Arles Between
Heaven and Earth!
By Antoine Gigal
Translated from French into English
by Valerie Sandelin
A past always present
Seen from the heights of the region it is interesting and profound
to discover Arles. Leaning to the Alpilles and overlooking the Rhône,
the site was ideal for a big city. Supplanted today by other regional
cities, it experienced its hour of glory under the reign of Caesar (End
of 1st century BC.) thanks to the political and economic stability brought
by “Pax romana”. The vestiges dominating the Arenas and the
Ancient Theatre give an idea of the "greatness" of Rome.
photo 1,2  
Covered walkways: the hypogea
We found quite few prehistoric remains on the site of the town itself.
But many archaeological sites in the territory of Arles show an early
occupation, reaching a high density since the Neolithic era (Stone
Age) on the margins of the limestone massif of the Alpilles. The
route from Arles to Fontvieille (RD 17) passes to the west of Mount
Cordes and its extraordinary collection of funerary hypogea. Five
hypogea of Fontvieille count among the largest megalithic tombs of
Europe (photo 6 see below).
Thelin the nourishing
Originally, the region of Arles was not dry like today. The Mediterranean
formed a deep estuary and the Rhone fed vast marshes. A few rocky
islands then formed a territory easy to defend: Island of Cordes,
Island of Castelet, Island of Mont-Majour, Isle of Arles, which were
all occupied at the end of the Stone Age.
To The Phoenicians, who had appeared in the lower Rhone Valley at the
end of the second millennium BC and founded, between Marseille and Arles,
the stronghold of Bergine1 succeeded the
Phoceans2.
photo 3, 4  
From the middle of the sixth century, Arles was a Massiliot
stronghold, important bridge between the Mediterranean coastal shipping
and river or land traffic towards the interior of the Gaul. The Phoceans
called it Thélinè, which the Romans translated: Mamillaria,
Mamelue, in other words "the Nourishing", in tribute to their
protecting guardian deity Artemis of Ephesus, matron with triple rows
of breasts. But also because the Camargue, then periodically covered
by the floodwaters of the Rhone, gave sixteen grains of wheat for one
planted, fertility, which was compared to the delta of the Nile. Some
linguists, however, believe, not without good reason, that Thélinè is
a Greek play on words on a native name, of Télo, old aquatic
and Ligurian divinity found in Toulon, because the oldest inhabitants
of Arles were the Ligurians.
photo 5, 6, 7   
Arelate, close to still waters
The Ligurians were quite inhospitable: the misadventures
of Heracles, attacked not far from Arles by the sons of Poseidon, could
be the poetic transcription of a very real war. When they penetrated
in Provence the Romans found the Ligurian tribe closely mixed to a
Salyens tribe, the Désuviates, who shared with two other Salyens peoples
all the lower valley of the Rhone. Arles was already called Arelate,
the name came from the Gaelic (Arlath), which can be translated as " near
still waters ". The city rose then close to the immense lake
Désuviate, which covered the plain between St. Remy, Eyragues,
Maillane, Tarascon and Arles, alongside the Crau to Fos and opened
on the sea.
 Boats for Caesar
Marseille having taken a stand with Pumpei against Caesar, the latter
commanded the Arlaten arsenals, the fleet with which he proposed to
reduce the Phocean metropolis. It was delivered to him in less than
one month. This zeal was rewarded. Pretending to forget that the powerful
sailors of Arles had formerly helped Hannibal to cross France, from
which Rome almost perished, Caesar stripped Marseille to enrich Arles
which then became the largest maritime and river port of the Gauls.
From Mainz to Beirut, the navy of Arles was soon expanded to the four
corners of the Empire.
Duplex Arelas, double Arles
Arles was from now Arelas duplex. On the rock, along the Rhone, rose
the high city, the castrum. On the right bank of the river, the suburba
gallica Insula, the Island of in the Gallic suburb, the native town,
whose name still survived in the district of Gallègue at Trinquetaille.
