‘Very Beautiful … Narbonne’
‘pulcherrima … Narbo’ (Martial, Epigram 8.72.4)
Not to be outdone by the museum recently created at Nîmes down the road (CWA 92), Narbonne has now opened, in May 2021, a splendid new archeological museum of its own. Curiously entitled Narbo Via (‘Narbonne road’ in Latin), it is a spacious box-like building with overhanging flat roof, designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster. Its exhibition rooms inside, all on the ground floor, are tall, light, and airy. The objects have been magnificently cleaned; they are also beautifully lit and logically arranged in six sections, each with a separate theme. So Narbonne at last has an archaeological museum to be proud of, another go-to destination in the south of France for lovers of Roman archaeology. For too long the gloomy, cavernous, and cold chambers of the Archbishop’s Palace, seat of the previous Musée archéologique in the heart of the town, did not make for pleasurable visiting, however important the artefacts it contained. And the Musée lapidaire, Narbonne’s second museum of antiquities (inside a disused church), which changed little for well over a century, consisted of a chaotic jumble of stones piled one on top of the other.
Out of Italy
Narbonne’s foundation was one of the outcomes of Rome’s military intervention in the south of France when, in 125 BC, the Greek city of Marseilles, threatened by the local tribe of the Saluvii, appealed to Rome for help. The resulting campaigns – masterminded by various consuls, culminating in those of Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Quintus Fabius Maximus – resulted in the Roman takeover of a huge swathe of territory from Provence to the Pyrenees, creating a Roman-controlled corridor into Spain. A major trunk road, never far from the coast, quickly followed, and is called still today the via Domitia after its creator, Domitius Ahenobarbus. To consolidate Roman control, the colonia of Narbo was founded in 118 BC at a key point on this road, a virgin site on flat, well-watered ground with excellent agricultural potential, and close to the apex of a large, well-sheltered harbour. It was the first colony ever founded by Rome beyond Italian soil.
It is therefore wholly appropriate that the first item to greet the visitor to Narbo Via, in the entrance hall, is a milestone bearing Domitius Ahenobarbus’ name and the numeral XX (marking the number of miles from Narbonne where it was placed). This must date within a year of the foundation of Narbo, making it the oldest Latin inscription in Gaul. Immediately beyond, you have your first glimpse of a feature that makes Narbo Via unique among archaeological museums of the world: the so-called ‘wall of stone’.
