Outstanding discovery in Lyon, a Roman quarter, scene of a great victory of Septimius Severus, resurfaces

Archaeologists have already let it be known that this is an exceptional discovery: an excavation campaign conducted by the University of Lyon 2 and the Archaeological Service of the City of Lyon under the garden of the Visitation, above Fourvière Hill in Lyon, France, has led to the discovery of a 2nd-century AD Roman quarter on the edge of ancient Lugdunum. This was an area used for military purposes: a house, a blockhouse and a parade ground have currently resurfaced. Along with the remains of the buildings, a number of everyday objects (about three hundred: plates, pots, pans, lamps, personal hygiene items and more) and about a hundred weapons (spears, arrows, javelins, helmets), some of them almost intact, have also been found. Fourviere Hill is moreover the place where, in 197, the legions of Emperor Septimius Severus and those of Clodius Albinus, who proclaimed himself emperor in 195 and was finally defeated by Septimius Severus in Lugdunum itself in a battle that saw tens of thousands of soldiers opposing each other: the military quarter is probably connected to these events.

After Septimius Severus’ great victory, his soldiers obtained permission to sack Lugdunum, which was already a very wealthy city at the time: a punishment for those who had supported the rebels. The discovery may now reveal new information about this important moment in Roman history. “This site,” explained, to Lyon Mag magazine, archaeologist Benjamin Clément, in charge of the excavation, “allows us to document these archaeological vestiges and tie them to small and big history by combining what was discovered with what was already known through texts and historical knowledge of the Roman empire.” Clément stressed that this is an exceptional discovery: “we have found,” he stressed, “the scene of a battlefield with all the traces of the fighting that took place in an urban context, with arrowheads, artillery elements, spears, equipment left here after the fighting, and even the head of a decapitated legionnaire.” The find also has an unusual aspect: “the fact of finding objects of daily use and weapons in one place is quite unusual. This is a rare occurrence for an archaeological site.”

Excavations on the Roman quarter (which was destroyed soon after the battle) will now go on, since archaeologists have not yet finished their work: it is likely that the campaign will continue in 2020 and perhaps later. Most of the objects unearthed have already been sent to the Centre de restauration et d’études archéologiques municipal (CREAM) in Vienne, an institute that specializes in the restoration of archaeological finds.

Outstanding discovery in Lyon, a Roman quarter, scene of a great victory of Septimius Severus, resurfaces

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