Cularo was the name of the Gallic city which evolved into modern

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

. It was renamed Gratianopolis in 381 to honor Roman emperor

Gratian Gratian (; ; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian was raised to the rank of ''Augustus'' as a child and inherited the West after his father's death in ...

Model of the Gallo-Roman Walls that surrounded Grenoble

The first remaining reference to what is now Grenoble dates back to a July 43 BC letter by Munatius Plancus to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

.''Ad Familiares'', 10, 2
Letter 876
/ref> The small town founded by the

Allobroges The Allobroges (Gaulish language, Gaulish: *''Allobrogis'', 'foreigner, exiled'; ) were a Gauls, Gallic people dwelling in a large territory between the Rhône river and the Alps during the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman period. The Allob ...

Gallic people was at that time called Cularo. In 292, the western emperor

Maximian Maximian (; ), nicknamed Herculius, was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was ''Caesar (title), Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocleti ...

elevated the town to the rank of ''

Civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

'', "city", and ordered the construction of defensive walls which both protected the urban area and marked its higher status. Their vestiges are now a landmark of this era. Wishing to thank and honor the emperor

for creating its

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, the inhabitants of Cularo renamed their town Gratianopolis in 381. That name would subsequently evolve into Grenoble through Graignovol. The Saint-Laurent crypt and the baptistery of Grenoble date also back from the Gallo-Roman period (4th century), and have been preserved to this day; the latter remained in use until the 9th century but had later been buried under accumulated urban layers; it was rediscovered in 1989 during the construction of tramway tracks, excavated until 1996, and incorporated into the adjacent Musée de l'Ancien Évêché. Several small sections of the Gallo-Roman city wall are also visible in the old town, especially in rue Lafayette.

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External links

Perseus.
{{Coord, 45, 11, 32, N, 5, 43, 50, E, source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title History of Grenoble Allobroges Archaeological sites in France Roman towns and cities in France Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia

References

Further reading

External links