The following is a history of Avignon , France. The site of Avignon has been occupied since the Neolithic period as shown by excavations at Rocher des Doms and the Balance district. On the bottom, shifted slightly to the right is a deep indentation with eight radiating lines forming a solar representation - a unique discovery for this type of stele.
Compared to other similar solar figures [ a ] this stele representing the "first Avignonnais" and comes from the time period between the Copper Age and the Early Bronze Age which is called the southern Chalcolithic. This was confirmed by other findings made in this excavation near the large water reservoir on top of the rock where two polished greenstone axes were discovered, a lithic industry characteristic of "shepherds of the plateaux".
There were also some Chalcolithic objects for adornment and an abundance of Hallstatt pottery shards which could have been native or imported Ionian or Phocaean. The name of the city dates back to around the 6th century BC. The first citation of Avignon Aouen n ion was made by Artemidorus of Ephesus. Although his book, The Journey , is lost it is known from the abstract by Marcian of Heraclea and The Ethnics , a dictionary of names of cities by Stephanus of Byzantium based on that book.
The Celtic tribes named it Auoention around the beginning of the Christian Era. It was in the 4th century BC that the Massaliotes people from Marseilles began to sign treaties of alliance with some cities in the Rhone valley including Avignon and Cavaillon.
A century later Avignon was part of the "region of Massaliotes" [ c ] or "country of Massalia". Fortified on its rock, the city later became and long remained the capital of the Cavares. It later became part of the 2nd Viennoise. Avignon remained a "federated city" with Marseille until the conquest of Marseille by Trebonius and Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus , Caesar's lieutenants. It became a city of Roman law in 49 BC.
