Alesia, a fortified town of the Mandubii, in Celtic Gaul, renowned for its siege by CAesar in 52 B. C. It was a very old town, built on a high hill, washed by the Lutosa and Osera (believed to be the Ozc and Ozeraine, in Cote d'Or), near the sources of the Sequana (Seine). Its fall, and the surrender of Vercingetorix, who defended it, decided the subjugation of Gaul. It was destroyed by CAesar, but was subsequently rebuilt, and became a very considerable city under the Romans. It was ruined by the Normans in the 9th century. At the foot of the hill (Mont Auxois) now stands the village of Alise Ste. Reine, 6 m. S. of Montbard. -M. Delacroix, an architect of Besancon, called attention in 1855 to the village of Alaise, near Ornans, in the department of Doubs, as the site of the battlefield of Alesia. Excavations were made at Alaise and at Alise, at the latter place under the auspices of Napoleon III., and archaaological evidence was produced in support of the two localities, that respecting Alise Ste. Reine being regarded as conclusive in favor of this site by F. de Saulcy and other competent persons who conducted the researches there in 1861. Many works have been written on this controversy.

The most important publications in behalf of Alaise are four by J. E. J. Quicherat (Paris, 1857-'62); in favor of Alise, by Rossignol (Dijon, 1856), the duke d'Aumale (Paris, 1858), and F. de Saulcy (1862). The academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres conferred a prize upon Rossignol's essay. In 1862 M. Gravot published his opinion that the battle of Alesia was fought neither at Alise Ste. Reine nor at Alaise, but at Alise-Izernore, in the department of Ain.