The full Roman name is Colonia Augusta Nemausensis.  
It was initially a simple military post, created at the request of the proconsul Cneu=s Domitius Ahenobarbus to control the road and the oppidum gallico di Mon= t-Cavalier. With the arrival of the roman contingents, the population of Nemauses increased rapidly.  
Thanks to the emperor Augustus, Nemauses was fortified with walls, gates and towers, becoming a colonised city par excellence, as Augustus himself reminds us in an inscription dating from 15 b.c. in the porta d'Italia/Porta d'Augusto.  
Amongst the important monuments still in existence are the amphitheatre, porta d'Augusto and Villa Carrée.