American in Paris: A trip to Orange

I must apologize for the delay in updating this blog. The internet was not free in Avignon so I figured I’d just delay updates until we got to Tours. Alas, the time has come to play catch up.

Our second day in Avignon was spent looking at the Roman Theatre and Triumphal Arch in Orange. The Triumphal Arch was a bit of a hike from the train station but well worth it. The arch was massive and incredible to see. For those of you reading this who do not have a great extent of experience with triumphal arches, they were basically Rome’s way of reminding the citizens that they had conquered the land and all who lived there were subject to Roman will. It was placed just outside of town on a main road so that every person entering or leaving town would see the arch and understand that they were entering Rome’s territory.

The arch itself was exquisite. At the time, it would have been brightly colored with bronze or golden sculptures and would have had statues on the top. Throughout time, most of that has been worn or vandalized away. During the Revolution and Napoleon’s reign, much damage was done to the arch and other Roman structures. For example, Roman troops used the Arch for target practice so you can see damage from the bullets on the arch to this day. Still, it was not too difficult to get an idea of what the arch would have looked like years ago.

The top level of the arch featured a battle scene which depicted the Romans, Gauls, and Germanic tribes at war with each other. Each group was sculpted in its traditional battle attire so they could be easily distinguished. Immediately to its left, there is a section devoted to representing the sacrifices made to the gods prior to the battle. On the second level, at each end is a naval scene that typically featured a trident to represent the Roman god, Neptune. Also included could be a bow of a ship, a mast, and other representations of the sea battles. Below these scenes were two depictions of the Roman spoils of war.

After the arch, we walked to the Roman theatre that was another decent walk away. The theatre was absolutely massive and a magnificent sight. While it was easier to understand what it may have looked like, due to decay, I don’t think I could truly appreciate how it would have looked in its heyday. The backdrop to the stage has been treated terribly by the years; at one points, after the Romans left, the theatre was turned into a fortified housing complex with hundreds of houses built on several layers. As a result, the theatre has been irreparably damaged. Fortunately, the damage has not been too drastic as to hide the theatres beauty. The backdrop still has the statue of Augustus and a few columns help form an idea of what it would have looked like. The acoustics were incredible and I hope to someday return for a concert or opera that they still continue to put on there. It is very difficult to describe the theatre so I hope that the pictures will do a better job.

On that note, I am working on putting pictures of all of our days onto my shutterfly website so look for that link to come soon.

As a whole, these first few days in France have been incredible and we are having a blast. I will try to get caught up on the blog within a day or so. Hope this is interesting enough and let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to read more about!