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 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 Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon.

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.

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.