Baix (; oc, Bais) is a commune in the

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...

region of southern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Baixois'' or ''Baixoises''.

Geography

Baix is located some 30 km south by south-west of

Valence Valence or valency may refer to: Science * Valence (chemistry), a measure of an element's combining power with other atoms * Degree (graph theory), also called the valency of a vertex in graph theory * Valency (linguistics), aspect of verbs rel ...

and 25 km north-east of Aubenas. Access to the commune is by the D86 road from

Le Pouzin Le Pouzin (; oc, Lo Polzin) is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardèche department The following is a list of the 335 communes of the Ardèche department of France. The comm ...

in the north which passes through the commune and the town and continues south to Cruas. The D22 branches off the D86 just inside the northern border of the commune and goes west to

Chomérac Chomérac (; oc, Tchaoumeïra) is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France. It is located approximately 10 km away from both the Rhône valley to the east and Privas (capital of the department) to the west. Geography Chom� ...

. The commune is mostly forested but with farmland in the north-western third of the commune.Google Maps
/ref> The Rhône river forms the eastern border of the commune and the department as it flows south however there is no crossing point in the commune. The nearest crossing point is at Le Pouzin 5 km north. Numerous streams rise in the commune and flow east to the Rhone including ''La Payre'', the ''Ravin de Roux'', the ''Ravin de Saint-Pierre'', the ''Ruisseau de Notre-Dame'', the ''Ravin de Besset'', the ''Ruisseau de Cournairet'', the ''Ruisseau de Sainte-Euphémie'', with the ''Ruisseau de Sichier'' forming the southern border of the commune.

Neighbouring communes and villages

History

The banks of the Rhone at Baix have been occupied since Roman times. Many islands existed at the level of the plain of the Payre river which allowed for fords across the Rhone. There was a

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

town between

and Baix which was at the junction between the Antoninus Pius Roman way on the right bank of the Rhône and the Via Agrippa on the left bank. It is possible that

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

, advancing out of Spain, crossed the Rhône at this place with his elephants in about 218 BC before crossing the Alps. The name of this town was ''Batiana'' meaning "easy passage", a name probably given by a Phoenician colony to indicate the ease that of crossing the Rhone in this place (''batos'' = easy or feasible with ''ana'' = crossing) thanks to number of islands in the river at this point. Batiana had a ferry to cross the Rhône and a horse relay. The town lay on both banks of the river and perhaps also in the islands. As an obligatory place of passage, Batiana had to endure numerous invasions and destruction. It survived until the invasion of the Vandals in 411. The population of Batiana escaped the massacre and returned after an unknown time to rebuild the town on the ruins left by the Vandals. This new town was destroyed again in 735 by the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

who ravaged the entire Rhône Valley to Lyon at that time. A new Batiana emerged from the ruins. The new population of Latin origin were not the same people as the former Phoenician population who abandoned their former homes and settled north of the Ouvèze at

leaving the Greek people in the south on the right bank of the Rhône at Baix. The town was sheltered behind fortifications. To the south Baios (Baix) was created and Pusillus (Le Pouzin) to the north. Baios was first called ''Bacium'', then ''Bacxus'', ''Bays sur Bays'', then finally Baix. The remains of buildings and several ceramic tile graves have been uncovered around the Chapel of Saint Euphémie.

Administration

List of Successive

Mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities ...

Demography

In 2017 the commune had 1,164 inhabitants.

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The commune has several buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments: *La Cardinale Inn (17th century) *A Clock Tower (1600) *The Louis XVI Fountain and Lavoir (Puvblic laundry) (18th century) ;Other sites of interest *Old Renaissance Houses *The Rhone floodway to feed the centre of Logis-Neuf *The Géronton Stadium

Religious heritage

*The Croix Rouge Wayside Cross (17th century) is registered as an historical monumentMinistry of Culture, Mérimée ;Other religious sites *The Church of Sainte-Euphémie which has been frequently altered *The Chapel of Saint Joseph