Initially of modest size, the city increased rapidly and was decorated,
century after century, of splendid monuments: a theater of 16,000 seats,
a circus, a basilica (where money changers and bankers treated their
business), two and possibly three triumphal arches, many temples, an
amphitheater that can hold all the people of the town today, as well
as thermal baths as large as those of Caracalla3.
Constantine (278-337) chose it as the imperial residence and built a
lavish palace. His successors made it the capital of Gaul and obtained
from the pope, for its archbishop, the title of primacy of the Gauls.
Fresh water of the Alpilles
Roman Arles was queen and mother of Gaul under Constantine, the capital
of the seven provinces under Constantius III. Located at the crossroads
of three major Roman roads (the Via Domilia, the Via Aurelia and
Via Agrippa), enthroned on its river and its lagoon, heaping the
treasure of the harvests of Camargue, it was more than ever Artemis-Thelin,
nurturer and mistress of the crossroads.
Rome gave it what it needed most importantly: an aqueduct of forty-six
kilometers to bring pure and fresh water from the Alpilles. On the
heights overlooking Fontvieille, was built a waterworks which still
litters the ground. Sixteen enormous paddle wheels, arranged in two
sets, animated the first industrial flourmill of the Western world.
The Alycamps: Fields of Memory
But the most famous Holy Land of Arles is the great city
of the dead which extended to the foot of the city of the living: Alyscamps, “alysii
campi”, the Elysian fields the path leading to the kingdom of
the dead. Already famous throughout Gaul at the beginning of the Gallo-Roman
period, this necropolis extended beyond the ramparts and until on the
hills of Mouleyre which it covered. Perhaps it covered also a much
older place: at the junction point of two branches of the road, the
church of Notre-Dame de Bélis, destroyed and replaced by a leper
colony in 1556, evokes the name of Belisama, Gallic deity.
Mysterious stone cupules
It is the only known cemetery in France, there has continued, beyond
the first Christian period, marking the tombs of a very ancient funerary
symbol: the cupules (photo 9), whose meaning remains mysterious. They
are regular hemispherical holes, two to three centimeters deep, three
or four centimeters wide. Perhaps, initially, cups for oil or primitive
worship lamps, these cups have subsequently lost any utilitarian sense,
since they are found even on vertical walls.
Widespread throughout the megalithic civilization, then
forsaken everywhere, these symbols abound on the Gallo-Roman sarcophagi
of Alyscamps. The early Arles Christians often used an ancient pagan
tomb to bury one of their own, which was frequently, "Christianized" the
cups - cruciform engravings. Below: photo 8, 9, 10, 11.
   
St. Trophime
Legend and history are inextricable in connection with
this great figure of the town of Arles. Confusion has developed over
time between two characters, the disciple of St. Paul who came in year
46 to evangelize Gaul and a second saint quoted in the history of the
Church by Gregoire de Tours (539 -594). This author suggests that Trophime
was one of seven missionaries sent by Rome to evangelize Gaul under
the reign of Emperor Decius, in the years 250-254. He would have been
the founder of the church of Arles in the third century and its first
bishop (But this second version seems rather to correspond to a late
version of the church in Rome trying to consolidate its power over
the region and rewrite the history of a few awkward characters of early
Christianity).
The Divine knee
According to the first version, St. Trophime would have been a disciple
of St. Paul and cousin of saint Etienne (St. Stephen)'s cousin, the
first Christian martyr. In the year 46, Peter and Paul themselves,
sent him to evangelize the Gauls. He landed in Provence in the company
of Mary Magdalene, Martha and Lazarus. Going Up the Rhone, he came
to convert Arles. At this point in time he decided to devote to the
Alyscamps people a burial reserved for the Christians. This was his
first priestly act.
To perform this ceremony, he convened seven other bishops,
selected from the seventy-two first disciples of Christ: St. Maximin
of Aix, St Saturnin of Toulouse, St. Martial de Limoges, St Eutropius
of Orange, St. Front of Périgueux and St. Serge of Narbonne. Jesus then
appeared in the middle of the holy bishops and blessed himself the
cemetery, by bending his knees whose print remained marked on a stone.
