Lyons (French spelling Lyon) is 2,050 years old today.
Lyons has been founded as a Roman colony in 43 BCE by Lucius Munatius Plancus ("Flatfoot"), a Roman Senator. Previous occupation has been discovered (continuous occupation since 400 BCE), some traces back to Neolithic ages.
In the year 27 BCE, Lyons becomes capital of the Gaulish territories under the name Lugdunum.
Lyons grows rapidly and is one of the largest towns of the Roman Empire during the first century (50 to 80,000 people). It is the birthplace of the Roman emperors Claude and Caracalla, of the Roman general Germanicus, and supposedly of the Prefect of the Roman province of Judea, Pontius Pilate.