Coordinates: 43°18′39″N 3°28′33″E / 43.3108333333°N 3.47583333333°E
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Commune of Agde |
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| Location | |
  Agde
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Languedoc-Roussillon |
| Department | Hérault |
| Arrondissement | Béziers |
| Canton | Agde |
| Intercommunality | Hérault Méditerranée |
| Mayor | Gilles d'Ettore (2001–2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0–110 m (0–360 ft) (avg. 5 m/16 ft) |
| Land area1 | 50.81 km2 (19.62 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 19,988 (1999) |
| - Density | 393 /km2 (1,020 /sq mi) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 34003/ 34300 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Agde is the commune in the Hérault department in southern France that is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. Its inhabitants are called Agathois.
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Location
Agde is located on the river Hérault, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 km from Paris. The Canal du Midi connects to the Hérault at the lock ("L'Écluse Ronde d'Agde") just above Agde and empties into the Mediterranean at Le Grau d'Agde.
History
Foundation
Agde (Agathe Tyche, "good fortune") was a 5th century BCE Greek colony settled by Phocaeans from Massilia. The symbol of the city, the bronze Ephebe of Agde, of the 4th century BCE, recovered from the fluvial sands of the Hérault, was joined in December 2001 by two Early Imperial Roman bronzes, of a child and of Eros, which had doubtless been on their way to a villa in Gallia Narbonensis when they were lost in a shipwreck.
Development
In the history of Roman Catholicism in France, the Council of Agde was held 10 September 506 at Agde, under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles. It was attended by thirty-five bishops, and its forty-seven genuine canons deal "with ecclesiastical discipline". One of its canons (the seventh), forbidding ecclesiastics to sell or alienate the property of the church whence they drew their living, seems to be the earliest indication of the later system of benefices. [2][3]
Architecture
Agde is known for the distinctive black basalt used in the local architecture, for example the cathedral of Saint Stephen, built in the twelfth century to replace a ninth century Carolingian edifice built on the foundations of a fifth century Roman church. Bishop Guillaume fortified the cathedral's precincts and provided it with a 35-meter donjon. The Romanesque cloister of the cathedral was demolished in 1857.
Notes
- ^ The sculpture rebaptised Amphitrite formerly stood on the façade of the Palais du Trocadéro, built for the Exposition Universelle (1878) and demolished to make way for the Exposition of 1937. She was preserved and offered to the city, where she now symbolizes Agde's maritime vocation. (Patrimoine français; Hérault Tribune Découvrir Agde)
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Council of Agde". www.newadvent.org. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01206b.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ "Medieval Sourcebook: Council of Agde: Concerning Slaves of the Church, 506". www.fordham.edu. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/506agdechurchslaves.html. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
See also
- Cap d'Agde, the seaside resort of Agde
- Ancient Diocese of Agde
- List of traditional Greek place names
External links
- (French) Agde Town website
- (French) Agde Tourist Office
- (French) Agde (official site)
- (French) Agde has one of the biggest naturist centres of Europe
- Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Agatha (Agde) Hérault, France"
- Recent undersea find of bronzes
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