On the site of the miracle on the road to Marseilles, at the entrance
of the city, was consecrated a chapel, known as the Genouillade (Genou: ‘the
knee’ photo 26). It was raised in the sixteenth century and can
still be seen today, not far from Alyscamps, sandwiched between road
and railway, in a neighborhood that still bears this name.
The pond,
home of the Devil
Blessing the Cemetery, Christ drove out the demons and
promised to protect forever from their evil spells the dead which would
rest there. But other diabolic creatures haunted the pond of Malcrozet,
the cursed hole, which skirted the Alyscamps. "Nothing was left living in
its waters or on its banks, and all those who approached there were
precipitated " tells the legend of St. Trophime. This one drove
out the evil spirits and the pond filled miraculously with fish in
such such great numbers that all the city could be fed with them4.
photo 12, 13  
Then, where the bishops gathered, the saint consecrated a chapel,
Notre-Dame-de-Grace, on the site of which would have been raised Basilica
St. Honorat. It housed a black virgin5 attributed
to St. Trophime, and a silver statue. Both disappeared and were replaced
by a marble statue. The latter, in 1793, broke the legs of a profaner
at the time when he put his hand on her. The people acclaimed the miracles
and in honor to the victorious Virgin, the statue was transferred to
the Cathedral.
photo 14, 15  
Barrels for coffins
Many were the Christians who wanted to sleep their last sleep in this
miraculous land kept from the demon, blessed by Christ himself, protected
by St. Trophime and the Virgin Deipare6.
All these deceased were not from Arles. The Rhone brought the dead
whom its residents sealed into barrels coated with pitch, and accompanied
by the cost of shipping and burial: the right of “mortellage”.
Gervais of Tilbury adds about these strange vessels, that the hand
of God must have been steering them to land on the correct sacred
shores. He said that one day young people of Beaucaire robbed a casket
of the money of the deceased. The funeral barrel then miraculously
came repeatedly back to the scene of the robbery, despite the current.
This strangeness alerted the authorities who discovered the culprits
and punished them severely.
The gigantic cemetery
Soon there were so many dead that they had to be compacted, and ultimately
superimposed into five successive layers. The popularity of the Alyscamps
decreased, however, in the twelfth century when the remains of St.
Trophime were transferred to the cathedral. But the miraculous cemetery,
famous throughout Christendom, remained a very important place of pilgrimage.
People went there in droves, especially during Lent. From century to
century, many shrines and sanctuaries were built in the area. There
were as many as thirty chapels or vaults. By the beginning of the nineteenth
century, there remained only twelve, almost all in ruins.
Parallel to the growth of Alyscamps cemetery, the legends
continued to grow as well. It was said that St. Denys l’Areopagite
came to see St. Trophime and founded a chapel to Saint-Pierre-de-Mouleyre
on the ruins of a temple of Mars. The mother of St. Quentin, Bishop
of Vaison, there heard a chorus of angels inform her that she would
be the mother of a saint. Better yet, on the night of All Saints' day,
Christ came there to say Mass for the dead with the angels and all
the saints of Arles!
photo 16, 17, 18   
In the heart of the necropolis - cemetery lies the
Basilica of St Honorat
The center of worship, in Alyscamps, was originally dedicated to St.
Genesius. He was the city clerk of Arles in the third century who having
refused to transcribe an edict of persecution of the Christians - perhaps
that of Decius - was beheaded in 250. He then took his severed head
and threw it into the Rhone. It arrived miraculously finally in Cartagena.
Genesius was buried in the cemetery of Alyscamps.
Built around 600, then devastated in 735 during the Saracen occupation,
it was reconstructed for the first time in the eleventh century. By
1200, with the vaults threatening to collapse, it was rebuilt again
and became a priory dedicated to St. Honorat, depending on the Saint-Victor
Abbey of de Marseille.
Unfortunately, despite urgent appeals, the archbishop
could not collect all the funds he needed, so that the work was not
completed. However, its opportunities for worship multiplied. To St.
