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Vienna (Vienne)
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
Vienna, modern Vienne, was situated on the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Gère. It was founded by the Gallic tribe of the Allobrogians but conquered by the Romans. In 61 BCE, the natives expelled the Romans, who founded Lyon. A couple of years later, Julius Caesar decided to pacify the area for good, which eventually led to the conquest of all of Gaul. Vienne remained an important town and its territory stretched towards Geneva.

This picture shows the remains of a building that was once used to celebrate the Mysteries of Cybele.
The temple of the emperor Augustus and his wife, Livia. Later, it was also known as the temple of the divus Augustus et diva Roma, "the divine Augustus and the goddess Roma". Although  the emperor brought peace to the Mediterranean world, the rivalry between cities continued. In 69 CE, the populace of Lyon asked the emperor Vitellius to destroy Vienne, which fortunately did not happen.
The same temple, seen from the north.
The rear side of the temple of Augustus and Livia.
This monument, known as 'la pyramide', is in fact an imitation of an obelisk and was once an element of the  hippodrome of Vienne. (Only Rome, and later Constantinople, had real Egyptian obelisks in the heart of their circuses.) According to a local story, this monument once was the tomb of Pontius Pilate, who was believed to have been sent into exile to Gaul. Of course this is a nothing but a pious legend, but the the confusion is understandable: the emperor Augustus ordered Herod Archelaus, the incapable ruler of Judaea about a generation before Pilate, to settle in Vienne.

A satellite photo of the theater can be seen here.
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