ESA Science & Technology: Roman Empire remembered on maps of asteroid (21) Lutetia Terms and Conditions Roman Empire remembered on maps of asteroid (21) Lutetia On 10 July 2010, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft flew past the large main belt asteroid (21) Lutetia at a distance of about 3170 km. The spacecraft's trajectory carried it over the asteroid's illuminated north pole, enabling more than 50 per cent of the surface to be studied. Almost the entire northern hemisphere and parts of the southern hemisphere were imaged by the wide and narrow angle cameras of the OSIRIS instrument. These unprecedented images enabled the Rosetta science team to identify seven distinct topographic and geological regions, which were named after provinces of the ancient Roman Empire: Baetica, Achaia, Etruria, Narbonensis, Noricum, Pannonia and Raetia. The unobserved area of the southern hemisphere was named after Hermann Goldschmidt, who discovered asteroid Lutetia in 1852. A Rosetta map of asteroid (21) Lutetia showing the newly identified regions.

Credit: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/ INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA An annotated map of asteroid (21) Lutetia. Credit: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/ IAA/RSSD/INTA/ UPM/ DASP/IDA The most notable impact craters were named after cities which existed around the same time as the city of Lutetia (the Roman name for Paris, France). The largest of all is the 55-km diameter Massilia, the Roman name for Marseille. Other features have been named after rivers of the Roman Empire and adjacent parts of Europe at the time of Lutetia. Rosetta's flyby trajectory meant that the asteroid's north pole, located in the Baetica region, was fully illuminated by sunlight. The western hemisphere (the Raetia and Etruria regions) was seen to lower latitudes at low resolution during the approach, whereas the eastern hemisphere (Narbonensis) was seen at higher resolution but at a high phase angle. As a result, more shadows were seen in the east.

Five of the major regions were observed during the closest approach, whilst two others (Pannonia and Raetia) were imaged at lower resolution and defined on the basis of sharp morphological boundaries such as crater walls and ridges. A cluster of craters close to the north pole in the Baetica region is one of the most prominent features of the northern hemisphere. The most heavily cratered, and therefore oldest, regions (Noricum and Achaia) are separated by the Narbonensis region, which is defined by the Massilia crater. This crater contains several smaller units, and is deformed by grooves and pit-chains, indicating modifications that took place after its initial formation. Another large impact crater was seen close to the limb in the Raetia region. A close-up of the central crater in the Baetica region showing landslides. Credit: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/ IAA/RSSD/INTA/ UPM/ DASP/IDA The relatively young crater cluster in Baetica contains boulders up to 300 metres across - probably impact debris.

These were among the largest rocks found so far on small bodies in the Solar System. Huge landslides, which seem to have occurred after the boulders were deposited, have blanketed much of the crater floors. The older, more cratered surfaces of Lutetia also feature a variety of roughly parallel, curvilinear features, including scarps, troughs, fractures, faults, grooves and pit chains. The linear features are similar in appearance to those on the Martian moon Phobos, where they are commonly interpreted as resulting from a large impact. The pattern of grooves on Lutetia suggests strain structures or fractures within a solid body of considerable strength. A number of scarps and other linear features transect several small craters. However, their orientations are different in each region and they do not appear to bear any obvious relationship to the major craters. Other curvilinear features appear to be buried by impact ejecta from the Baetica region. In the Noricum region, one prominent scarp bounds a local topographic high where the lineaments run almost parallel to the scarp and to the rims of the crater cluster in Baetica.

This area of highland in Noricum also displays a trough - probably fault-guided - which is more than 10 km long and roughly 100 m deep. Last Update: 11 October 2013 Shortcut URL Lutetia | StarDate Online StarDate: May 3, 2011 On an autumn night in 1852, amateur astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt was observing the skies from the balcony of his Paris apartment when his small telescope revealed a speck of light that no one had ever seen before: an asteroid. It was named Lutetia, for the Roman city that became Paris. For the next century and a half, Lutetia remained little more than a speck of light in astronomers' telescopes. But last July scientists got to know it a lot better when the Rosetta spacecraft flew by it. The European probe found that Lutetia is dense and heavy, indicating that it's probably a solid chunk of rock and metal, and not a loosely held together "rubble pile" as many other asteroids are.

