THE whole world may be under the empire’s thumb, but not us. That declaration by the Gauls in Asterix and Obelix shows that what is small and insignificant is, in fact, great and important. R. Goscinny and A. Uderzo depict the titular characters’ home as an “indomitable village” because Julius Caesar’s soldiers were never able to conquer and incorporate it into the Roman Empire.

A similar setting was also envis