ROMAN REMAINS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 May 1938, Page 10

ROMAN REMAINS

MANY VISITORS TO ARLES TOWN OF SLEEPING CENTURIES Visitors to the Riviera this year are going in greater numbers to towns possessing Roman remains, which would make it appear as though there was a revived interest on the part of travellers in archaeology. Arles is one of the most interesting of the many towns possessing Roman remains in the south of France, but it is a strange, sleepy old town, which seems to wake up a little at autocars full of visitors draw up before its Roman theatre or arena. Arles was founded in 46 B.C. It rapidly grew in importance, and became one of the finest cities of the Roman Empire, so fine in fact that Constantine at one time thought of making it the capital of the Roman Empire.

When the Empire fell Arles temporarily passed out of history, forgotten, and that is, perhaps, why its Roman remains are so beautifully preserved. Built over a hillock, which it covers like a bonnet, it is today a small provincial town of 18.000 inhabitants. There is little activity, and every day, before a couple of old towers at its entrance, one can see thirty-or forty men playing bowls in a leisurely manner.

Arles is an open-air museum. Roman remains are everywhere, and the old houses of Arles lean on much older Roman buildings, or sometimes the two support each other. One has a curious impression of people living in someone else’s town, of moderns living in a town left to them by the ancients. The Roman remains in Arles are entirely satisfying, and are no mere vestiges. The theatre of Arles is in a fine state of preservation, and its different parts are clear, and you have to make no guesses as to how the structure stood. Its stage alone is 330 feet long and 200 feet deep. Here twelve thousand spectators could see and hear perfectly. As you stand upon the ancient stage, the seats rise up before you, row upon row. Broken pillars at the back mark where the three main entrances stood, through which the actors made their appearance according to their importance, the big centre door reserved for the leading actor. ■ A deep, narrow trench runs in front of the stage, and in it are the holes where the wooden masts stood holding the stage curtains. This trench was also used by the actors for passing from one side to the other unseen. At one end of it continues to the dressing rooms.

The Roman arena is still used to day for bull fights and gymnastic displays. The ring where gladiators faced each other is 229 feet long by 110 feet broad. It is sanded and kept in good order, and twenty-five thousand spectators can look down from the six miles of stone seats in breathless excitement at the charging bull and the agile matador, as the Romans did at fighting gladiators twenty centuries ago.