Short answers, pulled from the story.
Nimes is called the French Rome because it contains some of the best-preserved Roman monuments in existence, including a near-intact amphitheatre, the Maison Carrée temple built around 19 BCE, the Pont du Gard aqueduct, and remnants of a six-kilometre ring of Roman ramparts. The city was dubbed "the most Roman city outside Italy."
Denim derives its name from Nimes, France, from the French phrase "Serge de Nimes." The blue dye used for the fabric was imported via Genoa from Lahore, the capital of the Mughal Empire.
The Arena of Nimes is a Roman amphitheatre dating from the end of the 2nd century AD, considered the best-preserved Roman arena in France and one of the largest amphitheatres built in the Roman Empire. It still hosts bullfighting and concerts today, including Metallica's live DVD recorded there on the 7th of July 2009.
The Maison Carrée, meaning "Square House," is a Roman temple built around 19 BCE and dedicated to the sons of Agrippa. It is one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere in the world, noted for its resemblance to Rome's Temple of Portunus and its blending of Etruscan and Greek design.
Wehrmacht troops occupied Vichy France in November 1942, affecting Nimes. On the 22nd of April 1943, Wehrmacht soldiers executed two Maquis resistance fighters, Jean Robert and Vinicio Faita, at Nimes. On the 27th of May 1944, United States Army Air Forces bombers struck the Nimes marshalling yards as preparation for Operation Dragoon.
Nemausus was the god of the local Volcae Arecomici tribe, a Celtic people who inhabited the site of what is now Nimes. The city adopted the deity's name, and both the modern city name and the asteroid 51 Nemausa, discovered in Nimes in 1858, trace back to this ancient figure.