosaic of Europa and Zeus
File:Mosaic Nimes 2.jpg|Mosaic of still life
File:Mosaic Pentheus Nimes.jpg|Pentheus mosaic
File:Fresco Nimes 2.jpg|Fresco of war galleys
</gallery>

====4th–13th centuries====

{{multiple image
 | image1 = Augustus colonia nemausus dupondius type 4 obverse.jpg
 | image2 = Augustus colonia nemausus dupondius type 4 reverse.jpg
 | footer = Nîmes, [[dupondius]] of [[Augustus]], 10 – 14 a. D., Commemorating the conquest of [[Egypt]] in 30 BC.
Obverse: Back to back head of Agrippa left wearing rostral crown, and laureate head of Augustus right; on either side, inscription. Above and below, inscription. Border of dots. Lettering: "IMP P P DIVI F" ("IMPerator DIVI Filius Pater Patriæ", Emperor, Son of the Divine Father of the Nation).
Reverse: [[Crocodile]] to right, chained by neck to a [[palm-tree]] with tip bending left, two short palms on either side of trunk; on right, inscription; on left, inscription surmounted by a crown with two long tails to right. Border of dots. Lettering: "COL NEM" ("Colonia Nemausus", Colony of Nemausus)
}}

When the Visigoths were accepted into the Roman Empire, Nîmes was included in their territory in 472, even after the Frankish victory at the [[Battle of Vouillé]] (507). The urban landscape went through transformation with the Goths, but much of the heritage of the Roman era remained largely intact.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

By 725, the Muslim [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]] had conquered the whole Visigothic territory of [[Septimania]] including Nîmes. In 736–737, [[Charles Martel]] and his brother led an expedition to Septimania and Provence, and largely destroyed the city (in the hands of Umayyads allied with the local Gallo-Roman and Gothic nobility), including the amphitheatre, thereafter heading back north. The Muslim government came to an end in 752, when [[Pepin the Short]] captured the city. In 754, an uprising took place against the Carolingian king, but was put down, and count Radulf, a Frank, appointed as master of the city. After the events connected with the war, Nîmes was now only a shadow of the opulent [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] city it had once been. The local authorities installed themselves in the remains of [[Arena of Nîmes|the amphitheatre]]. 
Islamic burials have been found in Nîmes.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Netburn |first1=Deborah |title=Earliest Known Medieval Muslim Graves are Discovered in France |url=http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-muslim-graves-france-20160222-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=24 February 2016 |access-date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225153655/http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-muslim-graves-france-20160222-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Newitz |first1=Annalee |title=Medieval Muslim Graves in France Reveal a Previously Unseen History |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/medieval-muslim-graves-in-france-reveal-a-previously-unseen-history/ |website=Ars Technica |date=24 February 2016 |access-date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=1 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201112701/https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/medieval-muslim-graves-in-france-reveal-a-previously-unseen-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=France's Earliest 'Muslim Burials' Found |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35660488 |work=BBC News |date=25 February 2016 |access-date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=7 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707025628/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35660488 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Gleize, Yves |author2=Mendisco, Fanny |author3=Pemonge, Marie-Hélène |author4=Hubert, Christophe |author5=Groppi, Alexis |author6=Houix, Bertrand |author7=Deguilloux, Marie-France |author8=Breuil, Jean-Yves |title=Early Medieval Muslim Graves in France: First Archaeological, Anthropological and Palaeogenomic Evidence |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=e0148583 |date=24 February 2016 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0148583 |pmid=26910855 |pmc=4765927 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1148583G |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Charlemegne|Carolingian]] rule brought relative peace, but feudal times in the 12th century brought local troubles, which lasted until the days of [[Louis IX of France|St. Louis]]. During that period Nîmes was jointly administered by a bishop, as well as by a civil authority headquartered in the old amphitheater, where lived the Magistrate/ Viguier, as well as the Viguier's retainers, the Knights of the Arena. Meanwhile the city was represented by four Consuls, whose offices were located in the old Maison Carrée.

Despite incessant feudal squabbling, Nîmes saw some progress both in commerce and industry as well as in stock-breeding and associated activities.  After the last effort by [[Raymond VII of Toulouse]], St. Louis managed to establish royal power in the region which became [[Languedoc]]. Nîmes thus finally came into the hands of the King of France.