Play with the P’tits Bougnats and win your Family Pass for the Gergovie museum
Do you know everything about the Gauls? To check it out, take part in the playful written interrogation of the P’tits Bougnats. To win your entries for the Gergovia Museum. If you have any doubts, re-listen to the P’tits bougnats program below! You have until April 27 inclusive to try your luck.
– Nicole Bernardin
Who were the Gauls?
When did they exist? The Gauls lived between prehistory and antiquity.
Where did they live and how did they live? They lived in a large territory called Gaul. Gaul is not a country, it is a geographical area divided into 60 small territories occupied by 60 peoples. The Gauls lived in houses resembling ours. But these houses were built of wood and cob, a mixture of earth and straw, with thatched roofs and there was only one room.
How were they physically? It’s hard to say. They weren’t that different from us. There were tall, short, fat, thin, beautiful, ugly. They had to have light hair because they used soaps that had the property of lightening the hair. We often imagine the Gauls with big mustaches and long hair, it is the product of the imagination of the artists who represented them.
What were they feeding on? Mainly cultivated plants. The Gauls were very good farmers. They ate cereals, vegetables. They also ate a little meat, but like us farmed meat, pigs, oxen, sheep, poultry. The Gauls hunted very little, it was mostly rich people and they did it to train in the art of war.
How did they dress? They superimposed layers of clothing. The men wore trousers, called braies, and a tunic, then an overtunic and capes. the women were dressed in long tunics with a kind of overcoat dress called the peplos. Clothes were made of wool, linen. They were attached with brooches, a kind of safety pins.
– Valerie Pohair
Did the Gauls go to school? Not all! The schools were reserved for the children of very wealthy Gauls. We didn’t write at school. The teaching was done orally by the Druids. And there was another very important school among the Gauls. It was aimed at boys, it was the school of war! We learned to fight.
Did Asterix and Obelix really exist? No, these are characters from the imagination of René Gosciny and Albert Uderzo. On the other hand many Gauls bore names in IX or RIX. RIX meant ROI in Gallic. The best known being Vercingétorix surely called “Ouerkinguetorix” because all the letters were pronounced.
Vercingetorix and the Battle of Gergovia
Vercingetorix
What did Vercingetorix look like? It’s difficult to answer this question because we don’t have a portrait of the time except on a coin. He is depicted young, with short hair and clean shaven. It’s not the image we all have of the Gauls with long hair and big mustaches.
What was his real name? Did he have a last name and siblings? The Gauls had no surname. Vercingetorix is his first name. He had a Celtillos father, a great Chief, a Gobannitio uncle and a Vercassiuellaunos cousin. We do not know more about his family.
How did he become Chief of the Gauls? Vercingetorix was the son of a great Chief, which made things easier. He seized power over the people of Arverni, and became Chief of Arverni. Then he engaged in a war against Caesar, and succeeded in rallying most of the Gallic peoples who chose him as Supreme Leader of their armies.
Was Vercingetorix riding a shield like Abraracourcix? No, this custom appeared several centuries later among the Franks.
Is Vercingetorix a nice guy? Hard to say. The only person who talks about him is Julius Caesar. He says that Vercingetorix is very severe and very cruel. It seems that when the fighters didn’t do what he wanted, he killed them, cut off their ears or gouged out their eyes.
Was he a good leader? Certainly a good warlord. He was a good strategist, he knew the strengths and weaknesses of his army and those he fought and knew what to do in different situations
How and where did he die? Vercingetorix died in Rome. After losing the Gallic Wars to Caesar, Caesar took him to Rome to show him off as a trophy, then he murdered him in his dungeon.
– Valerie Pohair
The Battle of Gergovia
When did this famous battle take place? In the spring of 52 BC.
Who triggered it and who won it? We don’t have a very clear answer. It was Vercingetorix who drew Caesar to the foot of Gergovie. Vercingetorix and the Gallic army won the battle. It is the only victory of the Gauls against Caesar in Gaul.
How long did it last? The battle itself lasted 1 day. The siege, the presence of the Romans at the foot of Gergovie, lasted 2 or 3 weeks.
How many men were engaged in battle? On the Roman side: there were 6 legions of 4,000 men, ie 24,000 soldiers plus 10,000 Gallic allies. Side of the Gauls: we don’t have a figure, but Caesar wrote that the Gauls were more numerous than the Romans. Many people engaged on this 6-hectare plateau, note that the battle took place on the slopes of the Gergovie plateau.
What losses? The only figure that we know is that given by Caesar who claimed to have lost less than 700 legionnaires. That’s not a lot. Historians believe he lost at least one legion, or 4,000 soldiers.
– Valerie Pohair
The Gergovie museum in the Puy de Dôme
What can be found in the Gergovie Museum? Archaeological objects dating from the time of the battle, models, maps and a large sound and image show describing the battle of Gergovie.
How did we get the battle info? The museum unfortunately does not have all the information. The period information is due to a text written by Julius Caesar. This text is the only source of information and there are things missing. Moreover, archaeologists have not excavated all the land around the Gergovie plateau, and even if they did, we would not know everything.
How long did it take to collect the exhibits? It takes time from when a piece is found in archaeological digs to when it arrives at the museum. The objects, once found, are studied in the laboratory, it can take a few years. The Gergovie museum presents a selection of objects and not all the objects discovered.
– Valerie Pohair
What activities does the Gergovie Museum offer?
- Guided tours in the museum but also on the Gergovie plateau, outdoors
- survey trails on the set in summer
- Gallic festivals with troupes that reenact life at the time.
What’s in the souvenir shop? Books for children and adults, imitations of Gallic objects (jewelry and pottery), Roman Playmobils, small swords, shields, Roman javelins and for the parents of La Cervoise, the beer that the Gauls drank.
Practical information:
Museum located on the Gergovie plateau 15 km from Clermont-Ferrand
Opening hours: Outside school holidays Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. – During school holidays open every day, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. (from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. during summer holidays)
Preparing for your visit to Gergovia museum
Follow the news of the Gergovie museum on Facebook
– Valerie Pohair
Behind the scenes of the show
– Nicole Bernardin
– Nicole Bernardin
From left to right: Erwan, Leïlou, Ana, Jules, Énora, Michaëlle, Zoé, Marion Chastaing, Mya, Thomas, Axel and Christophe Barbot
– Nicole Bernardin
Thanks to them, the Gauls have no more secrets for you: les p’tits bougnats, pupils of the school of Charmeil in the Allier, with their master Christophe Barbot and Marion Chastaing, cultural mediator, in charge of the educational service at the Gergovie Museum.
– Valerie Pohair
Also to listen the week of the little bougnatsthe news seen by the students of the Charmeil school in the Allier, every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.