Cularo
Encyclopedia
Cularo was the name of the Gallic city of Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

 until 381
381
Year 381 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius...

. From this date it will be called Gratianopolis.

The first reference to Grenoble dates back to July 43 BC
43 BC
Year 43 BC was either a common year starting on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday or a leap year starting on Sunday or Monday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

. At that time the market town
was called Cularo and had been founded by the Gallic people known as the Allobroges
Allobroges
The Allobroges were a Celtic tribe of ancient Gaul, located between the Rhône River and the Lake of Geneva in what later became Savoy, Dauphiné, and Vivarais. Their cities were in the areas of modern-day Annecy, Chambéry and Grenoble, the modern of Isère, and modern Switzerland...

. In 292
292
Year 292 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hannibalianus and Asclepiodotus...

 the western emperor Maximian
Maximian
Maximian was Roman Emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Trier but spent...

 built walls around the town after elevating it to the rank of “city”.

In 381
381
Year 381 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius...

, wishing to thank and honor the emperor Gratian for having having created there a bishopric, the inhabitants of Cularo renamed their town Gratianapolis. Its name would subsequently metamorphose into Grenoble.

Dating back from the Gallo-Roman period (4th century), Saint-Laurent crypt and the Grenoble baptistery have been preserved to this day; the latter had been used until the 9th century and then rediscovered in 1989 during the construction of the tramway tracks and excavated until 1996. Several sections of the Gallo-Roman city wall can also be seen in the old town, especially in rue Lafayette.
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