**Béziers** (Occitan: *Besièrs*) is a commune in the Hérault département in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is a subprefecture of the department and also the capital of the *arrondissement* of the same name.

Béziers is one of the oldest cities in France. Research shows that Béziers was built by Greeks in the 6th century BC. Some archaeologists think that Béziers could be the oldest town of France, even before Marseille.

History
-------

The old bridge
The site where is Béziers has been occupied since Neolithic times, before the arrival of Celts. Roman *Betarra* was on the road that linked Provence with Iberia. The Romans refounded the city as a new place for veterans in 36–35 BC and called it *Colonia Julia Baeterrae Septimanorum*. Stones from the Roman amphitheatre were used to construct the city wall during the 3rd century. The city was occupied by the Moors between 720 and 752.

Béziers was a Languedoc stronghold of Catharism, which the Catholic Church condemned as heretical and which Catholic forces exterminated in the Albigensian Crusade.

Béziers was the first place to be attacked. The crusaders got to the town on 21 July 1209 and burned the cathedral of Saint Nazaire. A few parts of the Romanesque cathedral survived, and repairs started in 1215. The restoration, along with that of the rest of the city, continued until the 15th century.

After the Louis Napoléon's coup d'état in 1851, troops killed protesters in Béziers. Others were condemned to death or taken to the Guiana.

Geography
---------

The city is in the southeastern of the department, in the plain of Hérault (the *plaine héraultoise*). It is on a small cliff on the eastern side of the Orb river, a tributary of the Hérault river.

The *commune* has an area of 95.48 km2 (36.87 sq mi), the largest *commune* in the department, and is at an altitude of about 4–120 m (13–394 ft) above sea level. Béziers is at 75 km (47 mi) to the southeast of the city of Montpellier and at 12 km (7.5 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea.

The *commune* of Béziers is surrounded by the *communes* Boujan-sur-Libron, Maraussan, Lignan-sur-Orb, Villeneuve-lès-Béziers, Corneilhan, Sauvian, Colombiers, Cers, Montady, Maureilhan, Bassan and Vendres.


Béziers and its neighboring *communes*| Map of the commune of Béziers |


| Places next to Béziers |
| --- |
| 

|  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Maraussan | Boujan-sur-Libron | Boujan-sur-Libron |
| Maraussan | 
**Béziers**
 | Boujan-sur-Libron |
| Colombiers | Villeneuve-lès-Béziers | Villeneuve-lès-Béziers |

 |

### Climate

The climate of Béziers, in the Köppen climate classification, is **Csa** - Mediterranean climate with hot summers.

Population
----------

The inhabitants of Béziers are known, in French, as *Biterrois* (women: *Biterroises*), from *Baeterrae*, the Latin name of the city.

With a population of 75,701, Béziers has a population density of 793 inhabitants/km2.

**Evolution of the population in Béziers**

Béziers forms with other four *communes* the urban area of Béziers with a population of 89,243 inhabitants (2013) and an area of 135.6 km2 (52.4 sq mi). This urban area is the centre of the metropolitan area of Béziers, formed by 40 *communes* with a population of 168,960 inhabitants (2013) and an area of 708.4 km2 (273.5 sq mi).

Administration
--------------

Béziers is a subprefecture of the Hérault department, the capital of the *arrondissement* of Béziers and the administrative centre (French: *chef-lieu*) of three cantons: Béziers-1, Béziers-2 and Béziers-3.

It is part of the intercommunality *Béziers Méditerranée* (French: *Communauté d'agglomération Béziers Méditerranée*).

### Sister cities

Béziers is twinned with:

* Spain Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain, since 1993
* Germany Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, since 1965
* Russia Stavropol, Stavropol Krai, Russia, since 1982
* United Kingdom Stockport, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, since 1972

Sites of interest
-----------------

* **Saint-Nazaire Cathedral** (*Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire*), from the 14th century.
* **Pont Vieux**, a stone bridge over the Orb, from the Middle Ages.
* **Canal du Midi**, a canal (17th century).

Gallery
-------

* St. Nazaire cathedral and Pont Vieux.St. Nazaire cathedral and *Pont Vieux*.
* Saint-Nazaire cathedral.*Saint-Nazaire* cathedral.
* Canal du Midi crossing the Orb river in Béziers.*Canal du Midi* crossing the Orb river in Béziers.
* Town hall of Béziers.Town hall of Béziers.

Related pages
-------------

* Arrondissement of Béziers
* Communes of the Hérault department

Other websites
--------------


Wikimedia Commons has media related to ***Béziers***.

* Ville de Béziers website (in French)
* Communauté d'agglomération Béziers Méditerranée website (in French)
* Béziers in Méditerranée Tourism Office Archived 2017-02-26 at the Wayback Machine

| Authority control Edit this at Wikidata |
| --- |
| International | 
* FAST
* VIAF
* WorldCat Identities

 |
| National | 
* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Catalonia
* Germany
* Israel
* United States

 |
| Geographic | 
* MusicBrainz area
* Pleiades

 |
| Other | 
* IdRef

 |