Lutetia (or Lucotoci or Lutecia) Parisiorum (later Parisii, now Paris)
Lutetia, known in later times as Parisii and now simply Paris, was the chief city of the Celtic tribe of the Parisii, situated on a defensible island in the Seine River during the third century BC. This early settlement became a center of trade, particularly in tin from the British Isles, and was notable for its high-quality gold coinage in the first century. The city faced destruction during Julius Caesar's Gallic War when it was burned and its wooden bridges destroyed. However, it was later rebuilt and expanded, becoming a vital hub in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis, supported by industries such as lumber and a local guild of sailors.
In the later Roman Empire, Lutetia faced challenges, including devastation from civil wars and invasions around 275 AD. It was renamed Parisii and became a military base, with significant events occurring there, such as Julian the Apostate's proclamation as emperor in 360 AD. The region saw the establishment of early Christian structures, including a wooden church. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Paris transitioned to Frankish rule under Clovis around 493 AD, marking the beginning of its evolution into the capital we recognize today. Excavations have revealed important archaeological remains, indicating continuous habitation and development through various phases of its rich history.
Lutetia (or Lucotoci or Lutecia) Parisiorum (later Parisii, now Paris)
The chief city of the Celtic tribe of the Parisii, who occupied a defensible but flood-threatened island (the Ile de la Cité, then half the size that it is now) on the river Sequana (Seine) in the third quarter of the third century BC
They controlled the local tin trade from the British Isles, and in the first century were issuing a gold coinage of high quality. When Quintus Labienus, with four legions, advanced on Lutetia during Julius Caesar's Gallic War (52), the Gauls burned the town and destroyed the wooden bridges that had linked it with the two sides of the river. Lutetia was subsequently reconstructed and extended onto the Left Bank, becoming part of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis; its prosperity depended on a lumber industry and a local guild of sailors (nautae Parisiaci)—whose monument, the `Pilier de Nantes,’ proclaimed their loyalty to Tiberius and depicted both Celtic and Roman gods. An early tombstone of a cavalryman has suggested speculation that there may have been a Julio-Claudian fort.
Suffering in the civil wars at the end of the second century AD, Lutetia was devastated and burned by German invaders c 275. In the later empire, it was included in the province of Lugdunensis Senonia, and became an important military base under the name of Parisii. Julian the Apostate was proclaimed emperor there in opposition to Constantius II in 360. Five years later Valentinian I was on his way to the city when he received news of the eastern revolt of the rival emperor Procopius, and was still at Parisii when he learned of its suppression. It may have been under Saint Marcellus, the ninth bishop (c 360–436), that a first wooden Christian church was built on the island. After the abdication of the last western Roman emperor in Italy (476), Syagrius still held out for ten years in northern Gaul, but Parisii fell c 493 to Clovis, king of the Franks, who made it his capital.
The island has yielded only insignificant remains, its topography and ground level having been completely changed when a wall made of quarried stone and recut blocks was erected round its circumference to ward off invasions. On the Left Bank, around the main street (cardo maximus), identified buildings include the forum (Rue Soufflot, replacing a circular structure of the first century AD); a first century (?) amphitheater (the Arènes); a small theater; three bathing establishments, of which the best preserved (c 200) with remarkable vaults that are still standing is under the Musée de Cluny; and not only a pagan but a Christian cemetery (currently yielding important discoveries), which suggests that the Left Bank, after the third century invasions, had not (as was often supposed) been left uninhabited. Moreover, it is now believed that during the later empire some construction began on the Right Bank.