Antibes

Antibes is a resort town of southeastern France, on the Mediterranean Sea in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. It is 12-½ miles by rail southwest of Nice, and is situated on the east side of the Garoupe peninsula.

It was formerly fortified, but all the ramparts (save the Fort Carré, built by Vauban, and the ramparts along the sea coast), were demolished in the 1860s. A new town then rose outside the former defences.

Antibes has one of the largest yacht marinas on the Côte d'Azur, built in the 1960s on the site of a Roman harbour. There is still a local fishing industry, much diminished from its size a century ago. It was formerly a site of perfume distilling; the surrounding country once produced an abundance of flowers. Perfume distillation is still carried out on a commercial scale in nearby Grasse.

Administration

Antibes is a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes département (formerly in that of the Var, but transferred after the Alpes-Maritimes department was formed in 1860 out of the county of Nice). It covers a number of distinct areas, including:

• Antibes proper
• Juan-les-Pins
• Golfe-Juan
• the southern parts of Sophia Antipolis (the northern parts belonging to Biot)

History

Greek Antipolis

In prehistory, the area around Antibes was inhabited by the Deciates (Δεκιῆται), a tribe of the Ligurians (Smith, entry on Deciátes; Cosson, pp.20-23). The border with the Ligurian Oxybii (Ὀξύβιοι) being to the west of Antibes and east of Frejus (Smith, entry on Oxybii). The Deciates had a town in the area, oppidum Deciatum but this was not Antibes itself (Pliny the Elder, Chorographia, 2.69):

Antibes was the ancient Antipolis (Stabo, Geography 4.1.9). It was founded as a colony of Massallia (Marseilles), in the 6th century BCE, across the bay from Nikea (Nice); the name in Greek means literally "city across" or "city opposite," Anti polis, and is mentioned in the Geography of Strabo. Although no traces of the Greek port remain, wrecks of sunken ships (such as a 6th century BCE Etruscan ship) attest to the importance of this early port.

Polybius (Histories, 33.7) relates that in 155 BCE the Ligurians attacked Massallia, Antipolis and Nikea and in consequence, Massallia appealed to the Romans for help because of a treaty between Massallia and Rome. The resulting defeat of the Deciates and Oxybii also led to greater Roman involvement in the region, culminating in the battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BCE and the creation of the Roman province of Narbonensis along the coast from the Alps to the Pyrenees.

Roman Civitas Antipolitana

In 43 BCE, Antipolis lost its staus as a free Masaliote city and was annexed by the Romans, becoming Civitas Antipolitana. This was later referred to by Strabo (Geography, 4.1.9):

Mediaeval Antibo

Antibes was the seat of a bishopric from the 5th century to 1244, when the see was transferred to Grasse.

Tourism

The major attractions of Antibes are its history, climate, art, beaches and yachting.

Cap d'Antibes

The southern peninsula of Antibes is known as Cap d'Antibes. A bastion of wealth and exclusivity, it was the setting for F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. The Hotel du Cap, called Hôtel des Étrangers in the novel, is still one of the most expensive and exclusive hotels in the world.

Antibes Culture

Literature

Antibes was the birthplace of Jacques Audiberti (1899-1965), author.

The author Graham Greene spent the last quarter century of his life in Antibes, from 1966 to 1991. Anthony Burgess wrote a series of essays, A Homage to QWERTY, about his travels from Monaco to Antibes to interview Greene.

Music

Interestingly, Antibes was the site of two well-regarded live jazz performances - the Charles Mingus album Mingus as Antibes and a live performance of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, which was later released with the original in a deluxe package.

The electronic music group M83 is from Antibes.

Art

The Musée Picasso, located in the mediaeval Château Grimaldi, contains Pablo Picasso's works from the year-long period he spent in Antibes.

The Musee Peynet et du Dessin Humoristique has a permanent exhibition of the works of Peynet and has temporary exhibitions of graphic arts, humour, and satire. The museum is built on the site of the Roman temple to Saturn (Cosson p.131).

Miscellaneous

Antibes is twinned with Aalborg, Denmark.

References

• Cosson, Pierre (1995) Civitas Antipolitana: Histoire du Municipe Romain d'Antipolis.Nice, Serre Editeur. ISBN 2-86410-219-6
• Pliny the Elder, Chorographia, II.69
• Polybius, Histories 33.7. Available online
• Smith, William (1854) Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.
• Strabo, Geographia, 4.1.9. Available online
• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain.

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Antibes".

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