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Gergovie
Gergovie (in auvergnat ''Gergòia'') is a French village in the commune of La Roche-Blanche in the Puy-de-Dôme ''département'', a few kilometres south of Clermont-Ferrand. It is situated at the foot of the Gergovie plateau, the official but disputed site of the Battle of Gergovia, where—near the Arverni oppidum of Nemossos (a sacred wood, in Gaulish)—the Arverni and other Gallic tribes gathered under Vercingetorix's command to fight the Roman legions of Julius Caesar in 52 BC. The village was known as ''Merdogne'' until 1865, when it successfully petitioned the emperor Napoleon III to change the name to Gergovie, because the site of the Gauls' victory over Caesar was a more glorious name than one that resembled a vulgarity (''merde ''Shit'' is a word considered to be vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Gergovia
The Battle of Gergovia took place in 52 BC in Gaul at Gergovia, the chief oppidum (fortified town) of the Arverni. The battle was fought between a Roman Republican army, led by proconsul Julius Caesar, and Gallic forces led by Vercingetorix, who was also the Arverni chieftain. The Romans attempted to besiege Gergovia, but miscommunication ruined the Roman plan. The Gallic cavalry counterattacked the confused Romans and sent them to flight, winning the battle. The site is identified with Merdogne, since renamed Gergovie, a village located on a hill within the town of La Roche-Blanche, near Clermont-Ferrand, in south central France. Some walls and earthworks still survive from the pre-Roman Iron Age. The battle is well-known in France as an example of a Gallic victory. Prelude As with much of the conflict between Rome and Gaul in the first century BC, information about this battle comes principally from Julius Caesar's '' Commentaries on the Gallic War'' (). There are no surviv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