Lutetia is the largest asteroid yet visited by a spacecraft -- an average diameter of about 75 miles -- so there was a lot for Rosetta to see. Its pictures showed that the surface is covered with a layer of dirt that's more than a third of a mile thick. The dirt has formed over the eons as other space rocks have pounded Lutetia, pulverizing the asteroid's surface. Collisions by some of the bigger space rocks have left impact craters -- hundreds of them are visible in Rosetta's pictures. As scientists draw maps of Lutetia's surface, they'll name many of the craters and other features in the pictures. And they already have a theme for the names: cities, rivers, and provinces of the Roman Empire and surrounding lands at the time Rome controlled the city of Lutetia. Servier | Lutetia, the Gallo-Roman ancestor of Paris | Medicographia Lutetia, the Gallo-Roman ancestor of Paris Lutetia, the Gallo-Roman ancestor of Paris G. Coulon, France The Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia was the chief settlement of the Parisii (Gallic tribe).

It stretched along the left bank of the River Seine, on what is now Sainte-Geneviève hill and the Île de la Cité (natural island in the Seine). A network of orthogonal roads divided the town into blocks (insulae) containing public spaces and dwellings. This street plan was organized around a major north-south thoroughfare, the present-day rue Saint-Jacques. At its apogee in the late 2nd century AD, Lutetia was home to almost 10 000 people, a modest population among the towns of Gaul. Lutetia boasted a forum with its basilica and probably a temple, places of entertainment (a theater and above all the amphitheater), and public baths, in the south, the east, and the north (those called Cluny). Its craftsmen and tradespeople generated the town’s wealth and its influential guild of boatmen controlled navigation on the River Seine and its tributaries. These boatmen, the nautae parisiaci, played a major role in town life, and in the early days of the Roman Empire even erected a monument to Emperor Tiberius, the famed Pillar of the Boatmen.

In the 4th century, barbarian incursions, rural malcontents, and political upheaval prompted the inhabitants of Lutetia to abandon the left bank and withdraw to the Île de la Cité, around which they erected ramparts. Paradoxically, as the town’s fortunes waned, its military importance grew, and by the year 360 when Julian’s soldiers proclaimed him Emperor there, his beloved Lutetia was well on the way to becoming Paris. Medicographia. 2012;34:250-261 (see French abstract on page 260) Greek geographer Strabo, in the 1st century BC, wrote “On the banks of the river Sequanas (Seine) lived the Parisii who occupied an island in the river and had for a city Lucotocia (Lutetia).” Later the town grew and its people erected public monuments, but it was never more than a modest town of Roman Gaul. In short, its origins are commonplace, like many urban centers in Antiquity.

Yet the town that was to emerge as the capital of France needed to take pride in glorious beginnings, so from the Middle Ages onwards all manner of legendary origins were dreamed up. One such outlandish story linked it to the fall of Troy, after which displaced Trojans were said to have settled on the banks of the Seine in a place that was “beautiful and delectable, plentiful and fertile and well placed for living.”* As for the Parisii, it was claimed that their name came from Paris himself, the son of Priamand lover of Helen of Troy. Such a filiation, fanciful as it was, conferred on Lutetia a mythical origin comparable to that of Rome, which in one tradition was founded by the Trojan Aeneas. And to further extol its beginnings, it was even professed that Lutetia was founded well before the Eternal City, a view completely at odds with current archaeological opinion, which holds that the oldest traces of a Roman presence in the soil of Paris go no further back than 30 BC.

Lutetia: from Gallic to Roman In his Commentaries on the Gallic War (Book VII, 57), Julius Caesar mentions Lutetia “town of the Parisii, situated on an island in the Seine,” but archaeological excavations have never uncovered significant Gallic remains on the Île de la Cité. To the point that researchers are beginning to wonder whether Lutetia was located elsewhere, at Nanterre, where a site has recently yielded substantial traces of Celtic occupation. All the more so since the Nanterre site was abandoned early in the reign of Emperor Augustus, just at the time of the first signs of a Roman presence in Paris. According to this hypothesis, Lutetia was transferred to the Sainte-Geneviève hill, where the Gallo-Roman town was founded and then grew during the 1st century AD. Without falling prey to simplistic determinism, it is legitimate to underscore the advantages of the location of Paris. First there is the Seine, a major waterway extended by a whole series of navigable tributaries. Situated at the nexus of several complementary regions, the site was also favorable for water- land transfers.

