Lugdunum - Growth and Prosperity in The First Centuries of The Empire

Growth and Prosperity in The First Centuries of The Empire

In the 2nd century, Lugdunum prospered and grew to a population of 40 to 200,000 persons. Four aqueducts brought water to the city's fountains, public baths, and wealthy homes. The aqueducts were well engineered and included several siphons. It continued to be a provincial capital with additional government functions and services such as the mint and customs service. Lugdunum had at least two banks and became the principal manufacturing center for pottery, metal working, and weaving in Gaul. Lyonnais terra cotta, pottery and wine were traded throughout Gaul, and many other items were crafted for export.

The city itself was run by a "senate" of decurions (the ordo decurionum) and a hierarchy of magistrates: quaestors, aediles, and duumvirs. The social classes of the time consisted of the decurions at the top, who could aspire to Senate status, followed by the knights (equites), and the Augustales, six of whom were in charge of the municipal imperial cult. This latter status was the highest distinction to which a wealthy freedman could aspire. Many of the wealthy merchants and craftsmen were freedmen. Below them were the workmen and slaves.

The Rhône and Saône rivers were navigable, as were most of the rivers of Gaul, and river traffic was heavy. The Lyonnais company of boatmen (nautae) was the largest and "most honored" in Gaul. Archeological evidence suggests the right bank of the Saône had the largest concentration of wharves, quays and warehouses. Lyonnais boatmen dominated the wine trade from Narbonensis and Italy, as well as oil from Spain, to the rest of Gaul.

The heavy concentration of trade made Lugdunum one of the most cosmopolitan cities of Gaul, and inscriptions attest to a large foreign-born population, especially Italians, Greeks, and immigrants from the oriental provinces of Asia Minor and Syria-Palestine.

There is evidence of numerous temples and shrines in Lugdunum. Traditional Gallic gods like mallet-bearing Sucellus and the mother goddesses called the Matres (depicted with cornucopiae) continued to be worshiped somewhat syncretistically along with the Roman gods. Additional religious cults came with the oriental immigrants, who brought the eastern mystery religions to the Rhône valley. A major shrine of the Phrygian goddess Cybele was built in nearby Vienne, and she also seems to have found special favor in Lugdunum in the late 1st century and 2nd century.