Tarascon

TARASCON (Ταρασκών: Ταρασξον), a town in the Provincia Narbonensis, on the east side of the Rhone, between Arles and Avignon. The railway from Avignon to Marseille passes through Tarascon, and there is a branch from Tarascon to Nîmes. Ptolemy (in whose text the name is written Ταρουσκών) enumerates Tarascon among the towns of the Sales [SALYES]. Strabo (4. p. 178) says that the road from Nemausus (Nîmes) to Aquae Sextiae passes through Ugernum (Beaucaire) and Tarascon, and that the distance from Nemausus to Aquae Sextiae is 53 Roman miles; which, as D'Anville observes, is not correct. In another passage (4. p. 187) Strabo makes the distance from Nîmes to the bank of the Rhone opposite to Tarascon about 100 stadia, which is exact enough. [TARUSCONIENSES]