Alesia 52 BC by Nic Fields

Author:Nic Fields
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Alesia 52 BC: The final struggle for Gaul
ISBN: 9781782009238
Publisher: Random House Publisher Services

THE SIEGE OF AVARICUM

The crossing of the Liger (Loire) by Caesar, and his march on Avaricum, drew Vercingetorix towards him. However, the Gaulish leader carefully avoided physical contact. He followed the Romans by easy stages and then encamped deep in a swampy forest, some 20km from the oppidum, presumably to entice Caesar into this unfamiliar, treacherous ground. If this was so, he was unsuccessful, for Caesar opened his operations against Avaricum without delay. The Bituriges were unwilling to sacrifice what was their chief oppidum by implementing the strategy of scorched earth advocated by Vercingetorix. Consequently, its 40,000 inhabitants opted to hold it against Caesar.

At Avaricum Caesar was obliged to construct an earthen ramp (agger) 80 Roman feet (23.67m) high, as the oppidum sat on moderately high ground amid impassable marshland at the confluence of four large rivers, what are called today the Yèvre, the Voiselle, the Auron and the Moulon. Consisting of earth and rubble with timber supports laid crisscross, this structure was completed in 25 days. The ramp’s width of 330 Roman feet (97.6m) amply accommodated the two siege towers that gave the legionary working parties covering fire during the engineering phase. These working parties were protected by rows of end-to-end sheds (vineae). Vegetius (4.15) describes a vinea as a light timber structure, open-ended with wickerwork sides, a boarded roof and a fireproof covering of freshly flayed hides. Arranged end-to-end to form long corridors, these are perhaps the devices Caesar calls ‘open tunnels’ (cuniculi aperti). Behind the labouring work parties were the artillery – stone-throwing ballistae and bolt-shooting scorpiones – protected by a line of mantlets. The two siege towers were trundled up the ramp, the muscle power being provided by legionaries who were protected by side screens. However, the ramp was primarily designed to facilitate a mass infantry assault on the battlements.

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