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The Barbegal Roman Mill was a flour mill complex powered by 16 waterwheels, fed by two aqueducts bring water to Arles. The mill was located on a hillside near the village of Fontvieille, and was considered "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world"...operated for a couple of hundred years, from the end of the 1st century until the end of the second century. The mills had a capacity to produce 4.5 tons of flour a day, enough to provide bread for all 12,500 inhabitants of Arles (Arelate) at the time...The Barbegal mill complex was built in...

The ancient city of Arles, once a major commercial hub in the Roman Empire, still holds many secrets. Some of them are buried in the bed of the Rhône. Little by little, working in complete darkness, archaeologists and scuba divers are braving its treacherous currents to uncover the remains of a mysterious Roman shipwreck and its cargo. For fear of looters, they work in total secrecy. Their investigations lead us to the 4th century AD – the golden age of the city of Arles and a time of great upheaval in the Roman Empire. During this period, the Empire switched...

In this undated image released by France's Culture Ministry Tuesday May 13, 2008, a life size marble bust of Julius Cesar is seen. The bust, probably dated 46 BC, was discovered last year after underwater searches in the Rhone River near Arles, southern France. (AP Photo/Culture Ministry, C. Chary) Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France's Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known. The life-sized bust showing the Roman ruler with wrinkles and hollows in his face is tentatively dated to 46 B.C. Divers uncovered the...