Roman Architecture in Provence, by James C. Anderson, Jr., is a welcome contribution to the literature on architecture in the Roman provinces. Anderson focuses on the ancient cities of modern Provence, Roman Gallia Narbonensis, surveying urban development and offering detailed studies of monumental types and individual structures.

The book is divided into a brief introductory chapter and still briefer conclusions framing two longer, substantive chapters. In chapter 1, “Historical Overview: Roman Provence, ‘Provincia Nostra,’” Anderson begins with a brief account of history and geography, highlighting the early and close relationship between Rome and Gallia Narbonensis, or “nostra provincia [our province].” By the second half of the first century CE, Pliny could say that the region “should be placed second to none in the provinces; in short [it is] Italy more than a province” (2, quoting HN 3.31.4). “A Brief Conclusion,” chapter 4, is a succinct outline of architectural and urban history in the region, which a reader might find useful to read before turning to the details of the middle chapters. After a long period of Massalian Greek influence and increasing Roman presence from the second century BCE, Roman colonies proliferated in Provence in the second half of the first century BCE. There followed centuries of gradual urbanization and monumentalization, slow at first, then building from the late first century CE, peaking in the second, and stagnating in the third, with few signs of recovery thereafter.

Chapter 2, “The Cities, Suburbs, and Towns of Roman Provence,” concentrates on indigenous, Greek, and Roman settlements and signs of cultural assimilation and, sometimes, “compromise” if not resistance (32). Anderson first considers Celtic and Greek landscapes and settlements, with particular attention to Glanon (Roman Glanum) and Massalia (Roman Masillia). Modern Marseilles covers much of the latter, preventing systematic archaeological investigation, and therefore its treatment is brief. Glanum, however, was laid bare in twentieth-century excavations, enabling Anderson to work from the level of setting and plan to details of buildings, walls, and workmanship, from its Celto-Ligurian origins through several waves of Roman-era construction, including projects sponsored by Marcus Agrippa in the late first century BCE. Anderson then turns to new Roman foundations: Aquae Sextiae, Narbo Martius, Arelate, Forum Iulii, Vienna, Nemausus, Arausio, and Vasio.

Chapter 3, “Roman Architectural Forms in Provence,” is a long chapter of 173 pages, organized in nine subsections. The first, “Construction, Decoration, and the Corinthian Order,” offers a warning about the limitations of stylistic dating, then surveys the variety of building methods and materials, before taking the example of the Corinthian order to demonstrate how classical forms were handled by Gallo-Roman artisans, remaining “subtly but clearly specific to the areas where they were being used.” Anderson notes that even the “official” or “Imperially approved” architecture of Provence differs in certain details from Italian models (63–64). Highlighted here, and in later sections, the orderly vegetal decoration carved in low relief on archivolts, entablatures, pilasters, and bases is noteworthy for reflecting regional preferences probably throughout the Roman period.

Roman architectural forms are considered within functional categories in the remaining eight subsections. “Monuments of Roman Power, Propaganda, and Honor” begins with defensive architecture (walls, towers, gates). It then turns to the Tropaeum Alpium at La Turbie, a victory trophy consisting of a high base, a circular cella and surrounding colonnade, and, at one time, a conical roof towering over the Bay of Monaco (though formally related tombs are handled later). The section finally considers free-standing arches, a well-represented class of Provençal monument. This is a particularly strong section of the book, and it includes many notable examples that lie beyond standard textbook treatments. The discussion culminates in a reconsideration of the arch “of Tiberius” at Arausio (Orange), on which Anderson has written before (James C. Anderson, “The Date of the Arch at Orange,” Bonner Jahrbücher 187 (1987): 159–92). He upholds a preference for an Antonine-Severan construction over the conventional Julio-Claudian date, and he notes that the adjustment invites a reassessment of the proposed dates of many other supposedly early Imperial monuments, inviting further exploration (92).

The section “Religious Architecture” does justice to the well-preserved temples of Nemausus (Nîmes) and Vienna (Vienne), as well as their problematic inscriptions. Perhaps more valuable, however, is Anderson’s attention to other temples, imperfectly preserved but no less interesting, at other sites, particularly Glanum, Arausio, and a woodland sanctuary near Vernègues. “Civic Architecture” lays out key features of monumental centers: streets, fora, and the porticoes that lined them. But just as religious and civic realms were thoroughly interwoven in Roman antiquity, perhaps some of these sections could have been merged. The Maison Carreé cannot be understood in isolation, and what is the Nemausan forum without its centerpiece?

