Lutetia

About

Lutetia, also known as Lutecia and Lutetia Parisiorum, was a Gallo–Roman town and the predecessor of modern-day Paris. Traces of an earlier Neolithic settlement (c. 4500 BC) 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.