Swampy, dotted with small islands and channels, the alluvial plain is surrounded by heights and hills conducive to human settlement. Roman city planners little by little mastered this environment and laid out the pattern of the town. Marble bust of Julius Caesar, dated 46 BC, claimed to be a true likeness. The bust was discovered in 2007, during an archeological diving mission. Caesar wrote extensively on Gaul in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War). © Chris Hellier/Corbis. *Raoul de Presles, Description de Paris sous Charles V. 1371. In: Le Roux de Lincy and L. M. Tisserand. Paris et ses Historiens aux XIVe et XVe Siècles. Documents et Écrits Originaux. Paris. 1867:103-104. A town with a grid plan At Timgad in Algeria, Cologne and Trier (formerly called Treves) in Germany, Avenches in Switzerland, Orange, Amiens, Limoges, and Autun in France, Roman planners laid out the town in a more or less regular grid plan.

The streets cross at right angles and the two main thoroughfares intersect at the town center. The north-south road was the cardo maximus; the east-west road the decumanus maximus. Parallel to these were the secondary roads, which gave the town its orthogonal pattern, creating insulae, like apartment buildings, laid out as if on the squares of a chessboard. The heart of Lutetia is no exception.The cardo maximus, which runs perpendicular to the Seine, was the town’s principal thoroughfare. Its course has remained unchanged over the centuries and today corresponds to the rue Saint-Jacques, the rue de la Cité, and the rue Saint-Martin. Using a theoretical layout, yet adapting with pragmatism to the local terrain, Roman planners built the town on the left bank of the river, on the heights and slopes of the Sainte-Geneviève hill, away from areas liable to flooding. In the whole of the center of Lutetia, the blocks or units defined by the decumanus and cardo corresponded to exactly 300 Roman feet, that is to squares close to 89 x 89 meters.

In the center of this ur- ban network were public monuments and private housing, and the grid pattern was not immutable since the forum, for example, occupied two blocks. Lutetia, whichmust have covered an area of 60 to 70 hectares, extended also to the Île de la Cité and a small stretch of the right bank of the Seine. Despite this modest size—Nîmes occupied more than 220 hectares, Lyon 350, and Reims 600—Lutetia was chosen as the main town of the Parisii. This political and administrative function distinguished Lutetia from the other towns of Gaul and it was provided with the buildings and public spaces typical of all provincial capitals, which prided themselves on being in the image of Rome, the urbs par excellence. 3-D reconstruction of the Forum of Lutetia. © Infographie M.-O. Agnès et A.-B. Pimpaud. With kind permission.

The town’s forum and monumental trappings “Deep in the Seine valley, imagine the ancient monumental town at its apogee being laid down in stages, to the great pride of its worthies who thus gave expression to their membership of the Empire: above the forum and its thermal baths, halfway down the slope, the theater, the thermal baths of the Collège de France and the amphitheater, and lastly, down below, the Cluny baths forming the monumental façade.” This panorama of Lutetia, evoked by Didier Busson, archaeologist at the Department of the History of Architecture and Archaeology of the City of Paris,* gives a fair idea of how the town’s monuments and public spaces were laid out. Generally rectangular, Gallo-Roman forums consisted of an esplanade surrounded by portico colonnades and organically linked to a basilica, curia (place of assembly), temple, and shops. The civil basilica served at the same time as the law courts, the trading exchange, a covered market, and a waiting hall used during inclement weather or heat waves.

Contiguous with the basilica was the curia, the assembly room for the decurions (members of the city senate), who formed a sort of town council. The shops were run bymerchants, craftsmen, businessmen, and sometimes even teachers. As for the plaza itself, the statues of notables and their honorific inscriptions made this the symbolic repository of the town’s collective memory. This juxtaposition of buildings conferred on this public space legal, political, administrative, and religious functions, and to a lesser degree social and economic importance. In short, forums were the busiest and liveliest of places in which the town’s heart beat (See Box, right). Established opposite the Luxembourg Gardens, between the present-day boulevard Saint-Michel and rue Saint-Jacques, aligned with the rue Soufflot, Lutetia’s forum covered an area greater than that of today’s Pantheon. On three sides, the central esplanade (118×43meters) was bordered by porticos raised by about 2 meters standing on an underlying U-shaped gallery.

