Ugernum
UGERNUM(Οὔγερνον), a town of Gallia Narbonensis, on the road from Nemausus through Ugernum and Tarascon to Aquae Sextiae ( Aix). Strabo (4. p. 178) has described this road. The genitive VGERNIoccurs in an inscription found at Nimes. Ugernum is represented by Beaucaire. The Table marks the distance from Nemausus ( Nîmes) to Ugernum xv., which is near the truth. In the last century the Roman road between Nemausus and Ugernum was discovered with several milestones on it in their original position, and numbered, as it seems, from Nemausus the ancient capital of the district. These milestones gave the opportunity of ascertaining the length of the Roman mile. The name of Beaucaireis a corruption of the age name of Bellum-quadrum. If any trace of the name Ugernum exists, it is in the name of Gernegue, the lower part of Tarascon, which is on the opposite site side of the river, for Beaucaireand Tarasconstand face to face. But in order to admit this, we must suppose that Gerneguerepresents an island Gernica, which, according to a middle-age document, was between Beaucaireand Tareascon, and that by some change in the river the island has become part of the mainland on the east side of the river; and it is said that this fact about the island is certain. (D'Anville, Notice, &c.; Penny Cyclopaedia, art. Beaucaire. )
[G.L]Important way station on the Via Domitiana at the head of the Rhône delta, on the right bank of the river, facing Tarusco (Tarascon), at a point which according to ancient itineraries was one of the principal crossings (Trajectus Rhodani).
The pre-Roman town was on the rocky butte dominating the river on which the mediaeval castle is built. There is evidence of human occupation there from the 6th c. to the Roman era. On the flat space on which the castle is built are the remains of a large and strong Roman edifice, sometimes identified as a castellum. The main Roman settlement was at the foot of the native oppidum, on the site of the mediaeval and modern town, and is attested by numerous discoveries: remains of structures, mosaic pavements, architectural elements, statues, inscriptions, and other objects. To the NW of the city, along the Via Domitiana, necropoleis have recently been discovered and partially explored; they have yielded Roman cremation burials of unusually early date. Both early and recent discoveries are found for the most part in the archaeological museums of Beaucaire and Nîmes.
BIBLIOGRAPHYCarte archéologique de la Gaule romaine, fasc. VIII, Gard (1941) 1-5, nos. 3-5; RE 8 A2 (1958) col. 1908; “Informations,” Gallia 20 (1962) 628I; 22 (1964) 498I; 24 (1966) 474; 27 (1969) 403.
G. BARRUOL