According to Gregory of Tours, Aphrodisius was an Egyptian who was martyred in Languedoc along with his followers Caralippus (Caralampus), Agapius, and Eusebius.

[2][3] A Christian tradition states that he was a prefect or high priest of Heliopolis who sheltered the Holy Family at Hermopolis when they fled into Egypt.

Local traditions assign Aphrodisius as the first Bishop of Béziers and state that he was decapitated by a group of pagans, along with his companions, on the street now known as Place Saint-Cyr, the site of a Roman circus used for gladiators' fights.

This was a spot on which later stood a chapel dedicated to Saint Peter, later a basilica named after Aphrodisius (Saint-Aphrodise).

When Aphrodisius was recognized as a saint, the city's leaders considered as an honour to take charge of all the expenses associated with the animal's maintenance.

The first mention of the sanctuary dedicated to Aphrodisius is made by Usuard, who undertook a voyage in 858 to bring back from Spain relics for his abbey.

In his relation of the voyage, he says to us that after "having left Cordoba, he returned by Girona, Narbonne and Béziers, a city famed for its relics of blessed Aphrodisius".

[4][6] The "camel" was actually a mechanical camel of wood with a moving head and jaws, covered with a painted fabric on which the armorial bearings of the city and two inscriptions were inscribed: the Latin ex antiquitate renascor ("I'm reborn from Antiquity") and the local Occitan sen fosso ("we are numerous").

This machine, which did not really resemble a camel, concealed in its sides a few operators who made its head, jaws and teeth move.