Place:Uzès, Uzès, Gard, France

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Uzès is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2017, it had a population of 8,454. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon and south-east of Alès.

History

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Originally Ucetia or Eutica in Latin, Uzès was a small Gallo-Roman oppidum, or administrative settlement. The town lies at the source of the Alzon river, at Fontaine d'Eure, from where a Roman aqueduct was built in the first century BC, to supply water to the local city of Nîmes, away. The most famous stretch of the aqueduct is the Pont du Gard, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which carried fresh water over splendid arches across the river Gardon.

The civilized and tolerant urban life of 5th-century Uzès contrasted with the Frankish north. Jews were apparently settled there as early as the 5th century. Saint Ferréol, Bishop of Uzès, allegedly admitted them to his table; on this account complaint was made of him to King Childebert I, whereupon the bishop was obliged to change his attitude toward the Jews, compelling all those who would not become Christians to leave Uzès. After his death (581) many who had received baptism returned to Judaism. Jews were expelled from the region in 614.

In early 8th century, Uzès was a fortified civitas and bishopric under the Archbishop of Narbonne. During the Umayyad conquest of Gothic Septimania, Uzès became the northernmost stronghold of Muslim Spain circa 725. Charles Martel went on to lay siege to the stronghold in 736, but it remained in Gothic-Andalusian hands up to 752, when counts loyal to Ansemund of Nîmes handed over a large number of strongholds to the Frankish Pepin the Short. In 753 the stronghold rebelled against the Franks after Ansemund's assassination, but the uprising was suppressed and a Frankish trustee of Pepin imposed.

In the 13th century, Uzès hosted a small community of Jewish scholars, as well as a community of Cathars.

Like many cloth-manufacturing centers (Uzès was known for its serges), the city and the surrounding countryside were strongly Protestant during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century, which wreaked havoc in Languedoc. Numerous of the city's churches were trashed and burned by furious Protestants: only two remain today. One such destroyed and rebuilt church is Saint-Étienne.

Ucetia

Ucetia is the name of a Gallo-Roman oppidum in the Roman province of Occitania. Its existence was recorded on a list of eleven other settlements on a stela in Nîmes (ancient Nemausus) on which its name appears as "VCETIAE".. It was under the administration of Nemausus, to which it provided water via a Roman aqueduct. Ucetia was also known as Castrum Uceciense, which is in the Notitia of the Provinces of Gallia.^[1]

In 2017, mosaics discovered by accident during construction at a local high school represented material proof of the existence of Ucetia.^[2] The mosaics had depictions of animals such as a deer, an owl, an eagle, and bulls.^[2] These have been identified as "honor to the Roman gods". For many European cultures, deer represent deities of the woodlands, and the owl was a symbol of the goddess Athena. Together with the animals there were decorations that included water, geometric shapes, colors, and patterns, including a design with swastika-like elements.

Ucetia was inhabited from at least the 1st century B.C. until the 7th century A.D.

Ucetia and Pont du Gard

Ucetia was known to have been a source of water carried via aqueduct to many communities, especially ancient Nemausus (Nîmes), which grew to a size of about 30,000 people. The aqueduct system included the Pont du Gard. Construction of the aqueduct led to a "classic Roman tragedy" of greed in the nearby cities and towns that affected Ucetia and other communities.

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