The town of Antibes is of very ancient origin. According to M. Lenthéric, a sacred stone of the Phœnicians has here been found, with a Greek inscription, giving proof of the ancient worship of the Hellenes having been observed in this locality in the fifth century B.C. This town was also an important station under the Romans. In very early Christian times it became the see of a bishop,
FIG. 206. ANTIBES (from W.)
but being greatly exposed to the attacks of the Saracen Corsairs, from whom it suffered severely, the see was in 1243 removed for security to Grasse. There were originally four bishoprics in this part of the Riviera, viz.:—Nice, Antibes (afterwards Grasse), Vence, and Fréjus. The whole are now comprised in the two dioceses of Nice and Fréjus.
As a frontier town Antibes was necessarily much damaged during the wars between Francis I. and Charles V., being frequently attacked and pillaged. Its ancient buildings have thus been almost entirely demolished, either by the direct effects of war or in the construction of the fortifications, so that scarcely a trace of Roman occupation remains, save in some tombs, inscriptions, and urns which have been dug up. The oldest existing structures stand on the highest point of the rock facing the sea. Here we find some parts of the cathedral of the thirteenth century, and two towers in the style of those of the Mont du Chevalier at Cannes. The church is very simple in design, and seems to have been originally similar to that of Vence, but it has been greatly altered and a new front added in the seventeenth century ([Fig. 207]). The two towers at Antibes are of peculiar interest. At Cannes there is only one tower or keep, which was attached to the castle of the Chevalier. At Antibes one of the towers ([Fig. 208]) is in connection with an old palace (now a barrack), which doubtless occupies the site of the ancient castle, being on the summit of the rock, and suitably placed for keeping a look-out seawards. The other tower is close to the cathedral ([Fig. 207]), and is still connected with it by a covered way on the first floor. It seems probable that the first was the keep of the temporal Commandant and the other that of the spiritual Lord. The frequent incursions of the Corsairs would render such a place of security desirable in
FIG. 207. TOWER OR KEEP ATTACHED TO CATHEDRAL, ANTIBES.