Alesia Architecture, P.C.

We had a great time celebrating Halloween at the office with a costume contest, bingo, and a VERY competitive guess-the-pumpkin-weight competition!

The U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2024 ended on September 30th, and we were awarded projects right up to the last day. Our business development/marketing team has done fantastic! The included graphic is not simply where we are working, but where we've won projects in the past year. Our team is working on many locations where we've been invited for repeat work, including one VA where we have four projects currently in design. Thank you also to our teaming partners - your support is critical! We look forward to serving both new and existing clients across the country!

Post III of III for today...how appropriate that this last post was the longest of all requiring three posts! The most important message that we at Alesia Architecture take from Caesar’s success at Alesia is not the one of self-propaganda that he wanted all of Rome to hear at his triumph. Rather, we celebrate the fact that, for all of Caesar’s leadership qualities, all the dedication of his men and the prowess of his cavalry, Alesia was won by architecture. Without it, Caesar would never have been able to reach the highest levels of his society. Likewise, America’s military endeavors need to stand on solid foundations— we at Alesia, like the legionaries of old, work to build those foundations. Trust us; we are taking our cue from some pretty ancient, tried-and-true wisdom. Photo Credit: The Triumphs of Caesar IX: Julius Caesar by Andrea Mantegna

Post II of III Who knows what became of this particular legionary? He may have emerged from the battle, flush with hard-won virtus; he could have perished at Alesia, never to see his own lands again; he may even have been a part of the Legio XIII Gemina, and crossed the Rubicon with Caesar three years later. Just as with the soldiers of the United States military, the shape a fighter’s life may take inside of service and out is unpredictable. Perhaps it is best to imagine that our legionary went on one day to work on a farm, his own Roman version of a service disabled veteran owned small business. Regardless, as a result of this legionary’s actions (along with all of his compatriots) and Caesar’s leadership, the Gauls’ last great attack on the fortifications of Alesia failed. The relief force was utterly bested by the Romans. The hungry, beleaguered Gallic soldiers of Alesia realized that there was no more hope. The Roman defenses were too strong; Caesar’s use of bi-circumvallation had cowed every Gallic effort, inside the city and out.  Soon after the failed attack, Vercingetorix surrendered to Caesar. With his admission of defeat, Gaul itself admitted that it had been vanquished. Caesar would never again face mass organized resistance in Gaul. The rest of the Gallic Wars consisted of Caesar making his victory as sure and complete a thing as possible. The tales of his exploits were disseminated to the public via his commentarii; all of Rome knew that Caesar had done the impossible. This was essential for Caesar’s own public image. America’s own Colin Powell once said, “As successes come your way, remember that you didn’t do it alone. It is always we.” In the end, as much as Alesia was a personal victory for Caesar, he worked hard to make it a cultural one for Rome too. All of his legionaries, cavalrymen, and subjects were encouraged to celebrate Alesia. The Roman people knew the value of Caesar’s victory in the Gallic Wars even better when Caesar threw a quadruple triumph in 46 BCE. The first of these was for Gaul, and it was perhaps the grandest of them all. The star attraction was Vercingetorix, who had been imprisoned in Rome for years awaiting this day. There, in front of everyone, he was executed. The brutal symbology was apparent to any Roman: Caesar was at his triumph, positioned at the helm of the world. His old enemy was killed at his feet, unable to resist the power of Rome that Caesar had brought down on his head. The message from Caesar was clear: trust in me, and all your enemies will fall. No one, not even Vercingetorix and all his Gauls, could deny me at Alesia, and they will not now. Photo Credit: Vercingetorix Throwing down His Weapons at the feet of Julius Caesar by Lionel Royer