This vast semi-underground gallery (the cryptoportico), some 12 meters wide and 6 meters high, was divided into two bays, into which light filtered through openings giving onto the esplanade. By raising the monumental porticos, the cryptoportico displayed them to full effect and, because of the sloping terrain, ensured the stability of the artificial terrace constructed when laying out the forum. The presence of a curia remains controversial, but the basilica, comprising a nave and two aisles, closed the eastern end of the esplanade. Facing it stood a temple, probably devoted to the cult of the Emperor. A few vestiges of its podium and decoration have survived and suggest that it was of classical type with columns, capitals, and pediment. The Cluny thermal baths Even the humblest towns of Gaul had at least one public bathhouse. Lutetia boasted three. Such a proliferation of thermal baths—the use of which was introduced by Rome—cannot be explained by concern for hygiene and bodily cleanliness alone. They appeared in the decades following Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, as the expression of a new art of living. A stroll there before the evening meal was not to be missed.

An aimless wander through rooms, corridors, gardens, and porticos, chance meetings, relaxation, keeping in shape by exercising in the palaestra (a rectangular court surrounded by colonnades), improving the mind in libraries and conference rooms. People conversed, spread the latest tittle-tattle, listened to the improvised diatribes of orators, talked business. It was a place of encounters and sociability, all the more so because admission was free or the charge nominal. *Paris Villa Antique, Guides Archéologiques de la France, Monum, Éditions du Patrimoine, 2001:39. Thermes de Cluny, also called Thermes du Nord. Present-day aspect. © Saintpeg. All rights reserved. 3-D reconstruction of the Thermes de Cluny, by Renou Laurent. © Patrick Pierrain/Musée Carnavalet/Roger-Viollet. Thermal baths were not the place for a man in a hurry. Rather, he tarried and enjoyed an unalloyed bathing ritual.

After a few physical exercises in the palaestra, the visitor left his clothes in the apodyterium (changing room) and entered the tepidarium (warm bathroom), where a slave anointed him with olive oil and then scraped it off with a strigil (a curved metal tool designed for the purpose, see illustration in preceding article, page 243). The renowned 1st-century Roman physician Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote that “He who has a weak head should stay there without undressing until he perspires slightly, and only then can he submit to high temperature without danger.” The next step was in the hot room (caldarium), where the temperature was about 55°C and the humidity 95%, and where, in his Satires, Juvenal warns of the dangers run by a lordly and gluttonous patron: “But you will soon pay for it, my friend, when you take off your clothes, and with distended stomach carry your peacock into the bath undigested! Hence a sudden death, and an intestate old age” (Satire I. Translated by G. G. Ramsay for the Loeb Classical Library [1918]).

After intense sweating, and a relaxing massage, the bather returned to the tepidarium before plunging into a pool of cold water in the frigidarium. Thermal baths were identified in the 19th century at the site of the Collège de France and immediately south of the forum, at the corner of the rue Gay-Lussac and the rue Le Goff, but unquestionably the largest were those in the north, known as the Cluny thermal baths. They originally covered a little over one hectare, and their exceptional state of preservation—the full height of the frigidarium, for in- stance, is today part of the Musée National du Moyen Âge (National Museum of the Middle Ages)—allows us to imagine the grandiose proportions of the edifice and the richness of its decoration. Its ribbed vault, extended in three directions by barrel vaults, rose to 14.5 meters, making it one of the tallest still visible in the Roman West. The groins rest on consoles sculpted in the shape of the prows of ships, about which more later.

And to appreciate fully the vastness of this bath complex, it should not be forgotten that there were two levels unseen by the bathers: beneath the bath complex were the lower level of the water conveyance, with its tanks and sewerage system, and the intermediate level for the staff and technical facilities. Marble bathtub, 2nd century AD. Paris, Musée National du Moyen-Âge, Thermes de Cluny. The birth of the french capital - History of Paris city Home Birth of a capital BIRTH OF A CAPITAL Discover the history of Paris through the centuries… Paris was founded in the 3rd century B.C. on Ã®le de la CitÃ© by a community of Celts. They were a group of tribal fishermen called the Parisii who, pushed by emigration towards the banks of the Seine, made a permanent settlement there and profited from the area’s fertility and temperate climate. Furthermore, the islands on the Seine seemed the perfect place for this little community to establish their capital. At the time of the Parisii’s settlement in the area, there were seven islands on the river between what is now the pont d'Austerlitz and the pont des Arts . .

