DOC The Egyptian Oracle Project: Ancient Ceremony in Augmented Reality (Bloomsbury Egyptology) by From Bloomsbury Academic in History

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Caesar's Legions laid siege to Vercingetorix's Gallic army in one of the most tactically amazing battles of all time. Outnumbered 6:1; the Romans built siege lines facing inward and outward and prevented the Gauls from breaking the siege. The campaign leading to the battle revealed ingenuity on both sides; though in the end Caesar established his fame in these actions.In 52 BC; Caesar's continued strategy of annihilation had engendered a spirit of desperation; which detonated into a revolt of Gallic tribes under the leadership of the charismatic; young; Arvernian noble; Vercingetorix. Though the Gallic people shared a common language and culture; forging a coalition amongst the fiercely independent tribes was a virtually impossible feat; and it was a tribute to Vercingetorix's personality and skill.Initially Vercingetorix's strategy was to draw the Romans into pitched battle. Vercingetorix was soundly beaten in the open field battle against Caesar at Noviodunum; followed by the Roman sack of Avaricum. However; the action that followed at Gergovia amounted to the most serious reverse that Caesar faced in the whole of the Gallic War. Vercingetorix began a canny policy of small war and defensive maneuvers; which gravely hampered Caesar's movements by cutting off his supplies. For Caesar it was to be a grim summertime - his whole Gallic enterprise faced liquidation.In the event; by brilliant leadership; force of arms; and occasionally sheer luck; Caesar succeeded. This culminated in the siege of Alesia (north of Dijon); which Caesar himself brilliantly narrates (Bellum Gallicum 7.68-89). With his 80;000 warriors and 1;500 horsemen entrenched atop a mesa at Alesia; the star-crossed Vercingetorix believed Alesia was unassailable. Commanding less than 50;000 legionaries and assorted auxiliaries; Caesar nevertheless began the siege. Vercingetorix then dispatched his cavalry to rally reinforcements from across Gaul; and in turn Caesar constructed a contravallation and circumvallation; a double wall of fortifications around Alesia facing toward and away from the oppidum. When the Gallic relief army arrived; the Romans faced the warriors in Alesia plus an alleged 250;000 warriors and 8;000 horsemen attacking from without. Caesar adroitly employed his interior lines; his fortifications; and the greater training and discipline of his men to offset the Gallic advantage; but after two days of heavy fighting; his army was pressed to the breaking point. On the third day; the Gauls; equipped with fascines; scaling ladders and grappling hooks; captured the northwestern angle of the circumvallation; which formed a crucial point in the Roman siege works. In desperation; Caesar personally led the last of his reserves in a do-or-die counterattack; and when his Germanic horsemen outflanked the Gauls and took them in the rear; the battle decisively turned. The mighty relief army was repulsed.Vercingetorix finally admitted defeat; and the entire force surrendered the next day. Alesia was to be the last significant resistance to Roman will in Gaul. It involved virtually every Gallic tribe in a disastrous defeat; and there were enough captives for each legionary to be awarded one to sell as a slave. In a very real sense Alesia symbolized the extinction of Gallic liberty. Rebellions would come and go; but never again would a Gallic warlord independent of Rome hold sway over the Celts of Gaul.