Our last post on our series on Alesia! This will be Post I of III. What was the outcome of Alesia? What became of Vercingetorix and Caesar? Here, for our last post, we return to the thoughts and experiences of a Roman legionary who stood on the battlements of Alesia. The fortifications run for near 25 miles— 23 redoubts are positioned to see any incoming Gallic attack, inside or out. You yourself hauled timber from miles away to help build this wonder. Across the way, on a hill, you can see the relief force Vercingetorix sent for milling about, tens of thousands strong. They have maintained sorties against your circumvallation but it is obvious that without Vercingetorix there to coordinate them, the Gauls are disorganized. What they wouldn’t give for a modern radio… You can feel desperation in the air, though— food is growing scarce inside of Alesia. Already, Vercingetorix has sent the old, sick, women, and children out of the city. Caesar had not permitted them to pass through your fortifications, so the Gauls starved to death in the gap. On the heels of this event, you sense that the conviction of the Gauls teeters on a desperate precipice. You adjust your gladius, short sword, at your side. Some of your cohort have taken to betting on whether the Gauls will starve themselves out or take one last run at the investments. You are firmly in the latter camp; it is hard to ignore the restlessness of the Gauls. They want a way out, not a city full of dead martyrs. Why else would they keep throwing themselves at the walls everyday, and sometimes even at night? Not even the arrival of Mark Antony and Gaius Trebonius with supplemental Roman forces have dissuaded them. The question is when they will come for you. Out of the corner of your eye, as you examine the tip of your pilum, javelin, in the noon sun, you see the Gauls outside begin to ride for the fortifications’ one great weak point, a hill where no fortifications could be erected. Damn, you think, as you hustle along the circumvallation to meet the force of 60,000 men, they might do us in. Overhead map of Alesia. The circle to the North indicates the break in fortifications that the Gauls tried to exploit. Credit to https://lnkd.in/gG52B9ya.

Our team continues to be blessed with fantastic young interns, such as Muminjon Mirzoev (head of the table) was for us again this summer. Today was not so much a goodbye but a sendoff for his year at school. We look forward to him continuing to work with us through the school year part time. Enjoy your master's degree!

Post II of II... It was actually the responsibility of generals like Caesar to secure adequate retirement packages for their veteran legions. Startlingly enough, there is an argument to be made that veterans’ rights, or rather, the fact that they needed to be championed by individual generals and not the state, is at the root of the Roman Republic’s destruction. For example, this issue had brought Rome to a standstill in 59 BCE, five years before Alesia. Back then, Pompey and Crassus, two of Rome’s most powerful men with great armies at their disposal, were quarreling over, among other things, Pompey’s proposed legislation to provide his veterans with farmland. While providing pensions and land grants to veterans was not uncommon by any means, Crassus was using the fact that Pompey had irritable veterans on his hands as a way to manipulate him for his own political ends. Pompey could not back down, and neither could Crassus, so Rome rested on a precipice. To avoid civil war, Caesar struck a balance between the two by creating the First Triumvirate and interrupting the normal flow of Republican power. But Pompey’s legions got their retirement package, so it seemed that all was for the best. However, this was far from the last time the promises of generals to their veterans would influence Roman politics. Caesar was himself very generous towards his veterans. They had bonded throughout the Gallic Wars. By their end, many of his veterans were less loyal to Rome the institution, which was virtually incapable of guaranteeing any type of future for them, and more loyal to Caesar, who they knew they could count on. Caesar had even made land ownership a right for every veteran discharged from his legions rather than offering a variable donation to his legionaries as others had done. It was exactly this behavior and the loyalty that it inspired which led Legio XIII Gemina, the Thirteenth Twin Legion, one of Caesar’s foremost units, to cross the Rubicon with him and delve into the perils of civil war. So, while the Roman method during the Late Republic did give veterans the opportunity to own land and become small business owners of a sort, the process was nowhere near as bloodless or civically-minded as that of service disabled veteran owned small businesses in the United States today! Everyone at such businesses should feel proud that they did not have to tempt civil war or jump over the bow of a ship to have their virtus respected. Photo Credit: Roman legionaries depicted on an altar and in the throes of battle. Credit to https://lnkd.in/gPQjNUd6. 

