The city of Nîmes was called Nemausus at that time, from the name of a spring dedicated to the God of the same name, and from 20 B.C., it was a colony called Colonia de Neausensis Augusta. In this colony, Augustus had established a town plan typical of a Roman city, built to contain splendid buildings and with a wall surrounding more than 200 hectares, of which the Augustus Gate survives today. At the time when the Arènes was built, its inhabitants had completely adopted the language, laws and customs of Roman citizens. And like the people of Rome, the people of Nemausus were great fans of Roman games, particularly hunting and gladiator combat. More than anywhere else, the Romans had, in fact, applied their principles of victory in the province of Narbonne, as summarised by the poet Virgil in his famous verses from the Aeneid : "Remember,
Roman, that you must subject the peoples to your power, organise peace, spare the vanquished and crush the rebels." Two bulls emerging from a frontispice, bring to mind the world of bullfights. Their presence is explained by Emperor Augustus’s liking of this animal, as his ancestors came from the city which honoured it, Thurium.

It was probably in the 6th century that the Arènes was transformed into a fortress by the Visigoths. Gladiator combat was banned. The castrum arenae then became a refuge for the population in the event of danger. It was a real castle, surrounded by a moat. In the 8th century, the Saracens were in the process of ousting the Visigoths, until Charles Martel managed to stop their advance in 737.
In the 12th century, under the suzerainty of the counts of Toulouse, this castrum became the seat of the viscounty of Nîmes and its vassals, "the Chevaliers des Arènes", and a chateau was built inside the monument. A real village, which still had 700 inhabitants in the 18th century, developed inside the amphitheatre with notably the construction of two Arènes de Nîmes - Maison Carrée - Tour Magne Monuments developed and managed by Press Pack – Arènes de Nîmes, Maison Carrée, Tour Magne - 2007 14 Press Pack churches, Saint-Pierre and Saint-Martin. This small district criss-crossed with small streets lasted until the start of the 19th century.
At the start of the 12th century, the building ceased to play a military role when the Languedoc region became part of France. The chateau fell under the ownership of the king of France and his representatives occupied it until the 14th century, before moving to a new chateau built on the site of the Augustus Gate. The abandoned amphitheatre was then handed over to private owners. The buildings crowded into it (houses, viscounts’ chateau, the two churches) existed until the end of the 18th century.
1786 marked the start of the clearing of the Roman building, prior to its restoration : houses, chateau and chapels were demolished to restore the monument to its original appearance. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the architect, Henri Revoil, completed the restoration of the monument.

The clearing of the Arènes, which was started under the first empire, made the site suitable for its original purpose again, an arena for entertainment. In April 1813, Baron Rolland, the Prefect of the Gard, proposed to the Minister for Home Affairs that the Arènes should be opened to the public for its favourite form of entertainment. He wrote to him : "The public’s taste for bullfights is great in this region and nowhere else will you find a site as magnificent as the Arènes."

Since 1853, the monument has been used for its original purpose with the organisation of Camargue bull races then bullfights. Today, the amphitheatre plays host to bullfights during the férias, the most famous local festivals (Whitsun Féria and the Grape Harvest Féria in September).

The traditional rules of bullfighting are as follows : "The paseo" opens the show ; the toreros then parade in glittering costumes followed by the banderilleros, the picadors and the mules and horses which will pull away the body of the bull... The fight starts with the animal entering from the toril, where it was held in the shade, into the full light of day in the arena; the torero is waiting for the bull with his cape, tries to calm the bull’s fury, bring it under control and impose his own rhythm ; it is a game of passes. The second phase involves the picadors who use their lances to injure and provoke the beast ; then come the banderilleros who stick their banderilles into the bull’s flesh to enrage the animal and make it fight. The fight ends with the "muleta" : the toreador, muleta in his hand, brings the bull to the point of exhaustion to finish with the "final thrust" or "death blow".

Although the bullfight is the most popular spectacle at the Arènes, there are other less cruel and very popular events ; some fights without the "death blow", the "courses à la cocarde", where a ribbon is placed between the horns of the bull, or Provence fights, are very successful. This is where a bull or young cow is pitted against razetteurs, who have to use a comb to detach the ribbon fixed between the animal’s horns. This game requires great flexibility and fitness on the part of the razetteurs who have to avoid the charges and the horns of their adversary by jumping onto the barricades surrounding the arena.