, bordered since the 19th century by a railway. The name
Périgueux comes from
Petrocorii, a Latinization of Celtic words meaning "the four tribes" – the
Gallic people that held the area before the Roman conquest. Périgueux was their capital city. In 200 BC, the Petrocorii came from the north and settled at Périgueux and established an encampment at La Boissière. After the Roman invasion, they left this post and established themselves on the plain of L'Isle, and the town of Vesunna was created. This Roman city was eventually embellished with amenities such as temples, baths,
amphitheatres, and a forum. At the end of the third century AD, the Roman city was surrounded by ramparts, and the town took the name of Civitas Petrocoriorum. In the 10th century, Le Puy-Saint-Front was constructed around an abbey next to the old Gallo-Roman city. It was organised into a municipality around 1182. During the year 1940, many
Jews from Alsace and Alsatians were evacuated to Périgueux.
Simone Mareuil (a lead actress from the surrealist film
Un Chien Andalou) committed
self-immolation on 24 October 1954 by dousing herself in
gasoline and burning herself to death in a public square in Périgueux. ==Geography==