Genesius, whose sarcophagus and miraculous waters were always the object
of veneration, were also brought the relics of Saint Dorothy and the
Archbishop Rotland then those of St. Trophime. All these relics are
today gathered in an obscure vault of the cathedral, protected by many
shrines, much gilding and bars ... moving testimonies of the faith
of an era.
Place of Remembrance
Saint-Honorat was plundered in 1793, and the collection of the Fathers
of the Convent of Minimes destroyed or dispersed. The church, fortunately,
survived. The great city of the dead, celebrated throughout the Christian
world, was looted by treasure hunters and more still, by collectors
of antiques who came there starting from the Renaissance, to enrich
their personal collections.
At the beginning of the last century, it still remained a sacred place
of touching melancholy, littered with ruins and undergrowth. Under
Louis-Philippe, a railroad company came there to build warehouses and
repair shops. Today, only one beautiful alley of sarcophagi remains,
along the avenue leading to St. Honorat and around the church itself.
The railways have devoured the gods, but the charm of the old stones
remains.
photo 20, 21  
LIONS OF ST-TROPHIME
At the heart of the city
In the heart of Arles, in the place of the town hall, in the center
of the square is a fountain topped by an obelisk, it is the needle
of Arles. It is made out of red granite and the city owes it to the
Emperor Constantine (the emperors greatly admired the Egyptian civilization).
The needle points to the entry of St. Trophime Cathedral, well-known
to lovers of Romanesque art. Its gate has been remarkably restored.
It's now the turn point of the adjoining cloisters where you can admire
a unique representation of the Tarascan7 "Short
and massive monster, equipped with six feet and a reptilian tail, " as
described by Jacques Voragine in the" Golden Legend8.
Of the first construction of the church of the Carolingian
period and dedicated to St. Etienne /Stephen (early seventh century)
there remains almost nothing. It was first modified in the eleventh
century, but the roof having collapsed, they had to rebuild it again
a hundred years later. Then they gave it saint Trophimus for patron,
whose remains were transferred there in 1182. The porch (of the same
family as that of the nearby town of Saint-Gilles) was started in 1211.
Below: photo 22, 23, 24, 25
   
A book of stones
The rich ornamentation of the gate, a true "book of stone," illustrating
the theme of the Last Judgment. We discover there, in addition to the
traditional iconography, some strange scenes. In the north, below Saint
Michael weighing souls, a demon appears carrying two damned souls refusing
to hear the divine word. The devil wears a Phrygian cap, carries these
poor wretches attached by the feet at both ends of a pole resting on
his shoulder. One can find, in the lower register, Heracles slaying
the Nemean lion.
The presence of the lion
The lion has a prominent place around the portal where it is present
at least fifteen times: the lion attribute of St. Mark, Daniel in the
lions' den, the archangel Gabriel and the prophet Habakkuk carrying
the meal to Daniel, Samson slaying the lion, the combat of a goat against
a lion, a lion attacked by a centaur, a lion slaying a man, a lion
devouring a victim, the lioness, her two lion cubs and a goat, lions
carrying on their back the bases of large stone statues ... (Photos
2 and 22).
That lion nature is left ambiguous because if, in the Romanesque symbolism,
the lion represents the Christian, it is unclear what kind of Christians
can symbolize the Lion of Nemea defeated by Heracles, nor beasts eager
to eat the unfortunate Daniel. The presence of the lion in Arles suggests
influences much older, which were taken over by the builders of the
Middle Ages in a "discreet" way. Below: photo 26.
 A rich symbolism
The lion played an important role in all the Mediterranean cultures.
Among the Etruscans, winged lions guarded the entry of the burial
chambers. Their presence marked the passage between the world of
the living and the dead. We saw that this was so also in Egypt where
the akerou - two lion-headed deities with heads of lion guarding
the access to the world of the Duat (see Sacrée planète
No. 33 - p.30). No wonder then, that these felines are present near
one of the largest necropolis in the Gallo-Roman Gaul. By extension,
the lion became the symbol of Resurrection to the Christians.
The lion also symbolized royalty and the sun throughout the Middle
East. This association was found both in the carved lions on the throne
of the Hittite monarchs, kings, as on the bas-reliefs of Susa and Persepolis.
