Napoleon III erected a seven-meter-tall Vercingétorix monument in 1865, created by the Sculptor Aimé Millet, on the supposed site of Alesia. The Architect for the memorial was Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The statue still stands. The inscription on the base, written by Viollet-le-Duc, which copied the famous statement of Julius Caesar, reads (in French):
According to Plutarch, Caes. 27.8-10, Vercingetorix surrendered in a dramatic fashion, riding his beautifully adorned horse out of Alesia and around Caesar's camp before dismounting in front of Caesar, stripping himself of his armor and sitting down at his opponent's feet, where he remained motionless until he was taken away. Caesar provides a first-hand contradiction of this account, De Bell. Gal. 7.89, describing Vercingetorix's surrender much more modestly. He was imprisoned in the Tullianum in Rome for almost six years, before being publicly displayed in Caesar's triumph in 46 BC. He was executed after the triumph, probably by strangulation in his prison, as ancient custom would have it.
Vercingetorix derives from the Gaulish ver- ("over, superior" – an etymological cognate of German über, Latin super, or Greek hyper), cingeto- ("warrior", related to roots meaning "tread, step, walk", so possibly "infantry"), and rix ("king") (cf. Latin rex), thus literally either "great warrior king" or "king of great warriors". In his Life of Caesar, Plutarch renders the name as Vergentorix.
Many other monumental statues of Vercingetorix were erected in France during the 19th century, including one by Bartholdi on the Place de Jaude in Clermont-Ferrand (see image above).
