Arles (Celtic Ar-lait, near the waters; Lat. Arelate), a town of France, in Provence, department of Bouches-du-Rhone, on the left bank of the lower Rhone, at the point where the river divides and forms the island of Camargue, 46 m. N. N. W. of Marseilles; pop. in 1866, 26,367. It is an ill-built and somewhat unhealthy place, though situated amid beautiful environs. Its ancient amphitheatre, although not as well preserved as that of Nimes, is superior in size and magnificence. An obelisk, consisting of a single block of granite about 50 feet high, is yet standing on one of the public thoroughfares, while the ruins of an aqueduct, of two temples, of a triumphal arch, an extensive cemetery, and numerous fragments of granite and marble columns, are to be seen in different parts of the city. The statue known as the Venus of Aries, a rival to the Venus de'Medici, now in the national museum of Paris, was discovered here in 1651. The Roland tower and the Byzantine church of St. Trophimus deserve mention, as also the town hall, designed by Mansard. Aries contains a school of navigation, a college, a collection of natural history, a museum of antiquities, a public library, and a theatre.

Silk, soap, and glass bottles are manufactured, and the sausages of Aries are held in high esteem. - The ancient Arelate was an important town at the time of Caesar's invasion, became a prosperous Roman colony, was for a time the residence of Constantine, became the capital of the Gothic king Euric, was plundered by the Saracens in 730, and 150 years later became the capital of Cisjurane Burgundy, and in 930 of both Cisju-rane and Transjurane Burgundy, united as the kingdom of Arelate or Aries. (See Burgun-dy.) In 1251 it came into the possession of Charles of Anjou, count of Provence. It was united to the crown of France under Louis XI. Several important ecclesiastical synods were held here in the 4th and 5th centuries.