In giving them their modern names, the first was the Ile Louviers (which existed until 1843, when it was reunited with the mainland to become Quai Henri IV), Ile Saint-Louis was divided into three islets which were successively joined to each other, the same was the case for Ile de la Cité, which was originally three separate islets. The collective name of Lutetia is given to the group of habitations that were constructed on the islands, particularly on Ile de la Cité, but experts have long been divided about the etymology of this name. Some say that Lutetia (in French Lutèce) comes from the celtic word Loulouchezi; meaning “habitation in the middle of the waters”, from luth (water) thouèze (middle) and y (dwelling). In something of an enigma, others claim that it comes from Leug-tec, a Celtic word meaning beautiful stone, although the Parisians of the time built their homes exclusively from wood! The settlement was given the name Lutetia by the Romans, and the name Lucotecia by the geographer, Ptolemy.

In the year 52 BC, Lutetia fell to one of Julius Caesar’s lieutenants, Proconsul Labienus. The title of Civitas Parisorium was then bestowed upon the city, meaning “the city of the Parisii”, the name of Paris was finally adopted in the 5th century AD, so the first people that could really be called Parisians were Gauls. The city was fortified and began to expand on to the left bank of the Seine, it was there that the first Roman baths were built in what is now called Cluny and Arènes de Lutèce. Lutetia had become a commercial axis for the Roman Empire and over the course of time; its inhabitants were progressively Romanised. In the 3rd century they became Christians and citizens of the Holy Roman Empire, bringing an end to their persecution. Threatened by barbarian invasions, the Parisians resisted an attack in 451 by Attila’s Huns. They attributed their resistance to inspiration from Saint Genvieve and made her the patron saint of the city. The middle ages is a period of European history that spans from 500-1500 AD.

During this millennium, Paris became the capital of France. This resulted from a long and complicated history of kings, to which each succeeding dynasty contributed. King Clovis took Paris in 486, and in 508 made it the capital of the Kingdom of the Francs (Clovis was King of the Francs, a people who had migrated to the Roman Empire from the East). The city was soon relinquished and the inhabitants abandoned the left bank, where there remained only religious establishments like the powerful abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Près. In 861 Paris passed into the patrimony of the Capetians, who acceded to the throne of France with Hugues Capet in 987. Paris was originally the capital of a tiny kingdom, which the Capetians forced into expansion by imposing their will on outlying lords. To find out more about the city of Paris and its history, click on one the links below.

ESA Science & Technology: Annotated map of asteroid (21) Lutetia Annotated map of asteroid (21) Lutetia Date: 27 October 2011 Depicts: Asteroid (21) Lutetia Copyright: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA On 10 July 2010, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft flew past the large main belt asteroid (21) Lutetia at a distance of about 3170 km. The spacecraft's trajectory carried it over the asteroid's illuminated north pole, enabling more than 50 per cent of the surface to be studied. The unprecedented images returned by the OSIRIS imaging system enabled the Rosetta science team to identify seven distinct topographic and geological regions, which were named after provinces of the ancient Roman Empire: Baetica, Achaia, Etruria, Narbonensis, Noricum, Pannonia and Raetia.

The unobserved area of the southern hemisphere was named after Hermann Goldschmidt, who discovered asteroid Lutetia in 1852. The most notable impact craters were named after cities which existed around the same time as the city of Lutetia (the Roman name for Paris, France). The largest of all is the 55-km diameter Massilia, the Roman name for Marseille. Other features have been named after rivers of the Roman Empire and adjacent parts of Europe at the time of Lutetia. Last Update: 26 February 2014 Shortcut URL UEFA EURO 2016 - Hosts - Paris city guide - UEFA.com Paris city guide Region: Ile-de-France Population: 2.25 million (12.29 million in the urban conglomeration) There can be few cities on the planet that can claim to have been at the centre of history as Paris has. Roman, English, Prussian and German armies have all laid siege, while kings, queens, communes and emperors have reigned and toppled as history played out within its walls.

