Lutetia, ( ; ; ) also known as This spelling is used by O. Seel (1961, 1968) in the Teubner text of Caesar's Gallic War: and ( ; ; ), was a Gallo–Roman town and the predecessor of modern-day Paris.Guillaume, Valerie, "Musee Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris - Guide de Visite" (2021), p. 22-27 Traces of an earlier Neolithic settlement () have been found nearby, and a larger settlement was established around the middle of the third century BC by the Parisii, a Gallic tribe. The site was an important crossing point of the Seine, the intersection of land and water trade routes.
In the first century BC, the settlement was conquered by Romans and a city began to be built. Remains of the Roman forum, amphitheatre, aqueduct and baths can still be seen. In the fifth century it became the capital of the Merovingian dynasty of French kings, and thereafter was known as Paris.
Many artifacts from Lutetia have been recovered and are on display at the Musée Carnavalet.
Etymology
The settlement is attested in Ancient Greek as Loukotokía (Λoυκoτοκία) by Strabo and Leukotekía (Λευκοτεκία) by Ptolemy. Likely origins are Celtic root lut- meaning "a swamp or marsh" + suffix -ecia,Albert Dauzat et Charles Rostaing, Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France, éditions Larousse 1968. It survives today in the Scottish Gaelic lòn ("pool, meadow") and the Breton loudour ("dirty").Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, Xavier Delamarre, éditions errance 2003, p. 209
A less likely origin is the Celtic root , which means "mouse" and -ek(t)ia, double collective suffix, meaning "the mice", which could refer to the shape of the two islands (Île Saint-Louis and Île de la Cité), and which is contained in the Breton word logod, the Welsh llygod "mice", and the Irish luch, genitive luchad "mouse".La langue gauloise, Pierre-Yves Lambert, éditions errance 1994.
History Earliest inhabitants
Traces of Neolithic habitations, dating as far back as 4500 BC, have been found along the Seine at Bercy, and close to the Louvre. The earliest inhabitants lived on the river plain, raising animals and farming. In the Bronze Age and Iron Age, they settled in villages, in houses made of wood and clay. Their life was closely attached to the river, which served as a trade route to other parts of Europe.
The Gallic settlement
The original location of the early capital of the Parisii is still disputed by historians. They had traditionally placed the main settlement on the Île de la Cité, where the bridges of the major trading routes of the Parisii crossed the Seine. This view was challenged after the discovery between 1994 and 2005 of a large early Gallic settlement in Nanterre, in the suburbs of Paris. This is composed of a large area of several main streets and hundreds of houses over 15 hectares. Critics also point out the lack of archaeological finds from the pre-Roman era on the Ile de la Cité.Nanterre et les Parisii : Une capitale au temps des Gaulois ?, Antide Viand,
Other scholars dispute the idea that the settlement was in Nanterre. They point to the description given by Julius Caesar, who came to Lutetia to negotiate with the leaders of the Gallic tribes. He wrote that the oppidum which he visited was on an island. In his account of the war in GaulDe Bello Gallico Caesar wrote that, when the Romans later laid siege to Lutetia, "the inhabitants had burned their structures and the wooden bridges which served to cross the two branches of the river around their island fortress," which appears to describe the Île de la Cité.Sarmant, "History of Paris" (2012), p. 10
Proponents of the Ile de la Cité as the site of the Gallic settlement also address the issue of the lack of archaeological evidence on the island. The original oppidum and bridges were burned by the Parisii to keep them out of the hands of the Romans. The houses of the Parisii were made of wood and clay. Since then every square metre of the island has been dug up and rebuilt, often using the same materials, multiple times, making it unlikely that traces of the Gallic settlement would remain on the island. They argue that a settlement in Nanterre did not necessarily exclude that the Île-de-la-Cité was the site of the oppidum of Lutetia; both settlements could have existed at the same time. Finally, they argue that, while Gallic settlements sometimes relocated to a new site, the new sites were usually given a new name. It would be very unusual to transfer the name of Lutetia from the Nanterre settlement to a new Roman town on the Île-de-la-Cité. They also argue that if Lutetia had not already existed where Paris is today, the new Roman city would have been given a Latin, not a Gallic name. This seems to support the argument that Lutetia was in fact located at the center of modern Paris.
The Parisii first agreed to submit to Caesar and Rome, but in 52 BC they joined other tribes, led by Vercingetorix, in a revolt near the end of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars, the Battle of Lutetia was fought with the local tribe.Julius Caesar: De Bello Gallico, book six, VI p. 62 The Gallic forces were led by Vercingetorix's lieutenant Camulogenus. They burned the oppidum and the bridges to keep the Romans from crossing. The Romans, led by Titus Labienus, one of Caesar's generals, marched south to Melun, crossed the river there, marched back toward the city, and decisively defeated the Parisii. The location of the final battle, like the location of the oppidum, is disputed. It was fought near a river, which some historians interpret as the Seine, and others as the Yonne; and near a large marsh; a feature of the countryside near both the Île-de-la-Cité and Narbonne. Whatever its location was, the battle was decisive; Lutetia became a Roman town.
