Athée is located in the Natural Region of Val de Saône immediately north of Auxonne and south of Poncey-lès-Athée. Access to the commune is by the D24 road from Auxonne which passes through the length of the commune and the village and continues north-west to Magny-Montarlot. The D976 comes from Poncey-lès-Athée in the north and passes through the village continuing south-west to join Route Nationale 5 west of Auxonne.[3]
The west and north-west of the commune are heavily forested with the rest of the commune farmland.[3]
The Saône river forms the eastern border of the commune and there are drainage Ditches in the forests (Grande Bois Defendu and Bois des Noues) and Canal pounds in the south of the commune.[3]
Geologically, Athée is on the BresseGraben in the Saône Plain. The soil is sandy clay.
The name Athée comes from the LatinAttegiae, meaning "huts" or "Shepherd's cabins" which constituted the original village. Depending on the time and the writer the village has been called:[5]
It is located on Holy Roman Empire land and is one of the three territories which were fiefs of Saint-Seine-sur-Vingeanne depending on the County of Auxonne, run by counts for the monks of the priory of Saint-Vivant-en-Amous. The Lord of Athée was the vassal of Saint-Seine who was himself a vassal of the Count of Auxonne who in turn was a vassal of the monks of Saint-Vivant, who were vassals of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire[9]
From 1366 to the French Revolution the Lordship of Athée was held by co-lords who were canons of Sainte-Chapelle de Dijon on the one hand and Lay Lords (the Laverne, Senevoy, Moussier families) on the other.[7]
In 1516 the lordship became subject to the Kingdom of France and depended on the bailiwick of Auxonne and the Généralité de Bourgogne (Generality of Burgundy).[10]
Between 1790 and 1794 Athée, separately from Poncey and Magny, became a French commune depending on the Canton of Auxonne, the district of Saint-Jean-de-Losne, and the department of Côte-d'Or.[11]
^ abCourtépée C., General description and particulars of the Duchy of Burgundy, Vol. 2, Causse, Dijon, 1777. pp. 268-269 (in French)
^Courtépée C., General description and particulars of the Duchy of Burgundy, Vol. 2, Causse, Dijon, 1777. p. 288 (in French)
^Millot L., Critical study of the origins of the city of Auxonne – its feudal condition and its franchises, Imprimerie Darantière, Dijon, 1899, p. 136. (in French)
^An administrative division created in 1542 with its seat in Dijon