Nimes is situated where the alluvial plain of the Vistrenque River abuts the hills of Mont Duplan to the northeast, Montaury to the southwest, and to the west Mt. Cavalier and the knoll of Canteduc. Nemausus was the god of the local Volcae Arecomici tribe. The Bronze Age has left traces of villages that were made out of huts and branches.
The hill of Mt. Cavalier was the site of the early oppidum which gave birth to the city. During the third and 2nd centuries BCE a surrounding wall was built with a dry-stone tower at the summit which was later incorporated into the Tour Magne.
Strabo , the Greek geographer, mentioned that this town functioned as the regional capital for the Volcae Arecomici , a Celtic people. The city adopted the name of a local water deity, Nemausus. The town had a healing spring. The Warrior of Grezan is considered to be the most ancient indigenous sculpture in southern Gaul. The city arose on the important Via Domitia which connected Italy with Hispania.
COL , "Colony of Nemausus". Augustus started a major building program in the city, as elsewhere in the empire. He also gave the town a ring of ramparts 6 km 3.
Internally, the city was organized around the cardo and decumanus , intersecting at the forum. Dedicated to Roma and Augustus, it bears striking resemblance to Rome's Temple of Portunus , blending Etruscan and Greek design influences.
