The city of Paris is named after the Gallic tribe that originally built the first village on what is now known as Île de la Cité in the middle of the River Seine. The Romans called them the Parisii, and though they called their city Lutetia, the Romans simply called their city Paris. As Rome conquered the Gauls and spread throughout France, Paris was transformed into a typical Roman colonial capital of its time.
The City of Paris has a very interesting website about the history and modern archeological investigations into Roman Paris. Much of the Roman city was built in what is now the Left Bank half of Paris, and the major buildings and roadways became primary parts of the city even into modern times. Though the “center” of Paris would shift during the medieval period, Roman Paris became the “Latin Quarter” and survived the massive rebuilding of the city by Napoleon’s urban planner, Baron Hauptmann. You can see from the recreated maps on the website, that the Romans built Paris using a street grid plan that we tend to think of as being a 19th century innovation, and quite different from the rambling, twisty, haphazard streets that were typical of the medieval era and are still part of many arrondissements in the city today.
This is interesting. I like learning about how cities evolved. Rome itself has quite the story too.
Tell Charlotte about this story and remind her that she’s been there then in 3rd grade, she can build a 3D diorama for a mapping project or Rome’s Paris.