{"id":30156,"date":"2018-04-21T01:14:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T23:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30156"},"modified":"2018-04-21T01:14:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T23:14:46","slug":"visiting-ancient-france-the-battle-of-alesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/visiting-ancient-france-the-battle-of-alesia\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Ancient France: The Battle of Alesia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most important ancient battles that occurred during the Gallic Wars took place in Al\u00e9sia, France. Known in French as <em>le\u00a0si\u00e8ge d&#8217;Al\u00e9sia<\/em>, this battle pitted Roman forces, led by Julius Caesar, against the Gauls (the Celtic tribe that inhabited the region from 5th century BCE to the 5th century CE), led by the chieftan\u00a0Vercing\u00e9torix. The Romans&#8217; decisive victory signaled the end of Gallic rule in modern-day France, as well as the beginning of the assimilation of the Gauls to Roman culture.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_30157\" style=\"width: 273px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30157\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-30157\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/vercingetorix-1665783_640-263x350.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/vercingetorix-1665783_640-263x350.jpg 263w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/vercingetorix-1665783_640.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 263px) 100vw, 263px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-30157\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>If the Gauls had ended up winning this battle, we can imagine that France would be very different today. After all, French has evolved from the language of the victors (Latin) and not of the Gauls. Yet, despite the importance of the battle, few people know about it today. The French government has attempted to change this in recent years, by opening an educational and tourist site at the site of the Battle of Alesia, called\u00a0Le Mus\u00e9oParc Al\u00e9sia.<\/p>\n<p>According to the website, Le Mus\u00e9oParc Al\u00e9sia consists of three different sites, including (in French):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>le Centre d\u2019interpr\u00e9tation qui pr\u00e9sente le contexte, le d\u00e9roulement et les cons\u00e9quences de la bataille d\u2019Al\u00e9sia pour les Gaulois et pour les Romains,<\/li>\n<li>les vestiges de la ville gallo-romaine d\u2019Al\u00e9sia,<\/li>\n<li>la statue de Vercing\u00e9torix \u00e9rig\u00e9e par Napol\u00e9on III.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An interpretation center that offers the context, events, and consequences of the Battle of Alesia for the Gauls and the Romans,<\/li>\n<li>The ruins of the Gall0-Roman village of Alesia,<\/li>\n<li>The statue of\u00a0Vercing\u00e9torix erected by Napol\u00e9on III.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to historians and archeologists, the Battle of Alesia took place a Alise-Sainte-Reine, a small commune where the site is now located. It was here that the battle took place in 52 BCE, culminating in a long siege of the fortified village of Alesia. Julius Caesar ordered his troops to construct a wall around the village where\u00a0Vercing\u00e9torix and his troops were located. Many men, women, and children starved during the siege. Finally,\u00a0Vercing\u00e9torix told Caesar that he would surrender if his men were spared. Julius Caesar agreed, and triumphantly brought\u00a0Vercing\u00e9torix back to Rome in chains, where he was later executed. This victory provided Julius Caesar with enough fame, support, and spoils from the war to embark on the civil wars that cemented his dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p>Reference to this battle and to Vercing\u00e9torix can be found throughout France. Streets in Paris and elsewhere are named after\u00a0Vercing\u00e9torix and Al\u00e9sia, and many French schoolchildren have been introduced to\u00a0Vercing\u00e9torix and the Gauls through the popular comic\u00a0<i>Ast\u00e9rix le Gaulois.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>You can find out more about\u00a0Le Mus\u00e9oParc Al\u00e9sia at its official website (https:\/\/www.alesia.com). And, next time you&#8217;re in the Burgundy region of France, make sure to visit!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"263\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/vercingetorix-1665783_640-263x350.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/vercingetorix-1665783_640-263x350.jpg 263w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/vercingetorix-1665783_640.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 263px) 100vw, 263px\" \/><p>One of the most important ancient battles that occurred during the Gallic Wars took place in Al\u00e9sia, France. Known in French as le\u00a0si\u00e8ge d&#8217;Al\u00e9sia, this battle pitted Roman forces, led by Julius Caesar, against the Gauls (the Celtic tribe that inhabited the region from 5th century BCE to the 5th century CE), led by the&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/visiting-ancient-france-the-battle-of-alesia\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":30157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[507529,250036,507526,5339,178453,507528],"class_list":["post-30156","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-alesia","tag-french-history","tag-gallic-wars","tag-gaul","tag-julius-caesar","tag-vercingetorix"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}