A centre of progressive thinking, modern Paris is recognised for its architectural beauty, Baron Haussmann famously carving 12 grand avenues into the city soil, radiating from the Arc de Triomphe, during the 1860s. Known as the City of Light, Paris still sets the global agenda for culture, cuisine, and fashion, as well as boasting an unmatched artistic heritage. Back to menu HISTORY First known by the Gallo-Roman name Lutetia, the settlement was called Paris after the Celtic tribe that had settled in the area in the third century BC, and was declared capital in 508 by Clovis, king of the Franks, after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Paris continued to prosper and develop under Capetian (the House of France) rule, with a notable achievement being the founding of the Sorbonne, one of the most prestigious teaching establishments in the world. The stunning Notre Dame de Paris©Thinkstock Renowned for the architecture of its avenues, the most famous of which is the Champs-Élysées, contemporary Paris was fashioned by Baron Haussmann in the 19th century who was given the task of reconstructing the city after the bloody period of the Paris Commune.

The Eiffel Tower was subsequently conceived for the Universal Exposition of 1889 and became the symbol of Paris. From the storming of the Bastille to the events of May 1968, Paris has always been at the heart of momentous events in French history. As the capital city, past and present, Paris is multi-ethnic and always looks to the future. Paris has an artistic and cultural influence on the world that is beyond compare.

Back to menu FAMOUS RESIDENTS One of Paris's most famous sons: Molière©Getty Images • Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière, dramatist (1622–73): a venerated figure in French literature and author of the most performed works in France • Pierre de Coubertin, historian (1863–1937): a campaigner for the introduction of school sports, De Courbertin established the movement for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894 • Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher (1908–86): a partner of Jean-Paul Sartre, De Beauvoir was a leading light of feminism • Charles Aznavour, author, composer, performer and actor (1924–): singer with 1,000 songs who achieved worldwide success and has sold over 100m records • Catherine Deneuve, actress (1943–): a stylish, committed performer, Deneuve is one of the greatest actresses of her generation Back to menu THINGS TO SEE • Eiffel Tower and Montmartre: There are many vantage points that afford magnificent views over the city

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First and foremost is the view from the Eiffel Tower. Access from ground level is by stairs (free up to the second level) or lift. To reach the top of the tower (276m), you must pay to take the lift from the second level. The Basilica of Sacré Cœur which stands atop the hill of Montmartre offers breathtaking vistas of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889©AFP • Marché des Enfants Rouges: The narrow streets and alleyways of the historic Marais district are home to a vast selection of restaurants and cafés. In particular, there are an abundance of traditional Parisian brasseries. Don't forget to visit the Marché des Enfants Rouges to peruse the countless stalls. • Cruise on the Seine: A river trip on the Seine is an essential part of a visit to Paris. Many cruises depart from alongside the Eiffel Tower and generally last 60 minutes with commentaries in English and French. Price: €13.

• Tuileries Garden: The Tuileries Garden, situated between the Louvre Museum and Place de la Concorde, is a favourite promenade destination for Parisians and tourists alike. Statues by Maillol rub shoulders with works by Rodin. Open from 07.00 to 23.00 in June, July and August. • The Louvre: With its emblematic glass pyramid, the Louvre Museum is a must when exploring Paris's cultural heritage. It is the most visited museum of art and antiquities in the world. Its most famous work is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Entrance fee: €16. • Boulevard Haussmann: Between Opéra Garnier and Gare St-Lazare, Boulevard Haussmann is home to all the major shopping outlets you would expect in a large city. In addition, the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores offer a particularly Parisian style of shopping, blending sophistication and high-quality service with settings of exceptional architectural merit. Back to menu TRANSPORT Getting there As France's capital, Paris is at the centre of a diversified, efficient transport network. The City of Light can easily be reached by road, rail or air.