The second to last in our series on Alesia! Post I of II... Post 8- Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus were real foot soldiers mentioned in De Bello Gallico for their heroism. The HBO miniseries Rome gave them a life after the army...was this based on facts? Did soldiers after their service have a good way of making a living after their service similar to the concept of today's service disabled veteran owned small businesses such as Alesia Architecture? Yes and no. The answer to this is variable depending on the era you look at, but since this is Alesia Architecture, let us confine ourselves to the era of Alesia: the Late Republic. During this time, the Roman army was made up of professional soldiers. Much like the American military of today, these men made a life out of military service and served between sixteen and twenty-five years. It was these elite, battle-hardened units who were known as “veterans.” They did not just serve in war; they made war their business. Furthermore, in Roman terms, a veteran was only as good as his service, and the reputation he earned while on campaign. In fact, this was so key to Roman military service (or at least the optimal version of it) that one of the main themes that Caesar brings up in his commentarii, his journals, on the Gallic Wars is the importance of his soldiers’ individual virtus, i.e. strength, character, manliness, courage, power. He describes a standard-bearer jumping off his own ship, Roman eagle in hand, to inspire similar reckless virtus in his cohort; he mentions that he appointed legions a legate and a quaestor so that soldiers could have them as testes, witnesses, to their virtus. The story of Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus, before it was given new life in the HBO miniseries, was related by Caesar as the ultimate expression of virtus, even though it ended in their deaths (or perhaps he told it that way because they nobly died in pursuit of such a goal). Conduct becoming an officer was very important to Roman veterans; it affirmed the value of their contributions and also made it more likely that they would receive generous benefits after service. (to be continued in Post II of II) Photo Credit: Ray Stevenson as Titus Pullo and Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus in Rome. Credit to HBO.

Being a veteran-owned business, Alesia Architecture is proud sponsor of the Pinnacle Bank Championship - Patriots Outpost Tribute Wall! Please stop by and sign the wall if you are attending!

Post 7 in our series about the Battle of Alesia Was the bi-circumvallation a truly unique idea? Had anything similar been tried before? No, Caesar did not come up with circumvallation. It was actually a long standing Roman military practice. What we can say for Alesia is that it was absolutely the textbook, gold-standard example of the tactic throughout all of Roman military history.  Bi-circumvallation, or the use of both a circumvallation (literally, “around the ramparts,” which form the outward facing barrier) and a contravallation (“against the ramparts,” which face towards the besieged city), was not a new idea to Caesar. They had first been used during the First Punic War (264–241 BCE) at the siege of Lilybaeum. Caesar was a good Roman general who was long schooled in the tactics of oppugnatio, besieging, so he knew that circumvallation was an option. However, the practice was not foolproof. It required immense resources and engineering prowess. Lilybaeum, while the first well-attested siege to use circumvallation, was also a model for the strategy’s failings- Lilybaeum was a harbor town, so when the Romans tried to use earth to enclose the port and complete the circumvallation, the sea washed away their efforts. The besiegers were forced to take the city by full-on assault. In the near two hundred years between Lilybaeum and Alesia, bi-circumvallation was proven to be most effective when near Rome or established supply lines. This is part of what makes Alesia notable. Though Alesia was not far from a Roman road and this certainly helped Caesar’s construction speed, the size of the bi-circumvallation was impressive. They had to blockade the whole town, which meant encircling an area of fourteen miles. Both the contra and circumvallation had two ditches, filled varyingly with water and stakes, which cut off approaches from the Gallic besieged and relief forces both.  Caesar was not above altering his plans if necessary, either. In order to construct the siegeworks, Caesar had needed to send out large numbers of legionaries for supplies. To ensure that the Gauls could not take advantage of the Romans’ weakened numbers, Caesar added a third ditch, this one filled with large stakes called cippi that were planted deep in the ground, as well as a series of pits with concealed spikes.  Caesar’s army constructed not only two sets of ramparts but also a network of ditches and pits with the threat of a Gallic relief force arriving any day and the stress of continuous sorties by Vercingetorix’s forces looming over them. However, despite these difficulties, Caesar created a bi-circumvallation which was able to accommodate the specific stresses that Alesia’s environment offered. The innovative, responsive siegecraft at Alesia enshrined it as the best implementation of circumvallation in all of Roman history. Photo Credits: https://lnkd.in/gc3DAKzq https://lnkd.in/dEDJzYx