GERGOVIA
or Gergobia, Commune of La Roche-Blanche, Puy-de-Dôme, France.
Mountain ending in a plateau (altitude 730 m) dominating the valley
of the Allier by ca. 350 m. When Gaul was independent, the plateau was used as a citadel by the agricultural population living on the level areas on the slopes
and at the foot of the mountain. In 52 B.C. Caesar besieged the fortress but failed to take it. The Roman
administration tried to establish an urban center on the
plateau, but failed in less than a century and the inhabitants settled once again on lands more favorable
to agriculture.
Excavations have been conducted on several occasions. Those in the 18th c. are poorly known, but in
1862 the ditches of Caesar's two camps were uncovered. Other excavations in 1861, in 1933-38, and in 1941-49, have analyzed the composition of the rampart and
excavated a temple of Celtic type with two cellae, a
small blast furnace, and private dwellings. The artifacts
collected are shared by a small museum on the plateau
and by the Musèe Bargoin at Clermont-Ferrand.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stoffel, in Napolèon III, “Hist. de
Jules César” (1865-66)
M; O. Brogan & E. Desforges,
“Gergovia,”
AJA 97 (1941); Hatt & Labrousse, “Les
Fouilles de Gergovie,”
Gallia 1 (1943) 71-124; 5
(1947) 271-300; 6 (1948) 31-95; 8 (1950) 14-53;
Balme & Fournier,
Gergovie (1962); A. Noché,
Gergovie,
vieux problèmes et solutions nouvelles, Collection Roma
aeterna, VI (1974).
P. FOURNIER
