Roman Arles was designated as a colony for veterans in 46 BCE and eventually received the name Colonia Julia Paterna Arelate Sextanorum (Klingshirn, 1994, 36–37). The site derived its importance from its location on the Rhône river at a key access point to the Mediterranean on the one hand, and the Gallic hinterland on the other, and it had long been inhabited by both Gauls and Greeks (Heijmans, 2004, 7–10). By the late 1st century BCE Arles b…