Editing Clermont-Ferrand (section)

===Prehistory and Roman era===
[[File:Inauguration statue vercingétorix 3.JPG|left|thumb|Statue of [[Vercingétorix]] by [[Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi]] on the main square of the city]]
Clermont ranks among the [[List of cities by time of continuous habitation|oldest cities]] of France. The first known mention was by the Greek geographer [[Strabo]], who called it the "metropolis of the [[Arverni]]" (meaning their ''[[oppidum]] [[civitas]]'' or tribal capital). The city was at that time called ''Nemessos'' – a [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]] word for a sacred forest, and was situated on the mound where the cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand stands today. Somewhere in the area around Nemossos, the Arverni chieftain [[Vercingetorix]] (later to head a unified Gallic resistance to the [[Gallic Wars|Roman invasion]] led by [[Julius Caesar]]) was born around 72 BC. Nemossos was situated not far from the [[Gergovie plateau|plateau of Gergovia]], where Vercingetorix repulsed the Roman assault at the [[Battle of Gergovia]] in 52 BC. After the Roman conquest, the city became known as ''Augustonemetum''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=augustonemetum|title=Augustonemetum|publisher=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites|access-date=27 October 2024}}</ref>