In Babylon, for example, the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the processional
route was decorated with bas-relief in ceramic tiles in the shape of
a lion.
In Greek mythology, the lions appear in various functions. The lion
of Nemea, is represented as a man-eating beast, skin impenetrable,
and was killed by Heracles during his twelve labors. The chimera, another
hybrid, whose body is that of a lion, is killed by Bellerophon. The
lion is the animal of the goddess Cybele: she surrounds herself with
them or uses them to pull her chariot.
One of Aesop's fables tells the story of Androcles, a slave who removes
a thorn from the paw of a lion and is subsequently saved by the same
animal when he was thrown to the wild beasts. The Physiologus, ancient
bestiary written in Greek in the 3rd century in Alexandria and later
translated into Latin in the 4th century, remains one of the greatest
literary works having greatly influenced the Western Middle Ages. This
ancient work gave to the lion its image as king of the animals, and
its likening to image of Christ. In the Apocalypse of John, Christ
is called the Lion of Judah (the tribe of Judah). It is also from the
Physiologus which came the attributes of the lion in the Middle Ages,
namely the power, wisdom and justice. Finally the lion has always figured
on the shield of arms of the city (picture 5), but the old motto "ab
ira leonis (by the anger of the lion) has disappeared.
photo 27, 28  
Pagan Arles
If the lion had its hour of glory in Arles, the bull
is today the emblem animal of the city. Aries had already a long and
rich history when Rome tried to impose on it its culture and religion.
Bishop Caesarius (464-542) had much to do to "Christianize" its
pagan cults and places.
Bulls and Men
According to an old tradition, reported by Gervais of Tilbury9,
a temple of Diana stood at Bourg-Neuf, the location of the church St.
Blaise. A chronicler even said that an altar from it remained a long
time, where a Sylvain, in natural scale was found and where in pagan
times three young men were sacrificed every year to sprinkle the people
with their blood. François de Rebatu10 and
Mistral took up this story.
 It was very near there that in 1598, during the drilling of the Craponne
Canal, where there was discovered the marble effigy of a curious idol:
we know of it only by the torso, marked by the signs of the zodiac
and intertwined by an enormous snake. It is a decapitated lion-headed
Chronos, deity associated with the cult of Mithra, very popular among
Roman soldiers, and which included the sprinkling of the faithful with
the blood of victims. But these victims were only of young bulls. It
is therefore not unlikely to imagine that the legend of human sacrifice
may have arisen from confusion between the words juvenes (young people)
and juvenci (young bulls). One might think that this tradition predates
the Roman occupation.
Mithras was a god of Iranian origin. Christianity made Saint Mitre
well known throughout the land of Provence. This cult involved a ritual
sacrifice of a bull. Mithra was born on December 25th after the winter
solstice. The essential act was the sacrifice of the original bull
slaughtered on the order of the Sun. From its blood, its bone marrow
and its seeds sprang the plants and animals. Reenactments of these
rites are numerous in Provence echoing the thousand-year-old worship
of the primitive bull, associated with the cult of the invincible sun,
of Dionysian nature.
The Bull/ Taurus is constantly associated with water
in the Camargue; Moreover, the mythology of the bull-god is sometimes
associated with Poseidon and with a nymph, daughter of Minos, of which
he would be the son under the name of Taras. He is called the "bull Anadyomene",
i.e./ that is to say the bull rose from water - out of the ‘billows’.
In addition, the ferric, trident of herdsmen, is similar to the trident
of Neptune.
Refuge of the History
The testimony of history is all gathered today in the
very recent County Museum of Ancient Arles ... ironically with a very
modern look. It currently houses a remarkable exhibition "Memories of the Rhone”,
the result of twenty years of excavations in the river ... dominated
by a magnificent head of white marble of Julius Caesar surprisingly
expressive.
Alongside Caesar, one finds Neptune. The Customs Seals
from Arles were struck with his effigy. Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Apollo
and Juno had their altars, beside the imported gods: Mithra, Isis and
Osiris. Many representations of a mother goddess animated the fervor
of the people and later were used as a model, for the early Roman virgins.
