Gallia Lugdunensis

Created by Augustus in 27 BCE as one of the "Three Gauls," centered on Lugdunum (Lyon), which grew into Roman Gaul's administrative and religious capital and the birthplace of emperors Claudius and Caracalla. Increasingly exposed to Frankish and Alemannic raiding through the 4th and 5th centuries, it passed out of Roman control as the Visigoths and Franks partitioned Gaul in the 470s. Lugdunum's position at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône made it the hub of Gaul's road network and the site of the great annual assembly of Gallic tribal delegates at the Altar of the Three Gauls, a ritual expression of provincial loyalty to Rome. The city minted much of the empire's western coinage and hosted one of its largest amphitheatres, where in 177 CE a notorious persecution martyred a community of early Christians, including the bishop Pothinus and the deacon Blandina, whose account became one of the most famous martyrdom narratives of the early Church. Lugdunensis also supplied several imperial usurpers and claimants during the turbulent 3rd century, reflecting both its wealth and its military garrisons' importance to whoever controlled Gaul. Trade along its rivers linked the Mediterranean world to the North Sea and Rhine frontier, keeping the province prosperous even as the empire's fortunes elsewhere declined. By the mid-5th century Roman control had become largely nominal, and the province was absorbed into the expanding Burgundian and Frankish kingdoms.

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