The next sections cover basic urban amenities. “Commercial Architecture” includes markets, shops and workshops, storage buildings, the cryptoporticus, ports, and harbor works. The last would have fit well within the discussion of defensive structures, particularly the Roman port at Fréjus, established to support a Roman fleet. “Architecture for Entertainment and Leisure” surveys theaters, amphitheaters, circuses, one poorly preserved odeum, and a stadium known only from a letter of the younger Pliny (IV.22). “Hydraulic Architecture” likewise begins with the kinds of buildings that one would expect to find anywhere in the empire: baths, fountains, aqueducts. Especially useful here is Anderson’s attention to the full course of the aqueduct to Nîmes, as well as its famous bridge over the Gardon River (better known as the Pont-du-Gard), the spring sanctuaries at Glanum and Nîmes, and the remarkable mill race at Barbégal. The section on domestic architecture includes rural, suburban, and urban examples, focusing mainly on grand town houses, among which Anderson notes a range of formats influenced by both the traditional Roman atrium and Hellenistic peristyles, the latter perhaps introduced through Greek Massalia, and probably favored through centuries of Roman rule due to associations of the form with villas and otium, or leisure. “Funerary Architecture” begins with relatively modest altar-type monuments, but soon moves to impressive “aedicular monuments.” The cenotaph of the Julii at Glanum is the best preserved in this class with its high podium adorned with figural relief panels, supporting a quadrifrons and, above it, a circular ring of columns and conical roof sheltering two male portrait statues. It provides a strong ending for the book, but one cannot help wishing that it could be handled in closer proximity to the neighboring commemorative arch; indeed much earlier Anderson suggests “an intentional arrangement” of the two monuments.

It is a challenge to write a diachronic survey of the architecture across an entire region, and Provence is no exception. Many of the sites founded or refounded during the Roman period remain population centers, and the ancient monuments still stand as visible landmarks, though often ruined and otherwise transformed. The epigraphic record is problematic due to a relative paucity of building inscriptions and the often poor condition of those that have survived, and excavations have resulted in uneven evidence, depending on site formation history, different excavation conditions, and evolving methods. Anderson clearly explains the challenges, offering this book as a chance to take stock of the present knowledge, and to suggest and support further research efforts (17). He builds trust and authority with such “straight talk” as well as with his detailed structural and formal analyses and fair handling of published arguments. Historical assumptions too often influence archaeological and architectural interpretations, and it is perhaps easiest to accept convenient dating schemes leading to pat perspectives that are easily grasped. A different route is taken by Anderson, who reexamines reports, reconsiders stylistic dates, and questions assumptions.

Although the meticulous and even-handed presentation of archaeological evidence and scholarship is admirable, it would have been interesting to read more about the role of evolving political and social factors in shaping the history of architecture and cities in Roman Provence and vice versa (the issue of “Romanization,” for instance); however, the topic is relegated to a page of text and one footnote (5; 237 n.2). Monumental architecture and urban history can shed much light on societal and cultural assimilation and compromise, identity, and mobility. In particular, this reader came to wonder about patterns of euergetism—institutionalized generosity—and specifically the construction of civic buildings by the local elite (versus governors or emperors), a major force of development elsewhere in the empire. Perhaps epigraphic limitations prevent a clear sense of the breakdown in Provence, but I would have appreciated more discussion and comparison.

The organization of the book leads to some repetition of subject matter (126–27 and 134) and illustrations (figs. 7 and 60; 14 and 75; 17 and 89). This would likely go unnoticed by someone consulting the book rather than reading it straight through. It would be hard to compete with illustrations in Pierre Gros’s glossy volume, La Gaule Narbonnaise (Paris: Picard, 2008), but figures could have been handled better. Many of the schematic plans are adapted from R. A. F. Rivet’s Gallia Narbonensis: Southern France in Roman Times (London: B. T. Batsford, 1988), but scale bars have often disappeared, and scales vary, making it difficult for the reader to gauge the size of the sites or distances within. Anderson’s photographs (many his own) are clear and carefully chosen to illustrate major points.

Despite some issues with structure and illustration, Roman Architecture in Provence should interest archaeologists and architectural historians working in Rome and its empire. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students would benefit from the book’s careful description and extensive bibliography with good French and English coverage; it could serve as a reference or even a textbook. At times the reader may grow frustrated with unresolved issues, but these quite fairly represent the state of knowledge, and in giving a frank, balanced, and detailed account, Anderson sets an example and performs a service to the field.