The Topographical Evolution of the City of Paris 
Caesar found a flourish¬ 
ing little oppidum or forti¬ 
fied Gallic town on the lie 
de la Cite which he men¬ 
tions, rather casually, two 
or three times, by the 
name Lutetia of the Par- 
isii. Ptolemy calls it Lu- 
cotecia. The longer form 
of the word is recalled in 
the Roman name for the 
hill on which the Pan¬ 
theon stands— Mons Lu- 
cotitius. One may well 
wish to believe that the 
Greek traders from Mar¬ 
seilles and the Danube 
found the little Gallic huts 
built of the beautiful Paris 
stone and called the set¬ 
tlement the White Citv ; 
but the derivation from 
the Greek AcUZfie, white, 
is not perfectly estab¬ 
lished. 
The location of Lutetia 
near the union of the 
rivers Marne and Oise 
with the Seine made it 
the natural trading center 
for a large country. In 
ancient Gaul, as the cul¬ 
tivated land lay along the 
water-courses, and the 
regions between these 
narrow strips were forest, 
the rivers became impor¬ 
tant thoroughfares. 
The Romans,ofcourse, 
built fine roads immedi¬ 
ately after their occupa¬ 
tion, the most important, 
apparently, being that to 
Orleans ( Genabum), which 
connected the valley of 
the Seine with that of the 
Loire, and passed on to 
the Rhone at Lyon ( Lug- 
dunum ). A branch from 
Orleans went westward 
through Fours ( Turones) 
to Aquitania. Phis north 
and south route through 
5 2 
