The Cadaster of Orange also known as the ''cadastre d'Orange'' is an ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

era

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

found at the French city of

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

. The plan is carved in stone and shows the land allocation for the area between Orange and

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

during the 2nd century.

Purpose of the Cadaster

During the reign of

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

he ordered the land registry around Orange to be restored. Part of this was the creation of a

Cadaster A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

, which remains today. These Roman cadastres are the best preserved in the world. Three copies of rural land registers, carved in stone, were discovered in 1949 though in a large number of fragments. The purpose of the maps was to display in the city, so that individuals could identify and restore public lands that they had appropriated. The goal was to identify the undistributed lots, properties of the Roman state, which appeared to have been unduly occupied. Land lots were prioritized for land for

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

s, and other, poorer land remained community property. Thus was facilitated colonization and development of the soil, to the detriment of the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

inhabitants.Mireille Pastoureau, Jean-Marie Homet et Georges Pichard, Rivages et terres en Provence, Éd. Alain Barthélemy, Avignon, 1991, pp. 14-15.

Centuration in the Cadaster

When The Roman

Legio II Augusta Legio II Augusta ( Second Legion "Augustus'") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that was founded during the late Roman republic. Its emblems were the Capricornus, Pegasus, and Mars. It may have taken the name "''Augusta''" from a victory or ...

founded the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

Arausio Orange (; Provençal: ''Aurenja'' or ''Aurenjo'' ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is about north of Avignon, on the departmental border with Gard, which follows th ...

(Orange) they used the traditional method of

Centuriation Centuriation (in Latin ''centuriatio'' or, more usually, ''limitatio''), also known as Roman grid, was a method of land measurement used by the Romans. In many cases land divisions based on the survey formed a field system, often referred to in mode ...

. Parallel lines separated by 708 meters, intersecting to form centuries of 50

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...

. This was a rapid method of allocating land to settlers and allowed the agricultural land to orientate with the main roads of the new town. It was used in conjunction with, and as an extension to the

Hippodamian Hippodamus of Miletus (; Greek: Ἱππόδαμος ὁ Μιλήσιος, ''Hippodamos ho Milesios''; 498 – 408 BC) was an ancient Greek architect, urban planner, physician, mathematician, meteorologist and philosopher, who is considered to ...

planning of the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Coverage of the Cadaster

In the land registry the territory around

Châteaurenard Châteaurenard (; Provençal oc, Castèurainard; ) is a commune in the Arles arrondissement, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in southern France. Population Twin towns Châteaurenard is twinne ...

marks the middle of the maps; the land registry B, the most complete, covers the northern part of Orange and goes back to Montelimar, it extends east to the site of the Dentelles; the crossing of these two axes is the center of

Bollène Bollène (; Provençal: ''Bouleno'') is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Bollène is a commune located in the north of the Vaucluse department next to the juncti ...

. Archaeological discoveries still take place thanks to the excavations related to work on the town. The latest, north of the town near the Fourchevieilles district unearthed a necropolis that was the subject of an exhibition at the municipal museum, and the Roman houses were mapped using the building project related to the

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

References

{{reflist Historic maps of the Roman Empire

Purpose of the Cadaster

Centuration in the Cadaster

Coverage of the Cadaster

See also

References