Embrun (; oc, Ambrun , la, Ebrodunum, , and ) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; oc, Auts Aups; en, Upper Alps) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population of 141,220 ...

department in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Description

It is located between Gap and

Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an altitude of , based on the national definition as a community cont ...

and at the eastern end of one of the largest artificial lakes in Western

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

: the

Lac de Serre-Ponçon Lake Serre-Ponçon (french: Lac de Serre-Ponçon, ; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Lac de Sèrra Ponçon'') is a reservoir in the departments of Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in southeast France, one of the larges ...

. The Canadian town of

Embrun, Ontario Embrun (ˈɛmbrən in English; ), is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario in the Eastern Ontario region. Embrun is also part of the National Capital Region. Embrun is part of the larger Russell Township in Prescott and Russell Unit ...

was named after Embrun in 1856.

History

Embrun was formerly known as Ebrodunum ( in

Greek language Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...

sources). There is some variation in the writing of the first part of the name. It is Epebrodunum in Strabo's text, but later translators corrected it. Strabo (iv.) says that from Tarasco to the borders of the

Vocontii The Vocontii (Gaulish: *''Uocontioi''; Greek: Οὐοκόντιοι, Οὐοκοντίων) were a Gallic people dwelling on the western foothills of the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Vocontii settled in the region in the 3r ...

and the beginning of the ascent of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

, through the Druentia and Caballio, is 63 miles; and from thence to the other boundaries of the Vocontii, to the kingdom of

Cottius Marcus Julius Cottius was King of the Celtic and Ligurian inhabitants of the mountainous Roman province then known as '' Alpes Taurinae'' and now as the Cottian Alps early in the 1st century BC. Son and successor to King Donnus, he negotiated a ...

(the Alpes Cottiae), to the village of Ebrodunum, 99 miles. Ebrodunum was in the ''civitas'' (tribal state) of the

Caturiges The Caturiges (Gaulish: ''Caturīges'', 'kings of combat') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper Durance valley, around present-day towns of Chorges and Embrun, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Catur ...

, and just on the borders of the Vocontii, as it appears. The position of Ebrodunum is easily determined by the itineraries and the name.

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

(iii. 1) mentions Eborodunum as the city of the Caturiges, and no other. In the

Jerusalem Itinerary The ''Itinerarium Burdigalense'' ("Bordeaux Itinerary"), also known as the ''Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum'' ("Jerusalem Itinerary"), is the oldest known Christian '' itinerarium''. It was written by the "Pilgrim of Bordeaux", an anonymous pilgrim ...

Ebrodunum is called ''Mansio'', like Caturiges (modern Chorges), which was also in the territory of the Caturiges. There are Roman remains at Chorges, and none are mentioned at Embrun, though it appears that the cathedral of Embrun is built on the site of a Roman temple, or that some of the materials of a temple were used for it. Ebrodunum was, for a time, the capital of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

of ''

Alpes Maritimae The Alpes Maritimae (; English: 'Maritime Alps') were a small province of the Roman Empire founded in 63 AD by Nero. It was one of the three provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy, along with the Alpes Graiae et Poeninae a ...

''. In the feudal age, it was an important archbishopric see. The town was sacked in 1585 by

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

and in 1692 by the duke of Savoy during the Nine Years' War. In stage 17 of the

2013 Tour de France The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The Tour consisted of twenty-one stages ...

, Embrun was the starting point for an

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' " stopwatch stage"). There are also track ...

. In 2017, stage 19 of the Tour de France started at Embrun.

Ecclesiastical history

Embrun was the see of a bishopric since the fourth century, which became a Metropolitan archbishopric in the fourteenth century and was suppressed in the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

Population

Climate

Embrun features an oceanic climate (''Cfb'') with strong

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' ( ...

influences (''Dfb''). Winters are rather cold and snowy. Winter nights are very cold (about ) compare to the other French cities. That's because Embrun is very far from the French coasts, and near the mountains. It creates a severe climate throughout the year. In spite of the cold winters, summers tend to be hot and hazy. The afternoon average temperatures are around , but can sometimes exceed . Embrun-porche des lions tympan

Notable people

* Henri Arnaud (1643 in Embrun – 1721) a pastor of the

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

in Piedmont, who turned soldier. *

François Jullien François Jullien (born 2 June 1951 in Embrun, France) is a French philosopher, Hellenist, and sinologist. Biography An alumnus of the École Normale Supérieure (Paris) and holder (since 1974) of the ''agrégation'', France's professorial d ...

(born 1951 in Embrun) a French philosopher,

Hellenist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and sinologist. *

Coraline Hugue Coraline Hugue (born 11 March 1984), also known as Coraline Thomas Hugue, is a French former cross-country skier. She competed for France at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, in skiathlon and women's classical. She also competed for Fran ...