482 Visigoth kingdom of Spain in debate One historian claims he was killed shortly after his surrender Another argues that for the next five years Vercingetorix was Caesar’s prisoner in the Tullianum in Rome Vercingetorix allegedly became a showpiece and was paraded around various Roman cities for five years in between stays at the Tullianum prison in Rome Vercingetorix was publicly beheaded in Rome in 46 b.c.e The Celtic tribes never fought again in presentday France and were absorbed into the Roman Empire See also Celts; Gaul Further reading: Harmand, Jacques Vercingetorix Paris: Fayard, 1984; Julian, Camille Vercingetorix Paris: Hachette, 1963 Annette Richardson Vercingetorix Throws His Arms at Caesar’s Feet A reproduction of a painting by Lionel-Noel Royer, created in 1899 who besieged the Arverni Modern-day excavators found the first wall to be 13 miles long with an 18-foot ditch that was meant to starve the Arverni The second wall faced pointed stakes that could easily impale unsuspecting tribesmen Yet another wall, feet high and full of breastworks of earth, was constructed In addition, every 130 yards, observation towers were erected Two siege towers were built, each 80 feet high, that could contain ramparts of varying lengths Vercingetorix tried to destroy the walls and often had skirmishes with the Romans, but to no avail His last attempt to alleviate the siege led to failure, his men fell onto the spikes, and the Romans killed many Gauls Alesia was so well fortified by the Romans that Vercingetorix was given no choice when reinforcements failed to arrive The war council in Alesia decided to wait for the end The Arverni were slowly starving, so Vercingetorix released the women and children from his stronghold, hoping Caesar would take pity and treat them as prisoners, but he refused, and the women and children perished Caesar won the five-day Battle of Alesia because the tribes under Vercingetorix were poorly organized and some betrayed their leader Various stories surround the surrender of Vercingetorix One story relates that Vercingetorix and several tribal leaders simply surrendered to Caesar The second story, written by Plutarch at least 100 years after the event, accounts that Vercingetorix rode out of Alesia in a stately fashion and around Caesar’s camp, removing his battle armaments and surrendering with theatrical gestures before kneeling to him His death is also shrouded Visigoth kingdom of Spain The earliest Visigoths were a Germanic group that alternated between opposing and serving the Roman Empire Unlike some other Germanic tribes, the Visigoths retained elected leaders, never shifting to a fully hereditary kingship The early Visigoths, like other Germanic peoples in the late Roman and early post-Roman periods, were Arian Christians—believing that the Son, Christ, had been created by the Father rather than being coeternal, as the Catholic Church believed This meant that Visigothic kings could not be fully sure of the loyalty of the Catholic Church in their dominions, although they did not attempt to destroy the church or extirpate Catholicism After the famous sack of Rome by the Visigothic king Alaric in 410 c.e., the Visigoths settled in southern France, from which they first spread into the Iberian Peninsula in 416, as allies of the Roman emperor Honorius The Roman government was trying to regain control of the province, then in the hands of a barbarian coalition The Visigoths returned to Spain, this time permanently, under their King Theodoric II in 456 The most significant king of this phase of Visigothic history was Euric, who reigned from 466 to 484, under whom the Visigothic kingdom, with its capital at Toulouse, reached its greatest geographical extent, incorporating most of Iberia Euric eliminated the last areas of direct Roman rule in Spain following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 The Visigothic kingdom was based in Spain after 507, when the Visigoths were defeated and the Catholic Franks under Clovis killed their king, Alaric II In