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.

Location of Gergovie in Auvergne
Plaque commemorating the visit of Napoléon III to Gergovie

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).[1]

  • The village church, classed as a historic monument
  • Gergovie's village square, restored in winter 2003
  • The roofs of north Gergovie in winter
  • General view of La Roche-Blanche
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References
  1. Graham Robb, The Discovery of France, Picador, London (2007), p.304 (quoting Onésime Reclus, France, Algérie et colonies, (1886), p.32)

Publications


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