Toponymy The name of the city has taken the forms
Lugdon,
Luon, and since the 13th century,
Lyon. The Gallic
Lugdun or
Lugdunon that was Latinized in Roman as
Lugdunum is composed of two words. The first may be the name of the Celtic god
Lug (in charge of order and law), or the derived word
lugon, meaning "crow" (the crow being the messenger of Lug), but might also be another word
lug, meaning "light". The second is
dunos ('fortress', 'hill'). The name thus may designate the
hill of Fourvière, on which the ancient city of Lyon is founded, but could mean "hill of the god Lug", "hill of the crows" or "shining hill". Alternatively
Julius Pokorny associates the first part of the word with the Indo-European radical *
lūg ('dark, black, swamp'), the basis of the toponyms
Ludza in Latvia,
Lusatia in Germany (from
Sorbian Łužica), and several places in the Czech Republic named Lužice; it could then also be compared to
Luze in Franche-Comté and various hydronyms such as
Louge. Further down, in the current Saint-Vincent district, was the Gallic village of Condate, probably a simple hamlet of sailors or fishermen living on the banks of the Saône.
Condate is a Gallic word meaning "confluence", from which the Confluence district gets its name. In
Roman times the city was called
Caput Galliae, meaning "capital of the Gauls". As an homage to this title, the
Archbishop of Lyon is still called the Primate of Gaul. During the revolutionary period, Lyon was renamed
Commune-Affranchie ("
Emancipated Commune") on 12 October 1793 by a decree of the
Convention Nationale. It resumed its name in 1794, after the end of
the Terror. Lyon is called
Liyon in
Franco-Provençal.
Ancient Lyon According to the historian
Dio Cassius, in 43 BC, the
Roman Senate ordered the creation of a settlement for Roman refugees of war with the
Allobroges. These refugees had been expelled from
Vienne and were now encamped at the confluence of the
Saône and
Rhône rivers. The foundation was built on Fourvière hill and officially called
Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity and the blessing of the gods. The city became increasingly referred to as
Lugdunum (and occasionally
Lugudunum). The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as "Desired Mountain" is offered by the 9th-century
Endlicher Glossary. In contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lug[o]dunon, after the
Celtic god
Lugus (cognate with
Old Irish Lugh, Modern Irish
Lú), and
dúnon (hill-fort). on the Fourvière Hill The Romans recognised that Lugdunum's strategic location at the convergence of two navigable rivers made it a natural communications hub. The city became the starting point of main
Roman roads in the area, and it quickly became the capital of the province,
Gallia Lugdunensis. Two Emperors were born in this city:
Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the
Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic Senators, and
Caracalla.
Early Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably
Marcus Aurelius and
Septimius Severus. Local saints from this period include
Blandina,
Pothinus, and
Epipodius, among others. The Greek
Irenaeus was the second bishop of Lyon during the latter part of the second century. To this day, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as "
Primat des Gaules".
Burgundians fleeing the destruction of
Worms by the
Huns in 437 were re-settled in eastern Gaul. In 443 the Romans established the Kingdom of the Burgundians, and Lugdunum became its capital in 461. In 843, under the
Treaty of Verdun, Lyon went to the
Holy Roman Emperor Lothair I. It later was made part of the Kingdom of Arles which was incorporated into the
Holy Roman Empire in 1033. Lyon did not come under French control until the 14th century.
Modern Lyon Fernand Braudel remarked, "Historians of Lyon are not sufficiently aware of the bi-polarity between Paris and Lyon, which is a constant structure in French development...from the late Middle Ages to the
Industrial Revolution". In the late 15th century, the
fairs introduced by Italian merchants made Lyon the economic
counting house of France. Even the
Bourse (treasury), built in 1749, resembled a public bazaar where accounts were settled in the open air. When international banking moved to
Genoa, then
Amsterdam, Lyon remained the banking centre of France. During the
Renaissance, the city's development was driven by the
silk trade, which strengthened its ties to Italy. Italian influence on Lyon's architecture is still visible among historic buildings. In the late 1400s and 1500s Lyon was also a key centre of literary activity and book publishing, both of French writers (such as
Maurice Scève,
Antoine Héroet, and
Louise Labé) and of Italians in exile (such as
Luigi Alamanni and
Gian Giorgio Trissino). In 1572, Lyon was a scene of mass violence by Catholics against Protestant
Huguenots in the
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Two centuries later, Lyon was again convulsed by violence during the
French Revolution, when the citizenry rose up against the National Convention and supported the
Girondins. The city was besieged by Revolutionary armies for over two months before it surrendered in October 1793. Many buildings were destroyed, especially around the
Place Bellecour, and
Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois and
Joseph Fouché administered the execution of more than 2,000 people. The Convention ordered that its name be changed to "Liberated City", and a plaque was erected that proclaimed "Lyon made war on Liberty; Lyon no longer exists". A decade later,
Napoleon ordered the reconstruction of all the buildings demolished during that period. The convention was not the only target within Lyon during the French Revolution. After the Convention faded into history, the
French Directory appeared and days after the 4 September 1797
Coup of 18 Fructidor, a Directory's commissioner was assassinated in Lyon. The city became an important industrial town in the 19th century. In 1831 and 1834, the
canuts (silk workers) of Lyon staged
two major uprisings for better working conditions and pay. In 1862, the first of
Lyon's extensive network of
funicular railways began operation. During the
repression of January and February 1894, the police conducted at least dozens of raids targeting the
anarchists living there, without much success. Some months later, in June 1894,
companion Sante Caserio assassinated the French president responsible for the repression, Sadi Carnot. During
World War II, Lyon was a centre for the occupying
Nazi forces, including
Klaus Barbie, the infamous "Butcher of Lyon". However, the city was also a stronghold of the
French Resistance, the many secret passages known as
traboules, enabled people to escape
Gestapo raids. On 3 September 1944, Lyon was liberated by the
1st Free French Division and the
Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur. The city is now home to a Resistance museum. ==Geography==