Nevers

Nevers (French pronunciation: ​[nəˈvɛʁ]; Latin: Noviodunum, later Nevirnum and Nebirnum) is the administrative capital of the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne region in central France. It was the principal city of the former province of Nivernais, and is located 260 km (160 mi) SSE of Paris.

History

Nevers first enters written history as Noviodunum, a town held by the Aedui at Roman contact. The quantities of medals and other Roman antiquities found on the site indicate the importance of the place, and in 52 BCE, Julius Caesar made Noviodunum, which he describes as in a convenient position on the banks of the Loire, a depot (B. G. vii. 55). There he had his hostages, corn, his military chest, with the money in it allowed him from home for the war, his own and his army's baggage and a great number of horses which had been bought for him in Spain and Italy. After his failure before Gergovia, the Aedui at Noviodunum massacred those who were there to look after stores, the negotiatores, and the travellers who were in the place. They divided the money and the horses among themselves, carried off in boats all the corn that they could, and burnt the rest or threw it into the river. Thinking they could not hold the town, they burnt it. This was a great loss to Caesar; and it may seem that he was imprudent in leaving such great stores in the power of treacherous allies. But he was in straits during this year, and probably he could not do otherwise than he did. Dio Cassius (xl. 38) tells the story out of Caesar of the affair of Noviodunum. He states incorrectly what Caesar did on the occasion, and he shows that he neither understood his original nor knew what he was writing about.