Agde

Agde is a commune of the Herault departement, in southern France. Population (1999): 20,303.Agde is located on the river Hйrault, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 km from Paris. Agde is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi, which connects to the Hйrault at the lock ("L'Йcluse Ronde d'Agde") just above Agde and debouches into the Mediterranean at Le Grau d'Agde.

Agde (Agathe Tyche, "good fortune"; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a 5th century BCE Greek colony of Phocaeans of Massilia. The symbol of the city, the bronze Ephebe of Agde, of the 4th century BCE, recovered from the sands of the Hйrault, was joined in December 2001 by two Early Imperial Roman Bronzes, of a child and of Eros, doubtless on their way to a villa in Gallia Narbonensis when they were lost in a shipwreck. In 506 CE the Council of Agde was held at Agde.

Agde is known for the distinctive black basalt used in the local architecture, for example the Cathйdrale Saint-Etienne built in the 12th century on the foundations of a 5th century Roman church.