Lutetia

Lutetia (sometimes Lutetia Parisiorum or Lucotecia, in French Lutèce) was the name of a city in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul. It was located on the island of Île de la Cité on the river Seine (in Latin Sequana), on the site of the present city of Paris. Lutetia was the chief city (oppidum) of the Parisii, a Celtic people who settled in the area during the middle of the third century B.C. Lutetia was occupied by Julius Caesar during the conquest of Gaul in 53 BC. It is mentioned several times in Caesar's Gallic Wars, notably in book 7, chapters 57-58. It was taken by the rebellious Celtic leader Vercingetorix, who was later captured by the Romans in a battle near Champ de Mars, the present site of the Eiffel Tower. After its conquest, Lutetia served as an important city in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdenensis. It received its modern name of Paris in 212 A.D. Lutetia was renamed Paris after the city of Ys (it is said that Ys was the most wonderful city in the world) was destroyed, because "Par-Is" in Breton means "Similar to Ys". In a small park on high ground in the Latin Quarter of the Left Bank, tucked behind apartment blocks, one may still see some remains of the 1st century CE Arène de Lutèce. The only other signs of Roman Lutetia are the remains of public baths at the Musée de Cluny and the catacombs under Montparnasse.\n----\nThere is also an asteroid named 21 Lutetia. Category:Roman towns and cities