Uxellodunum

The siege in the campaign of 51 BC. Uxellodunum can be found on this map in the territory of the Cadurci in south west Gaul.

Uxellodunum is an Iron Age hill fort, or oppidum, located above the river Dordogne near the modern-day French village of Vayrac in the Lot department. This stronghold lay within the lands of the Cadurci tribe. According to Aulus Hirtius in his addendum to Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, the last revolt against Rome's authority in Gaul occurred here, and was brutally punished.[1]

The Commentaries on the Gallic War describe Uxellodunum as being strongly fortified by its natural position, with a river dividing the valley below that almost surrounded the steep craggy mountain on which the citadel was built.[2] The name apparently means "high fort"; "dun" is a Celtic word for fort, which is to be found in many place-names.[3]

  1. ^ Mopping Up in Gaul
  2. ^ Book 8, chapter 40, The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar, translated from the Latin by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869)
  3. ^ Encyclopedia universalis (in French)