Lyon

• Lyon is a Cathedral city located at the confluence of the Rivers Saone and Rhone in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Region in central France.
• It was founded by the Romans in 43 BCE as Lugdunum and was the capital city of the Province of Gallia Lugdunensis.

History

• During the Roman Period (43 BCE-c. 476 CE), every year on the 1st of August, the Representatives of the 60 Tribes of the Three Gauls met at the Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls, located at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone Rivers.
• In 197 CE, Battle of Lugdunum was fought nearby between two Roman armies belonging to Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus.

The Roman Sites

• Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls
  • This is in the Jardin des Plantes.
• Lyon Roman Baths
• Lyon Gallo-Roman Tombs
• Paired Roman Theatres of Fourviere
  • These are located in Lugdunum: Gallo Roman Museum of Lyon.
• The Gier Aqueduct
  • Although Lyon is on a hilltop, it was supplied by a stream from a mountain 53 miles (85km) away.
  • The Gier Aqueduct supplied water to Lyon using 11 tunnels of which four are inverted Syphon tunnels built to cross the valleys of the Dureze, Garon, Yzeron and Trion rivers.
  • Water left the opposite hillside, poured down to the valley floor in an inverted siphon in the form of a U, crossed the river in a tube on arches, then climbed up the other side, and emerged at a slightly lower level.

Museums

• Lugdunum: Gallo Roman Museum of Lyon
  • The Museum is built around a set of Roman paired theatres, and holds the lyon Tablet and the Coligny Calendar.
    • The Roman Paired Theatres
      • The Roman Theatre of Fourviere had 10,000 seats.
      • A rare pulley mechanism was discovered here for raising the curtain from below.
      • The Roman Odeon had 3,000 seats, for Music and Poetry readings.
      • It was very unusual to have Paired Theatres. The only other set of Paired Theatres in Gaul were at Vienne, of which only one now remains in existence.
    • Lyon Tablet
      • A bronze tablet recording the Emperor Claudius‘ speech recommending noble Gauls be permitted to enter the Roman Senate.
    • Coligny Calendar
      • The Coligny Calendar is a Lunisolar Calendar engraved in the Gaulish language on a Bronze Tablet dating to the end of the second century CE.

Roman Roads

• Via Agrippa
  • This name is applied to Four roads departing Lyon:
    • one to the English Channel, one to Germany, one to the Atlantic and one to the Mediterranean.
• Via Antonina
  • The Via Antonina was a Roman Road in Gaul which paralleled the Via Agrippa on the opposite side of the Rhone linking Lyon with Arles. It rejoined Arles via a pontoon bridge.
• Via of the Alpes Poenniae
  • Milan–Aosta–Roman Great St. Bernard Pass–Bourg Saint Pierre–Martigny–Lyon

Visiting Lyon

• Major Annual Events in Lyon
  • Lyon hosts a series of Events throughout the year.
• Public Holidays in France

Lyon