There are two international airports: Roissy Charles-De-Gaulle, the seventh busiest airport in the world with connections to 315 destinations, and Orly, that links Paris to 60 different countries. Gateway to Europe: the Gare du Nord©Thinkstock Paris is the hub of a comprehensive network of over 800km of motorways that connect to all France's main cities (A1, A3, A4, A6, A10, A13 and A15) as well as major European destinations. When approaching Paris, take the Périphérique ring road, which encircles the capital in a 35km loop. Thirty junctions give access to the different districts of Paris. There are six centrally located railway stations (Gare de Lyon, Gare St-Lazare, Gare Montparnasse, Gare de l'Est, Gare du Nord, Gare d'Austerlitz), making it the most easily accessed European capital by rail. The journey to Marseille by high-speed TGV train is a mere three hours, while Lyon can be reached in just two hours.

Amsterdam is three hours by Thalys high-speed train, Brussels only 1 hour 20 minutes distant and London just 2 hours 15 minutes away by Eurostar. Distances to other UEFA EURO 2016 venues Saint-Denis – 15km Distances between city centres, by motorway where possible Source: mappy – viamichelin Distance of Parc des Princes to... City centre: 8km Roissy airport: 35km Getting around The Paris Métro commenced operations in 1900 and now comprises 16 lines. The comprehensive public transport network in Paris also includes five RER rapid transit rail lines, four tram lines and over 300 bus routes. Taking a taxi and cycling are also very good ways of getting around. Public transport tickets are usually bought in Métro or RER stations, but can also be purchased at many local retail outlets (newspaper and tobacco kiosks). A variety of ticket types are available. A single ticket for the Métro and RER costs €1.70.

FOOTBALL PSG play at Parc des Princes©Agence Roger Taillibert After a petition for a major football club to be established in the capital was signed by 20,000 people, Paris Saint-Germain were founded on 12 August 1970 with the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain (the latter team having existed since 1904). PSG are today the city's largest club by far. They gained a place in the top tier of French football in 1974 and now hold the record for consecutive seasons in the elite division (40). Chaired by Daniel Hechter in the 1970s, Paris did not win any silverware in their initial years. Their first trophies arrived after Francis Borelli became club president: two consecutive French Cups (1982, 1983) and a league championship (1986). Competition for recognition as the capital's No1 sporting entity came from Matra Racing between 1984 and 1989, and PSG went into decline. But a takeover by broadcaster Canal+ revitalised the club.

Players such as Valdo, David Ginola, George Weah, Raí and Youri Djorkaeff graced the side and secured trophies, including the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1996. Paris and Olympique de Marseille are the only French teams to have lifted European prizes. PSG have enjoyed recent success©AFP/Getty Images After a roller-coaster ride in the 2000s, PSG were bought by the Qatar Sports Investments group in 2011. From Thiago Silva to Zlatan Ibrahimović, Edinson Cavani to David Luiz, the Paris dressing room is now filled with stars, while some of the game's foremost coaches have issued instructions from the dugout (Carlo Ancelotti, Laurent Blanc). Two Ligue 1 titles in two years have not changed the ultimate objective of club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi: to win the UEFA Champions League by 2016. Paris also have an excellent women's team: French league runners-up in 2011, 2013 and 2014, they have become regular UEFA Women's Champions League participants.

Famous players • Michaël Ciani (1984–): French international defender who has played for FC Lorient and FC Girondins de Bordeaux and in Italy with SS Lazio • Lassana Diarra (1985–): an irrepressible midfield ball winner, Diarra won several trophies with Real Madrid CF before moving on to Russia • Louis Saha (1978–): a product of the FC Metz youth system, the striker has now retired after a very successful career in England • Sébastien Bassong (1986–): Cameroon centre-back who also learnt his trade at Metz; now based with Norwich City FC in England. • Mamadou Sakho (1990–): currently at Liverpool FC, he joined Paris aged 12 and stayed with the club until 2013. Did you know? Bulgaria and FC Barcelona forward Hristo Stoichkov, top European goalscorer in 1990, signed a contract with Paris in the summer of 1992 – but then changed his mind and never played for the club.

Back to menu OTHER SPORTS The venue for the French Open, Roland Garros©Getty Images Paris is host of the French Open tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam events. The championship takes place at Roland Garros in late May and early June. The capital is also the centre of attention on the last Sunday in January with the prestigious Prix d'Amérique harness race held at Vincennes. The Tour de France has organised its final stage in central Paris on a circuit including the Champs-Élysées every July since 1975. Paris can also boast top-level clubs in other sports, including rugby (Stade Français), basketball (Paris-Levallois, French champions in 2013) and volleyball (Paris-Volley).