Cybele, a native of Phrygia who became the "Bona Dea" of the Romans had his temple. It
was found on the site of Notre-Dame de la major, the remains of an
altar with those characteristic ears. The altar of Cybele were decorated
with two ears, surrounded by a crown (photo /Fig. 24). They symbolized
the call of the priestesses for Cybele, for the good goddess ‘s
clemency, but probably many other things as well…
Bless what you cannot prevent!
The people from Arles (Arlesians) long remained deeply rooted in paganism:
200 years after the real foundation of Christianity in Arles, 100 years
after the edict of Constantine, the sermons of St. Cesaire (see frame
p.11) still castigated the worshipers of the demons. In fact, what
St. Cesaire stigmatized with vigor, were the more or less orgiastic
masquerades and festivities that marked the beginning of the year.
Large popular festivities lasted several days. The Arlesians
worshipped the trees and fountains, organized processions with dances
(balationes and saltationes) even in the churches, especially the day
of St. John: Midsummer's Day. "Pagan custom! exclaimed Cesaire who multiplied
the anathemas and warnings: it was forbidden, “under penalty
of losing one’s baptism”, to bring lights or make libations
at "temples, fountains, stones, trees, caves or the intersection
of three roads (the trivium was a sacred place of Diana-Hecate)”.
Despite his authority, his energy, his fighting spirit, Cesaire had
to make some concessions to pagan rituals… In most cases, like
many others, he reassigned what he could not prevent and substituted
the new cults for the old rites. Thus he instituted in Arles the processions
of Rogation to replace the balationes in honor of Cybele. They sought
a similar purpose: to celebrate the fertile earth.
Departure point for the St Jacques de Compostela pilgrimage
We are here indeed on a high sacred place. Arles was
the starting point to St Jacques de Compostela, the Via Tolosana. We
saw that this place symbolized, with its multiple necropoles, the passage
from one life to another, from one state to another. Death is here “initiatory”.
The pilgrim died to one life to gain another when, starting from Alyscamps,
he entered on the path. The place was not chosen by chance. Here the
pilgrim remembered that he was mortal, but also that death was a new
departure.
The "Egyptian Book of the Dead" which tells us about the
funerary practices of the time is also, altho its title does not indicate
a "Book of Life"11 the
guide of the journey of the candidate to initiation. Initiation in
Egypt began with a walk in the company of Anubis in a large area covered
with tombs. It was the realm of the dead. Death and tombs are still
in the center of the transmission of knowledge. We know from the myths
that burial is the sublime secret which houses the potential for resurrection
in another life.
Today, life abounds in this southern colorful metropolis, but history
teaches people that look more carefully. Here, the worlds coexist and
interpenetrate, the shapes transform and all remains. An immensely
rich human history was recorded in these places.
CESAIRE, One of the patron saints of Arles
Born in 470 in Burgundian territory of Catholic parents, Cesaire became
a monk at Lerins at the age of 20 years, and was accepted in the
clergy of Arles, where the bishop Eone, with whom he was related,
ordained him priest in 499 and entrusted him the direction of a monastery
located in front of the city.
He probably became bishop of Arles in December 502 but continued living
as a monk, demanding that the clergy be exemplary.
In 506 he presided over the Council of Agde for which
he prepared the work and suggested the decisions. In 513 when he founded
in Alyscamps the first women's monastery, moved inside the walls of
Arles in 524 and called “Monastère Saint-Jean”- St. John’s
monastery.
Appointed vicar of the Apostolic Seat in Gaul and Spain in 514, he
convened and presided over many councils: Arles in 524, Carpentras
in 527, Vaison in 529, Second Council of Orange in 529, Valencia (in
530), Orleans (in 533, 538 and 541) and Clermont (in 535), which adopted
his ideas. He died after 40 years as bishop, on August 27th 542.
His work consists mainly of sermons, strongly inspired by the doctrines
of Augustine, which tell us about the daily life of Arles of the beginning
of the sixth century. It is seen there especially that pagan practices
are still very much alive.
