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Lugdunensis's District of
Alesia
Ceann mor:
Position is currently vacant
Home of the Averni and Vercingetorix.
There is almost no pre-Roman information on the town of Alésia. We know there were many Celtic trade routes in the area. We know the tribe, the Aedui, had built a town of 97 hectares containing wooden houses surrounded by a wooden wall on Mont Auxois, near current Dijon. We know it was sieged, and that it fell. 52 BC was the seventh year of the Gallic Wars, in which the leader Vercingetoux entered Alésia into the annals of history. After several battles with the Roman armies, the final stand was at the Oppidum, or stronghold, of Alésia. Once they entered the fort, the Roman armies began to build a siege wall to contain the Gallic army.  Before the siege wall was complete, Vercingetoux was able to get a small militia out the city gate and through the gap. At this point the Romans realized they would soon have the enemy on both sides. They completed the first wall, or contravallation, to contain the enemy forces within. They then constructed an outer wall, or circumvallation, which sealed out anyone who attempted to help those inside the Oppidum. The Romans, in their way, destroyed much of the earliest traces during the reconstruction of the city after its surrender. It was rebuilt with a basillica, theater, and artisan quarters including a bronzeworkers' guild. There were also such luxuries as a private bathhouse. After the earliest parts of the city were completed it extended down the hill and to the waterside, becoming the most important city in what was then known as Gallia Comata. There is an extensive model at the National Museum of Antiquities at St. Germaine en Laye, showing all of the different defensive tactics the Romans used against the Gallic tribe of the area including sharpened pikes, barbed balls and chains meant to break the legs of horses. Sources: Alésia, Athena Review Image Archive The Siege of Alesia (1) The Siege of Alesia (2) The Siege of Alesia (3) Introduction to Vercingetorix Vercingetorix, Part 1 Vercingetorix, Part 2 Alesia The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites The Siege of Alesia, 52 BC Vercingetorix: The Man Who Opposed and Empire Text by Aine Cruithni. Map and graphics by MacMorna Niafer. Guide to Celtia
The Discussions of Alesia:
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