 In a founding myth of the 1st century BC, Herakles is supposed to have established the Arvernian "oppidum" of Alesia, the name of which likely derives from the Gaulish word for poplar.Celebrants of the Bacchic rites wore a wreath of poplar leaves to honor the chthonic aspect of Dionysus.At Elis, white poplar was the only wood used in sacrifices to Zeus, according to Pausanias, because Herakles imported the tree and used it to burn the thigh bones of sacrificial victims at Olympia.