Apta Julia
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Apt (; Provençal
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
: ''At / Ate'' in both classical and Mistralian norms) is a
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
in the
Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.department in the
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
in southeastern
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It lies on the left bank of the Calavon, east of Avignon. It is the principal town of the
Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mountain ranges (from w ...
mountains. The town is known for defining the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous.


Geography

Apt lies north of Aix-en-Provence and the river Durance, in the valley of the river Calavon, (also called the Coulon), and at the foot of the north-facing slopes of the
Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mountain ranges (from w ...
mountain.


Geological age

Apt is the etymological source of the Aptian, an
age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...
in the
geologic timescale The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochr ...
, a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous
epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...
or
series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...
and encompasses the time from 125.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 112.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), approximately. The original type locality is in the vicinity of Apt. The Aptian was introduced in scientific literature by French palaeontologist
Alcide d'Orbigny Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropol ...
in 1840.


History

Apt was at one time the chief town of the Vulgientes, a Gallic tribe; it was destroyed by the
Romans 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 lette ...
about 125 BC and restored by
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
, who conferred upon it the title ''Apta Julia''; it was much injured by the
Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
and the
Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
s, but its fortifications were rebuilt by the
counts of Provence The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...
. A traditional tale attributes the foundation of the
bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
of Apt to a saint named Auspicus, whom Pope Clement I sent and who died a martyr in 102; but the first documented evidence of its existence is in the acts of the Synod of Arles of 314, at which Apt was represented by a priest and an exorcist. Early 5th-century bishop Saint
Castor of Apt Saint Castor of Apt (died ca. 420) was a bishop of Apt, in Gaul. He was born in Nîmes and may have been the brother of Saint Leontius of Fréjus. Castor was a lawyer and married to a wealthy widow. He lived in Marseilles. His wife, however ...
is mentioned in contemporary liturgical documents and in a 419 letter of
Pope Boniface I Pope Boniface I ( la, Bonifatius I) was the bishop of Rome from 28 December 418 to his death on 4 September 422. His election was disputed by the supporters of Eulalius until the dispute was settled by Emperor Honorius. Boniface was active in ma ...
. The diocese appears in documents of the same century as a suffragan of
Aix Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgi ...
. As a result of the
concordat A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Edi ...
of 15 July 1801 between Pope Pius VII and
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
, the territory of the diocese was incorporated by the
bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...
''Qui Christi Domini'' of 29 November of the same year mainly into the
archdiocese of Avignon The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Avignon (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Avenionensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse d'Avignon'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese exercises jurisdiction over the te ...
, with some parishes going instead to the
diocese of Digne The Diocese of Digne (Latin: ''Dioecesis Diniensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Digne'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected in the 4th century as the Diocese of Digne, the diocese has been ...
. No longer a residential bishopric, Apta (as it is called in Latin) is today listed by the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
as a
titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...
. Important manuscripts were found in Apt concerning music in the 12th/13th centuries. They are known as the Apt Manuscript and the Ivrea Codex. They contain
motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Marga ...
and
mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
movements, all of which are polyphonic. Nine out of fourteen Motets by
Philippe de Vitry Philippe de Vitry (31 October 1291 – 9 June 1361) was a French composer-poet, bishop and music theorist in the style of late medieval music. An accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, he was widely acknowledged as a leading musi ...
are recorded in the Ivrea Codex, a compilation of eighty-one compositions dating to 1360. It is purported to have been derived from the repertoire used in the Papal Palace at Avignon, since it is so close and offers a sampling of music from the Ars Nova movement.


Jewish history

According to documentation, Jews lived in Apt as early as the second half of the 14th century. The earliest documentation of
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
in Apt is dated back to the second half of the 13th century, describing the prohibition of meat selling by Jews to Christians. Columbia University Library owns a twelve documents collection of notarial written money lending transactions between Jews and Christians in Apt
One of them
describes a transaction between a local Jew called Gartus Bonafossi and a Christian named Iohannes Raymundi. A synagogue was documented as soon as 1416, and around 15 Jewish families were listed by the tax register by 1420. By then, Apt became the fourth largest Jewish community of
Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
. The Jewish quarter was situated by the nowadays Place du Postel, and the community itself was mentioned in the writings of the poet Isaac Gorni.


Ecclesiastical history

The council of Apt was held on 14 May 1365 in the cathedral of that city by the archbishops and bishops of the provinces of
Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
, Embrun and Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France. Twenty-eight decrees were published and eleven days of
indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God of ...
were granted to those who would visit with pious sentiments the church of the Blessed Virgin in the Diocese of Apt on the feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross In the Christian liturgical calendar, there are several different Feasts of the Cross, all of which commemorate the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. Unlike Good Friday, which is dedicated to the passion of Christ and the crucifixion, these ...
and venerate there certain relics of the Cross.


Population


Sights

The chief object of interest is the church of Sainte-Anne (once the cathedral), the building of which was begun about the year 1056 on the site of a much older edifice, but not completed until the latter half of the 17th century. The town was formerly surrounded by massive ancient walls, but these have now been for the most part replaced by boulevards; many of its streets are narrow and irregular. Many Roman remains have been found in and near the town. A fine bridge, the Pont Julien, spanning the Coulon below the town, dates from 2 BC. Archeologists and others now believe that the Pont Julien dates much later than the 2nd century


Economy

The region is a centre for
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
,
honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
,
truffles A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including '' Geopora'', '' Pe ...
, and
fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
, much of which is converted to crystallized fruit by both industrial and handmade processes.


Twin towns – sister cities

Apt is twinned with: * Bakel, Senegal *
Boussu Boussu (; pcd, Boussu-dlé-Mont) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. As of January 1, 2006, Boussu had a population of 20,058. The total area is 20.01 km², which gives a population density of 1,002 in ...
, Belgium *
Thiene Thiene () is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, in northern Italy, located approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. __NOTOC__ The city has an active and lively industrial sector, composed mainly of small to medium-sized comp ...
, Italy


See also

*
Côtes du Luberon AOC Luberon (known as ''Côtes du Luberon'' until 2009) is a French wine-growing AOC in the southeastern extreme of the Rhône wine region of France, where the wines are produced in 36 communes of the Vaucluse département. The neighbouring appellat ...
*
Communes of the Vaucluse department The following is a list of the 151 communes of the Vaucluse department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2022):Communes of Vaucluse Subprefectures in France