At the crossroads of terrestrial and maritime ways, Arles
was from immemorial time always a place of "passages" real
and also subtle. Behind its southern exuberance and ferias, it hides
in its depths fabulous secrets.
A great Amerindian Indian chief said: "It's a beautiful day to
die" ... We could write of Arles: "It's a beautiful place
to die! "
By Marie-Helene Courtat
References:
Sites to be consulted: http://alpilles.online.free.fr/communes/arles
insolite.htm
Bibliography:
- Egypt all mysteries - Charly Samson - available at SP
- The sacred guide of Saint Jacques - Pierre Guelff - site: www.pierreguelff.info
Footnotes
1 - Today,
St. Etienne-du-grès.
2 - The
history is attested by literary sources including the Roman writer
Avienus (IVth century).
3 - Inaugurated
in Rome under the Roman Emperor Caracalla in 216, these thermal baths
are the largest and most luxurious complexes made so far. In addition
to the facilities for bathing, they offered varied activities (public
and private baths, swimming, massage, gymnastics, etc..), which explains
their gigantic size : a surface of over 10 hectares, the place for
1600 swimmers, 64 cisterns of 80,000 liters ...
4 - Constants
like this appear regularly in the hagiographies. This shows that they
were written using symbolic images, and codified in order to capture
the imagination of the faithful and not the interests of historical
truth. It is difficult today to accurately identify the characters,
places or times, we can on the other hand recognize identical situations
and symbols according to the characters and what one wants them to
represent.
5 - Arles
held a black virgin watching over the cemetery of Aliscamps. She was
replaced by a white virgin under the Huguenots. But by popular request
she was restored to her original position ... only to disappear again
towards the end of the nineteenth century. It may well be that of Barbegol
... near Arles. (www.france-secret.com/compostelle_art3.htm)
6 - the
virgin Deipare is the virgin “ Mother of God "
7 - Tarascan
dragon is a kind of mythical animal dragon of the folklore of Provence.
8 - The "Golden
Legend" (1261-1266) which became very famous in the Middle Ages
and influenced the illustrators of Christian art, was written by a
Dominican monk in order to exalt the faithful by showing them the combat
that God leads against the evil spirits.
9 - Clerc
originating in the British Isles (1155-1234))
10 -
Author of " La Diane et le Jupiter d’Arles “ (The
Diane and Jupiter of Arles) 1656)
11 -
According to a papyrus found in a tomb preserved at Leiden in Holland,
who recounts the initiation of Horsieris.
Photos
- Photo 1 – Bust of Caesar. Arles had its moment of glory during
his reign
- Photo 2- The lion is represented in Arles on numerous occasions
- Photo 3: Alyscamps, the great city of the dead, meaning the Elysian
fields, the path which leads to the kingdom of the dead.
- Photo 4: Tympanum of St Trophime
- Photo 5 – Coat of arms of the city of Arles
- Photo 6: Entrance to the hypogeum of Castelet
- Photo 7: engraved symbol
- Photo 8: St. Honorat’s bell-tower
- Photo 9: cupule, /cup in the rock
- Photo 10: path
- Photo 11: symbol
- Photo 12: St. Anne ‘s Church facing the obelisk
- Photo 13: St. Trophime (Gate of the cathedral)
- Photo 14: Marquee of the cloister of St. Trophime
- Photo 15: Portal of St. Trophime
- Photo 16: St. Paul and St. Andrew
- Photo 17: St. Etienne
- Photo 18: Details of the gate of St. Trophime: Demon carrying two damned
souls
- Photo 19: The cistern of the cloister of Saint-Trophime
- Photo 20: St. Blaise and St. Cesaire
- Photo 21 - Sarcophagus with a cross
- Photo 22 - Samson and the Lion
- Photo 23 - Bona Dea
- Photo 24 - Temple of Cybele Glanum
- Photo 26 - Chapel la Genouillade (genuflection)
- Photo 27 - Roman roads in Arles
- Photo 28 - Head of Juno
- Photo 30 – Neptune
South France retreat: www.FengShuiSeminars.com
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