Alesia (city)

According to Diodorus Siculus the city was founded after Heracles met and married Keltikē {{sfn|Podossinov|2022|p=1293}} {{Cite journal |last=Benoit |first=Fernand |title=La légende d'Héraclès et la colonisation grecque dans le delta du Rhône |journal=Lettres d'humanité |issue=8 |date=December 1949 |page=123 |doi=10.3406/bude.1949.6813 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/bude_0004-5527_1949_num_1_8_6813}}

:The country of Keltikē was ruled by a renowned king whose daughter was unusually tall and was more beautiful than all other maidens, due to which she considered every man who asked her hand in marriage as unworthy of her and rejected them. "Hēraklēs," during his struggle against "Gēryōn," visited Keltikē and founded the city of Alesia there. The king's daughter was impressed by his physical excellence and had a son with him named Galatēs, who was more righteous and powerful than all the youths of his tribe. When Galatēs had reached adulthood, he became king and a great warrior, and he conquered much of the areas surrounding his tribe's territory. Due to the bravery of Galatēs, he called his subjects {{transliteration|grc|Galatai}} (that is, Gauls) after himself, and they in turn gave their name to {{transliteration|grc|Galatia}} (that is Gaul).

{{main article|Battle of Alesia}}

Alesia is best known for being the site of the decisive Battle of Alesia in 52 BC that marked the defeat of the Gauls under Vercingetorix by the Romans under Julius Caesar. Caesar described the battle in detail in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Book VII, 69–90). The battle's outcome determined the fate of all of Gaul: in winning the battle, the Romans won both the Gallic Wars and dominion over Gaul.

The enormous measures taken during the battle were impressive: in only six weeks, Caesar's troops built a ring of fortifications {{Cvt|15|km||abbr=}} long (circumvallation) around Alesia and an additional ring {{Cvt|21|km||abbr=}} long (contravallation) around that to stop reinforcements (around 250,000 men according to Caesar) from reaching the Gauls.

After being conquered by Caesar, Alesia became a Gallo-Roman town. It featured a town centre with monumental buildings such as temples and a forum. There was also a theatre.{{cite book |last1=Rieckhoff |first1=Sabine |last2=Fichtl |first2=Stephan |title=Keltenstädte aus der Luft |trans-title=Celtic Cities from the Sky |language=de |publisher=WBG |year=2011 |isbn=978-3-8062-2242-5 }}{{rp|32}}

For a long time after the abandonment of the Roman town{{Clarify timeframe|date=May 2024}}, the location of Alesia and thus the site of the important battle was unknown and subject to speculation. In the 19th century, Emperor Napoleon III developed an interest in the location of this crucial battle in pre-French history. He was writing a biography of Caesar and saw the command of Vercingetorix over all Gaulish armies as a symbol of the French nation. At the same time he realized that the future French nation was heavily influenced by the Roman victory and centuries of rule over Gaul.

In 1838 an inscription IN ALISIIA was discovered near Alise-Sainte-Reine in the department Côte-d'Or near Dijon. Napoleon III ordered an archaeological excavation by {{Ill|Eugène Stoffel|fr}} around Mont-Auxois. These excavations from 1861 to 1865 concentrated on the vast Roman siege lines and indicated that the historical Alesia was indeed located there.{{rp|32–33}}

The oppidum was located on a plateau of {{circa}} {{convert|97|ha}}, around {{convert|200|m}} above the valley floor, surrounded by steep cliffs in every direction except at the eastern and western extremities.{{rp|32}} It was protected by a wall (murus gallicus) enclosing an area of up to {{convert|140|ha}}, pierced by at least two pincer gates and in 52 BC it possibly had a population of 80,000, including refugees and men under the command of Vercingetorix.{{Google books |id=hW6lZS26-Q8C |page=89 |title=Caesar's Gallic Wars: 58–50 BC }}{{Google books |id=1MJ9HPsGsrUC |page=389 |title=Numbers from Nowhere: The American Indian Contact Population Debate }}

Later archaeological analysis at Alise-Sainte-Reine has corroborated the described siege in detail. The remains of siege rings said to match Caesar’s descriptions have been identified by archaeologists using aerial photography (e.g. by {{interlanguage link|René Goguey|fr}}). Franco-German excavations led by {{Ill|Michel Reddé|fr}} and {{Ill|Siegmar von Schnurbein|de}} from 1991–97 confirmed these findings and effectively ended the long debate among archaeologists about the location of Alesia.{{rp|32}}

There have been other theories about Alesia's location that claimed it was in Franche-Comté or around Salins-les-Bains in Jura. In the 1960s, a French archaeologist, {{Ill|André Berthier|fr}}, proposed that the location of Alesia is at Chaux-des-Crotenay in Franche-Comté, at the gate of the Jura mountains—a place that better suits the descriptions in Caesar's Gallic Wars{{Cite book|title=Alésia|last=Berthier|first=André|date=1990|publisher=Nouv. éd. latines|others=Wartelle, André, 1930–2001., Guillaumin, Jean-Yves, 1951– ..., Mulon, Marianne., Florenne, Yves, 1918–1992., Impr. SADAG)|isbn=2723304132|location=Paris|oclc=463603824}}—and indeed, Roman fortifications have been found at that site. In total, around 40 towns and other locations have claimed to be the site of Alesia.{{cite web |url=https://www.welt.de/geschichte/article107288208/Alesia-Wo-Caesar-den-Vercingetorix-vernichtete.html |title=Alesia – Wo Caesar den Vercingetorix vernichtete |language=de |work=Die Welt |date=18 April 2013 |access-date=2 September 2014 }}

File:03 Alesia site archeologique monument Ucuetis.jpg

Part of the area has become the MuséoParc Alésia.{{Clarify|date=August 2022}} Not much of the Gallic oppidum is visible today, except for some remains of a rampart. Most of the ruins date to the town’s Roman period.{{rp|32–33}}

A large copper statue of Vercingetorix, made in 1865 by Aimé Millet, stands at the western end of the plateau.

The uncertainty surrounding Alesia's location is humorously parodied in the Asterix comic book Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield, in which, in this case because of Gaulish pride, characters repeatedly and vehemently deny that they know its location: "I don't know where Alesia is! No-one knows where Alesia is!".

• Triumphal Arch of Orange

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor-last1=Boardman |editor-first1=J. |editor-link1=John Boardman (art historian) |editor-last2=Hargrave |editor-first2=J. |editor-last3=Avram |editor-first3=A. |editor-last4=Podossinov |editor-first4=A. |editor-link4=:ru:Подосинов, Александр Васильевич |last=Podossinov |first=Alexander V. |author-link=:ru:Подосинов, Александр Васильевич |date=2022 |title=Connecting the Ancient West and East: Studies Presented to Prof. Gocha R. Tsetskhladze |chapter=Heracles Celticus and Heracles Scythicus: the Same Narrative in the West and East of Europe? |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/94004503 |location=Leuven, Belgium |publisher=Peeters Publishers |pages=1291–1306 |isbn=978-9-042-94414-5 }}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140907164902/http://www.alesia.com/english_fr_000369.html Museumpark at Alesia]
• [https://www.livius.org/articles/battle/alesia-52-bce/#War%20in%20Gaul Siege of Alesia]

{{Gallic peoples}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1838 archaeological discoveries

Category:Oppida

Category:Vercingetorix

Category:Populated places in pre-Roman Gaul

Category:Archaeological sites in France

Category:Roman towns and cities in Burgundy

Category:Former populated places in France