ANTIBES, A fortified seaport in the department of Alpes-Maritimes, in the south east of Provence, France, and the general port of communication with Corsica. It stands on the east side of a small neck of land called La Garonpe, lying west of the mouth of the Var, in a fertile district (Map: France, N 8). The harbor is only serviceable, however, for small craft. It possesses a naval school, and has con siderable trade in olives, dried fruits, salt fish, oil, perfumery, etc. The anchovies prepared at Antibes are held in high esteem. The en virons of the town are bright with vineyards and orchards, while its gardens of roses and jasmine furnish material for the extensive perfume manu factories of the town. Pop. in 1896, 4956; com mune, 9329 ; in 1901, 5512; commune, 10,947.
Antibes is a very old place, having been found ed under the name of Antipolis by a colony of Greeks from Massilia (Marseilles), of which it became a dependency. In the time of Augustus
it was elevated to the rank of a mu nicipiu and must have attained a high degree of pros perity, if we are to judge from the ruins of theatres and aqueducts that still exist. After the disintegration of the Roman Empire, Antibes shared the fate of all cities in that region, becom ing subject to successive tribes of barbarians from the North. In the ninth century it was destroyed by the Saracens: in the sixteenth cen tury it was fortified by Francis 1. and Henry IV. : during the War of the Austrian Succession, it sustained a siege of three months (1746) ; and in recent times gained some celebrity from hav ing closed its gates against Napoleon on his return from Elba. Consult Vinson, "Le port et he guarder maritime d'Antibes," in Revue Mor i i me. Volume CNLVE (Paris, 1900).