Everything about Vercingetorix totally explained
Vercingetorix (in
Latin), died
46 BC, was
chieftain of the
Arverni, originating from the Arvernian city of
Gergovia and known as the man who led the
Gauls in their ultimately unsuccessful war against
Roman rule under
Julius Caesar. Known primarily through
Caesar's accounts, Vercingetorix's revolt is frequently used as a heroic example of Gallic virtue and resolve.
History
Having been appointed
governor of the Roman province of
Gallia Narbonensis (modern
Provence) in 58 BC, Julius Caesar proceeded to conquer the
Gallic tribes beyond over the next few years, maintaining control through a careful
divide and rule strategy. He made use of the factionalism among the Gallic
elites, favouring certain noblemen over others with political support and Roman luxuries such as wine. Attempts at revolt, such as that of
Ambiorix in 54 BC, had secured only local support, but Vercingetorix, whose father,
Celtillus, had been put to death by his own countrymen for seeking to rule all of Gaul, managed to unify the Gallic tribes against the Romans and adopted more modern styles of warfare.
The revolt that Vercingetorix came to lead began in early 52 BC while Caesar was raising troops in
Cisalpine Gaul. Believing that Caesar would be distracted by the turmoil in
Rome following the death of
Clodius, the
Carnutes, under
Cotuatus and
Conetodunus, made the first move, slaughtering the Romans who had settled in their territory.
Vercingetorix, a young nobleman of the Arvernian city of
Gergovia, roused his dependents to join the revolt, but he and his followers were expelled by the nobles of the city, including Vercingetorix's uncle
Gobanitio, because they thought opposing Caesar too great a risk. Undeterred, Vercingetorix raised an army of the poor, took Gergovia and was hailed as king. He made alliances with other tribes, and having been unanimously given supreme command of their armies, imposed his authority through harsh discipline and the taking of hostages. He adopted the policy of retreating to natural
fortifications, and undertook an early example of a
scorched earth strategy by burning towns to prevent the
Roman legions from living off the land.
Vercingetorix and his army won some initial minor engagements with the Romans units led by Caesar and his chief lieutenant
Titus Labienus. However, the Romans captured the tribal capital at Avaricum (
Bourges), killing the entire population of 120,000. The next major battle was at Gergovia, where Vercingetorix defeated Caesar, inflicting heavy losses. However, the victory cost Vercingetorix many men, including many noblemen. Due to these losses he retreated and moved to another stronghold,
Alesia.
In the
Battle of Alesia Caesar built a fortification around the city to besiege it. However, Caesar's army was surrounded by the rest of Gaul, and Vercingetorix had summoned his Gallic allies to attack the besieging Romans, so Caesar built another outer fortification against the expected relief armies (resulting in a doughnut-shaped fortification). The relief came in insufficient numbers: estimates range from 80,000 to 250,000 soldiers. Vercingetorix, the tactical leader, was cut off from them on the inside, and without his guidance the attacks were initially unsuccessful. However, the attacks did reveal a weak point in the fortifications and the combined forces on the inside and the outside almost made a breakthrough. Only when Caesar personally led the last reserves into battle did he finally manage to prevail. This was a decisive battle in the creation of the
Roman empire.
According to legend Vercingetorix surrendered in magnificent fashion, allegedly riding his horse out of Alesia and around Caesar's camp before throwing his arms at Caesar's feet, stripping himself of his armor and kneeling to Caesar with a flourish. Caesar provides a first-hand contradiction of this account, describing Vercingetorix's surrender much more modestly. He was imprisoned in the
Tullianum in
Rome for five years, before being publicly displayed in Caesar's
triumph in
46 BC. He was executed after the triumph, probably by strangulation in his prison, as ancient custom would have it.
Etymology
The etymology of the name
Vercingetorix is conjectural.
It can be analysed as
Gaulish ver- ("over, superior" - an etymological cognate of Latin
super or Greek
hyper),
cingeto- ("warrior", related to roots meaning "tread, step, walk", so possibly "infantry"),
rix ("king").
Alternately, the name can be translated as "leader of the high council", with Gaulish
ver and
rix as above, but combined with "cyngat" (compare to Welsh "harmony", and here meaning an entity that makes decisions by consensus or harmony, rather than by fiat).
Both translations are consistent with modern understanding of Gaulish custom and language, and with the Gaulish reaction to overwhelming Roman military power. However, absent additional information, neither translation should be considered authoritative.
Memorial
Napoleon III erected a seven metre statue of Vercingetorix in
1865, created by the sculptor
Aimé Millet, on the supposed site of
Alesia. The architect for the memorial was
Viollet-le-Duc. The impressive statue still stands. The inscription on the base, written by
Viollet-le-Duc, reads (in
French):
» « La Gaule unie
Formant une seule nation
» Animée d'un même esprit,
Peut défier l'Univers. »
Which translates to:
» « United Gaul
Forming a single nation
» Animated by a same spirit,
Can defy the Universe. »
There is a statue of Vercingetorix by
Bartholdi on Place de Jaude in
Clermont-Ferrand (see first image).
In France, Vercingetorix is often considered a folk hero.
Popular culture
Vercingetorix appears in the third yearbook of the Marvel GI Joe comics, a short story titled "My Dinner with Serpentor" dealing with his surrender due to the origins of pizza.
Vercingetorix appears in the Alix comics series, notably in the album entitled Vercingetorix.
Vercingetorix is one of the Great Generals appearing in Civilization IV.
A 2001 French film, Vercingétorix, also known as Vercingétorix: la légende du druide roi ("Vercingetorix: the legend of the druid king"), released as Druids in English, was directed by Jacques Dorfmann and co-written by Dorfmann and Norman Spinrad, starring Christopher Lambert in the title role. It was neither a critical nor a box-office success, but did far better in Europe than the United States of America. Spinrad went on to write a novel, The Druid King, released in 2003.
Vercingetorix appeared in the 2002 TNT television miniseries Julius Caesar, played by Heino Ferch.
Vercingetorix's campaign against Caesar is the subject of Morgan Llywelyn's 1992 novel Druids.
The "Prince of all the Gauls" appears in the 2005 HBO/BBC series Rome, played by Giovanni Calcagno. He is in the episodes "The Stolen Eagle" and "Triumph."
Vercingetorix appears as an enemy character in the computer games Praetorians and Age Of Empires.
Rix, a shortened form of Vercingetorix, was the name of Dominique San Juste's horse in Michele Hauf's novel, Seraphim
In 62: A Model Kit, a novel by Julio Cortazar, a lead character sculpts a statue of Vercingetorix holding under his arm, as the charactere describes it, "his own decapitated head enlarged by history, changed into two thousand years of schoolboy compositions and the pretext for hollow speeches..."
Vercingetorix appears as a French warrior in the Anachronism card game.Further Information
Get more info on 'Vercingetorix'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://vercingetorix.totallyexplained.com">Vercingetorix Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
