Provence: From Romanity to Christianity

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY:

Over the course of the 1st millennium BC, the Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. In the late 2nd century BC, the Roman Republic annexed southern Gaul –an ancient name of France—as a province of Gallia Narbonensis, located in the west of Rhone river. Provence became a Roman province in -70BC. Roman forces under Julius Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars in -58/-51 BC. Afterward, a Gallo-Roman culture emerged, and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire. Take an incredible journey under the sun of the south of France among remarkable historical and archaeological sites. The journey will take you to Arles, the Saintes Maries de la Mer, Saint Remy de Provence, the Roman city of Glanum, Saint-Maximin , and Aix en Provence, discovering ancient Christians monuments dating from the 5th through the 10th centuries and learning all about the legend of Mary Magdalene’s arrival in Provence. The journey will end in Marseille, with visits of monuments and remains from the origins of Christianity.

During your stay, you will see landscapes under a light that has not changed for 21 centuries when Provence was part of the Roman Empire. You will discover the vestiges of this time and you will learn the history and the pretty legends which accompany the beginning of Christendom in Provence