Asterix and the shield of Arverni

Asterix und der Arvernerschild (French original title: Le bouclier Arverne ) is the eleventh volume in the Asterix comic series and appeared in French in 1968 - initially in Pilote issues 399 to 421 - and in German in 1972. The comic was written by René Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo . In it, the two heroes Asterix and Obelix accompany their chief Majestix on a cure in the Avernerland, where they get in the way of the Romans on their search for the lost shield of Vercingetorix .

action

Vercingetorix submitted to Caesar after the battle for Alesia and laid his weapons at his feet - or threw them on his feet. Caesar, only concerned with his aching foot, has left his weapons and a large round shield behind. In the evening a Roman archer steals the shield. He soon loses him in a game of dice against another legionnaire. However, the latter is traveling without an exit permit and is surprised by his drunken centurion , who takes the shield from him and exchanges it for an amphora of wine at a Gallic innkeeper in Alesia. The latter in turn leaves the shield to a loyal follower of Vercingetorix. This history is told on the first page of the comic in increasingly smaller pictures, so that in the end you can no longer recognize the people involved.

The opening credits are followed by a leap in time: years after the battle, Majestix, the chief of the small Gallic village, suffers from a painful illness. After the diagnosis of the druid Miraculix, he had a liver disease and at the last feast he got too hard. Miraculix proposes a cure in the Arvernerland (today's Auvergne ), to which Majestix sets out in the company of Asterix and Obelix. However, Asterix and Obelix cause a crisis in the sanatorium as they follow their usual eating habits in front of the starved diet patients. Ultimately, Majestix sends them on a short tour and is supposed to meet them in Gergovia after his treatment is over.

On their journey, Asterix and Obelix meet the tribune Tullius Firlefanzus, who is traveling in a sedan chair. Unsurprisingly instructed to make room for the litter, they beat up the tribune and his entourage. In the course of the dispute, Tullius Firlefanzus gives the sentence Audaces fortuna juvat! of himself, which Pliny the Elder is said to have uttered when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79.

The fight is observed by the wine and coal dealeroholix, who enthusiastically invites the winners to his home in Gergovia . Tullius Firlefanzus, however, travels to Rome and reports to Caesar. Enraged, Caesar decides to be carried in a triumphal procession on the shield of Vercingetorix, but has to discover that the shield is not among the booty items that were brought to Rome. He gives Firlefanzus the order to return to the Arvernerland and find him there. This promptly leads to a second clash with Asterix and Obelix.

The Romans' search for the shield was unsuccessful. Finally, the legionnaire Gaius Faulus is disguised and sent to spy out the Gauls in Gergovia. Faulus, however, gets drunk inoholix's room and tells Caesar's plan. Asterix and Obelix decide to thwart Caesar and to locate the shield themselves. You now work through all the stations that were shown in the opening credits of the comic, and finally end up back at alcoholix. This now reports that he has given the shield to a loyal follower of Vercingetorix, and interrupts himself in astonishment: "Dasch ischt he!" To the door, emaciated and with a wrinkled face, Majestix entered, who is looking for the end of his cure after Asterix and Obelix is.

It turns out that as a young, slender warrior, Majestix took the shield of Vercingetorix into his care and has not parted with it since: The blue-silver round shield, on which Majestix is usually carried by two people, is the one Shield of Vercingetorix. Shortly afterwards the Gauls organize a triumphal procession with Majestix on the shield in front of the city. Caesar, who has meanwhile traveled to the Arvernerland, has to discover that the trophy is in the hands of the opponents.

Majestix returns to the small Gallic village with his followers. Since he stops in the same culinary establishments on the way back as on the way there, his figure on the return home has already assumed the same size as before the trip. Gutemine, his wife, therefore forbids him to attend the final feast.

Remarks

The Source Eugénie in Royat, on the left in the background the thermal building designed by Agis-Léon Ledru.

A running gag is the local patriotic denial of the existence of the place Alesia by all residents and residents. The time difference between the historical Battle of Alesia and the narrated time of the comic is actually only two years, whereas according to the comic, significantly more time should have passed between the submission of Vercingetorix and the recovery of the shield.

The name of the band and the location of the plot in today's Auvergne stem from the fact that Vercingetorix came from the Celtic tribe of the Arverni .

Although Majestix takes the cure in the story told in the comic in Aquae Calidae , today's Vichy , the first picture on page 10 clearly shows the source Eugénie and in the background that of Agis-Léon Ledru in the 19th century based on the ancient model of Maxentiusbasilika designed thermal building in Royat , whose thermal springs were also used by the Romans.

References within the series

In this story, Majestix's wife Gutemine has her first major appearance. As a not yet fully developed figure, she appears in the battle of the chiefs , where Majestix is dressed by a blonde woman to receive Augenblix in his house.

The language ability of the Arverni to speak every “s” as well as “sch” is already present in the earlier adventure The golden sickle .

The landlord alcoholix has another guest appearance in Asterix on Corsica .

publication

In France, the story first appeared in 1967 as a series in the French magazine Pilote in issues 399-421 and was published in 1968 as an album by Dargaud. The story was first printed in the German translation by Ehapa-Verlag in 1969 in the MV-Comix magazine (issues 12-22) and published in 1972 as the 11th volume in the Asterix series. In 2002 this volume was reissued and received a new cover picture.

The volume was published in English, Spanish, Turkish and in the dialects Palatinate , Styrian and Main Franconian .

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