The first version of the town of Mirepoix in the Ariège department was built on the left bank of the Hers river on the site of a major passageway. This first agglomeration is evoked on amphorae dating from the end of the 2nd century BC that suggest that the place then stood as a small exchange point and a market. After the almost complete destruction of the city on June 16, 1289, by a flood, the new town was rebuilt in a safer location according to the regular plan of bastides, important places of exchange. Mirepoix subsequently became a fortified town in the 15th century.