PARIS IN ANTIQUITY  (1000 BC - 500 AD)

The Gauls were the first Parisians:

Paris was increasingly inhabited by Celts, but the first  important village worthy of this name dates from the 3^rd century BC. The Parisii, a gaulish people, were installed in Paris around 250 BC. They built a bridge across the Seine, which facilitated the taxation of all who passed over and under it. Paris, which was then called “Lutetia” became a place for the exchange of goods from the North, the South-West of France and the Mediterranean. Lutetia became “the town of the Parisii”, then finally, Paris in the 5^th century AD.

A Gallo-Roman city became Christian:

In 52 BC the pro-consul Labienus – a lieutenant of Julius Caesar – conquered Lutetia. The cohabitation of the Gauls and the Romans went well for centuries. The town was at peace because the military front was principally in Germany. The Roman policy was tolerant in religious matters. The official doctrine was “your gods are our gods, but named differently". Little by little the Gauls and the Romans coexisted with both pantheons.

Lutetia became an important commercial centre for the Roman Empire. The town was in the hands of the Nautes – merchant aristocrats who used boats for transporting their merchandise.

Little remains of the gallo-roman city: the amphitheatre and the Museum of the Middle Ages - le Musée de Cluny - is situated in the ancient public baths, which can still be seen from the street.

During the centuries of Roman presence, the Gauls became more like the Romans while still retaining their identity: in 212AD, by the Edict of Caracalla, all free inhabitants of the Empire became Roman citizens, and Christianity, which appeared in the city during the 3^rd century, contributed, finally when the persecutions ceased, to diminish the differences. On the other hand, from the 3^rd century onwards, insecurity reappeared in the Empire. Pagan peoples from the East of the Roman Empire threatened and later settled in the Empire, which finally collapsed during the sack of the city of Rome in 476AD.

Text:  PJ - Director History Department of www.parisrama.com 

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