The Roman Period

After the Roman conquest (125-118 BC) in the wars against the Salyes, the Vocontii retained a certain degree of autonomy; they had two capitals, Luc-en-Diois, apparently the religious centre, and Vaison which was named Vasio Julia Vocontiorum. Their authority continued in the gradual Romanisation of the Celtic oppidum.^[4] Early building was probably done by Vocontian aristocrats who moved down from the oppidum and established houses along the river, around which the city eventually accreted but based on a Roman orthogonal street plan with different alignment from the earlier houses.^[5]

Construction of large public monuments began in the second half of the 1st century: theatre, bridge, aqueducts, thermal baths.^[6] Two aqueducts provided water to the city; the older one had its source on the Sainte-Croix hill to the north, while the longer one's source was at the Groseau spring on Mont Ventoux 10 km to the south-east.

The Pax Romana led to the extension of the city which was at its finest in the second century when it covered up to 75 hectares. It became one of the richest of Gallia Narbonensis; many houses with numerous mosaic pavements have been discovered^[7] and there is a fine theatre on a rocky hillslope, probably built during the reign of Tiberius, whose statue was found in a prominent place on site.^[8] The statue, the Vaison Diadumenos, (now in the British Museum) was also discovered in the theatre in the nineteenth century.^[9]

The barbarian invasions were presaged by pillaging and burning in 276, from which Roman Vasio recovered. Vaison became a relatively important Christian religious centre (a bishopric existed there from the 4th century) where two councils met in 442 and 529.^[10]

The Post-Roman Period

The barbaric invasions of the 5th century by the Burgundians ruined the city. The theatre's benches began to be reused as Christian tombstones. Vaison was taken by the Ostrogoths in 527 then by Chlothar I, King of the Franks, in 545 and became part of Provence.

The disputes which broke out in the twelfth century between the counts of Provence, who had refortified the ancient "upper town" and the bishops, each of whom were in possession of half the town, were injurious to its prosperity; they were ended by a treaty negotiated in 1251 by the future pope Clement IV, a native of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard.

In disturbed times of the Middle Ages, the inhabitants migrated to higher ground on the left bank of Ouvèze, with the shelter of the ramparts and a strong castle. From the eighteenth century, most of the population moved back down to the plains by the river.

A flood struck Vaison-la-Romaine on 22 September 1992, the worst since 1632.

The house of the Dolphin

Plan of house of the Dolphin

The Dolphin House owes its name to a white marble fountainhead portraying a cupid riding a dolphin. The structure of the house indicates it was built in stages over a period of about 250 years. About 30 BC it was a farmhouse of area 1,400 m2 built on a different alignment to the later street grid and with main entrance to the south. The main building consisted of four rooms arranged around a colonnaded courtyard (peristyle). To the west lay several agricultural outbuildings and a small heated building, probably a thermal bath. 50 years later, water and sewage pipes were added leading to greatly improved living standards. Around 80 AD, the house was extended over the strip of land up to the new pedestrian street. A new main entrance was built to the north, the peristyle was extended eastwards and adorned with a pond and the upper floor was enlarged.

The private section of the house consists of rooms arranged around the peristyle, including the upper floor accessed by the staircase next to the tablinum.

The Vaison Diadumenos in the British Museum