USEFUL LINKS All you need to know about Paris transport: City of Paris website: Paris urban conurbation website: Tourist information office: en.parisinfo.com/ Official site of Paris Saint-Germain: Paris cultural highlights: Things to do in Paris: The city's Twitter feed: twitter.com/Paris Paris (Lutetia Parisiorum) - the romance capital of the world Paris (Lutetia Parisiorum) - the romance capital of the world A kaleidoscopic photographic view Authored by Michael M. Dediu Lutetia Parisiorum (around 250 BC) is the original Roman name, in Latin, of Paris, and it is mentioned by Julius Caesar (100 BC - 44 BC). Roman Lutetia was initially located on the left bank of the Seine, in the place now called Latin Quarter, with the center close to the present Sorbonne University. Some northern suburbs of Lutetia were on the Île de la Cité, which became the modern center of Paris.

The cardo maximus (main axis) of Lutetia is still followed today by the Rue Saint-Jacques on the left bank and the Rue Saint-Martin on the right bank. From these beginnings Paris developed year by year to become the romance capital of the world, and an important research center. Recently researchers there, and their colleagues from the USA, found a new application of mathematics in biology: they used statistical mechanics and mathematical modeling to clarify epigenetic memory, id est how an organism can create a biological memory of some variable condition, for example the quality of nutrition or temperature. A propos, where the physicist Léon Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the earth? What garden is inspired by the Italian parks from Firenze (Florence)? Where was Palais des Tuileries located? All these questions, and hundreds more, have their answers in this book. I was just informed of the passing of the great operatic baritone Nicolae Herlea (1927-2014), who was so much loved and applauded at the opera houses from Paris, New York, Milano, etc.

The over 200 photos, taken in October 2013, with their ample and attention-grabbing explanations, irrefutably show why this city is the romance capital of the world. The former Lutetia Parisiorum is very historical and special and any reader, no matter from what place of the world, will certainly find, in this book of general interest, numerous enthralling and cherished images and facts. Publication Date: Place names on Lutetia | The Planetary Society Place names on Lutetia Topics: Rosetta and Philae , naming things , asteroids , asteroid 21 Lutetia Whenever we explore someplace new -- a new island, a new continent, a new cave, a new world -- there's a necessary activity that explorers must perform before they can sensibly tell the world about their discoveries: name things. Instead of discussing "that crater up there" or "the ridge that goes from such-and-such a latitude and longitude to this other location," we apply formal names to features worth discussing.

Rosetta's recent pioneering exploration of asteroid (21) Lutetia has now resulted in the assignment of names to 36 of its features: ESA / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA Names on Lutetia Features on Lutetia have been named for names in Roman history during the time of the town of Lutetia, a site now known as Paris, France. Visit the USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature to read about the origins of all of these names and download the map in PDF format. These names riff on the asteroid's name, Lutetia, which was the name of the Roman town on the site of the city now known as Paris.

Lutetia's craters are named for cities of the Roman Empire and adjacent parts of Europe at the time of Lutetia (52 BC - 360 AD); Lutetia's regiones are named for Hermann Goldschmidt, the discoverer of the asteroid Lutetia, and provinces of the Roman Empire at the time of the town Lutetia; and other features are named for rivers of the Roman Empire and adjacent parts of Europe at the time of Lutetia. The USGS page's list of categories for naming features on planets and satellites is a list of all the worlds we've been close enough to that we can see them as places, with geography, instead of just being wandering points of light. (I'm not sure why Itokawa is not mentioned.) I hope to see this list continue to expand! And I'll note that they've anticipated Dawn's mission at Vesta by already assigning themes to several categories of features that we haven't even seen at Vesta yet, but will, soon.

Vesta's craters will be named for vestal virgins, people associated with vestal virgins, and famous Roman women; Vesta's regiones will be named for Heinrich Olbers, the discoverer of Vesta (I guess they'll have to expand this category if they want to assign a name to more than one "regio"); Vesta's dorsa will be named for scientists who have contributed to the exploration and study of Vesta; and other features will be named for places associated with vestal virgins. Want to know more about what regiones, dorsa, and other features are? Here's a glossary from the USGS .

Question: Which European city had the Roman name Lutetia?
Answer: Paris