ARLES, Fr. pron. lirl; Eng. pron. iirlz (an ciently, Lat. Arelate, or Arelas, from Pelt. Ar laeth, "on the marshy land"). One of the oldest towns in France, in the Department of Bouehes du-Rhone, situated on the left bank of the prin cipal branch of the Rhone, after it has divided into a delta (Map: France, L 8). Arles carries on a considerable trade. It has manufactures of silk, hats, tobacco, brandy, etc., and forms a market for the productions of the surrounding country. It possesses a college, a naval school, a public library, and a superb museum of antiqui ties in natural history. A canal has been cut which connects Arles with the south coast. Rail ways also bring it into easy communication with Marseilles, Avignon, Nimes, Montpellier, etc. Under the Romans, it was the seat of a pre fecture; afterwards, for some time, the residence of the Gothic King Eurie, and from 879 the metropolis of the kingdom of Arles, or of Cis jurane Burgundy (see BURGUNDY). This king dom was united in 933 with that of Transjurane Burgundy, and this larger Arletan realm was ruled by native kings until 1032. On the ex
tinction of this line, the Arletan territories were taken possession of by the German Emperor Con rad 11. In the early Christian times, several important councils were convened here (in 314, 353. 452, and 475). At the famous council (synod) of 353, the cause of Arianism gained a temporary triumph. Among the antiquities of Arles are an amphitheatre (Les Arenes) which accommodated between 20,000 and 30,000 spectators: the ruins of a theatre, also of a palace of Constantine the Great; an obelisk of granite dug up from the mud of the Rhone in 1389: a burial-place (the Elysian Fields) used by the Romans; and a Romanesque cathedral dedicated to Saint Trophimus, the western portal of which is a unique example of Gallo-Byzan tine art. Population, in 1896, 12,755; in 1901, 15,506.