Roman Lutetia
The first traces of the Roman occupation of Lutetia appeared at the end of the 1st century BC, during the reign of the Emperor Augustus. By the beginning of the 1st century AD, the construction of the Roman city was underway.
The Roman city was laid out along the main Cardo Maximus street, perpendicular to the Seine. It began at the heights of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève on the left bank, went downhill along the modern Rue Saint-Jacques, across a marshy area to the bridge connecting to the Île de la Cité; across the island, and across a bridge to a smaller enclave on the right bank. The low-lying land along the river was suitable for farming; and since it was easily flooded, the road was raised. The Cardo Maximus met the Decumanus, or main east-west street, located at modern rue Soufflot. Here was the civic basilica, containing a tribunal, and a temple. Gradually the city was furnished with a forum, and baths, all on the upper slope of Mount Sainte-Genevieve.
It was not the capital of the Roman province (Sens had that distinction) and it was to the west of the most important Roman north-south road between Provence and the Rhine. The importance of the city was due in large part to its position as an intersection of land and water trade routes. One of the most striking archeological finds from the early period is the Pillar of the Boatmen which was erected by the corporation of local river merchants and sailors and dedicated to Tiberius.
Other major public works projects and monuments were built in the 2nd century AD including an aqueduct.2 Roman and Medieval Paris, Clifton Ellis, PhD Architectural History, Texas Tech College of Architecture - TTU College of Architecture
In the 3rd century, according to legend, Christianity was brought to the town by St Denis, and his companions Rusticus and Eleuthere. In about 250 he and two companions were said to have been arrested and decapitated on the hill of Mons Mercurius thereafter known as Mons Martyrum (Martyrs' Hill, or Montmartre). According to tradition, he carried his head to Saint-Denis, where the Basilica of Saint-Denis was later built.
The mid third century brought a series of invasions of Gaul by two Germanic peoples, the Franks and the Alemanni, which threatened Lutetia. The city at the time had no fortifications. Portions of the left bank settlement, including the baths and amphitheatre, were hurriedly abandoned, and the stones used to construct ramparts around the Île de la Cité. The city was reduced in size from one hundred hectares during the high Roman Empire to ten to fifteen hectares on the left bank, and ten hectares on the Île de la Cité. A new civic basilica and baths were built on the island whose vestiges can be seen in the archeological crypt under the Parvis in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Place John Paul II.
In the 4th century, Lutetia remained an important bulwark defending the Empire against the Germanic invaders. In 357–358 Julian, as caesar of the Western empire and general of the Gallic legions, moved the Roman capital of Gaul from Trier to Paris. After defeating the Alemanni in a major battle of Strasbourg in 357, he defended against Germanic invaders coming from the north. He was proclaimed emperor by his troops in 360 in Lutetia. Later Valentinian I resided in Lutetia for a brief period (365–366).Goudineau, Christian, "Lutetia" in Dictionary of Antiquity under the direction of Jean Leclant. PUF. 2005 The first documented bishop of Paris was one Victorinus, in 346. The first council of Bishops in Gaul convened in the city in 360. When Saint Martin visited the city in 360, there was a cathedral, near the site of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The end of the Roman Empire in the west, and the creation of the Merovingian dynasty in the 5th century, with its capital placed in Paris by Clovis I, confirmed the new role and name for the city. The adjective Parisiacus had already been used for centuries. Lutetia had gradually become Paris, the city of the Parisii.The City of Antiquity , official history of Paris by The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau
The City The Forum of Lutetia
The Forum of Lutetia was in the centre of the city, between the modern streets of Boulevard Saint-Michel on the west, Rue Saint-Jacques on the east, rue Cujas to the north and Rue G. Lussac and rue Malbranch to the south. It was two Roman blocks wide and one block long, 177.6 x 88.8 m. Only a small part of a wall of the old forum remains above ground today, but the foundations have been extensively excavated since the 19th century.
The forum was surrounded by a wall, with entrances on the north and south. Along the outer walls on the north, south sides and west sides, were arcades sheltering rows of small shops. At the west end was an underground gallery, or cryptoporticus.
The civic basilica, essentially the town hall, occupied the east of the forum, It contained the courts where political, social and financial issues were discussed and decided. It had a central nave, higher than other parts of the building, and two lower collateral aisles, separated from the nave by rows of columns.
At the west end was the temple devoted to the official gods. Its facade with a portico of pillars with triangular pediment faced to the east, the tradition for Roman temples.
The Amphitheatre, or Arenes de Lutece
The amphitheatre is located near the intersection of Rue Monge and Rue de Navarre. It was about 100 x 130 m in plan, making it one of the largest in Gaul. It could accommodate as many as 17000 spectators.
It had a stage and backdrop used for the presentation of plays, along with a larger space suitable for the combat of gladiators and of animals, and other large-scale festivities. It was probably built near the end of the 1st century AD. In the early 4th century its stone was used in the construction of the fortress on the Île de Ia Cité, at a time when the province was threatened by barbarian invasion.
Much of the remaining building stone was reused in the city wall of Paris constructed by Philippe-Auguste in the 12th century.