Editing Lugdunum (section)

==Decline of Lugdunum and the Empire==
[[File:Antoninianus Florianus-unpub ant hercules.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Antoninianus]] struck by [[Florianus]] in 276&nbsp;AD at the reopened Lugdunum mint]]
Historical and archeological evidence indicates that Lugdunum never fully recovered from the devastation of this battle.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

When mints began to be set up outside Rome after 260&nbsp;AD, there was a Gallic mint which may have been located at Lugdunum, but more likely at [[Trier]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bland|editor1-last=Metcalf |editor1-first=William E. |chapter=From Gordian III to the Gallic Empire (AD 238–274)|title=The Oxford handbook of Greek and Roman coinage |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-530574-6 |pages=526–530}}</ref> which was definitely the mint of the [[Gallic Empire]]. [[Aurelian]] transferred minting from Trier to Lugdunum in 274&nbsp;AD; it was the sole mint for the western empire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Estiot|editor1-last=Metcalf |editor1-first=William E. |chapter=The Later Third Century|title=The Oxford handbook of Greek and Roman coinage |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-530574-6 |pages=550–551}}</ref>

A major reorganization of imperial administration begun at the end of the 3rd century during the reign of [[Diocletian]] and completed a few decades later by [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine]] further reduced the importance of Lugdunum. This reorganization standardized size and status of provinces, splitting many of the larger. The new provinces were grouped in larger administrative districts. Lugdunum became the capital of a much smaller region containing only two cities besides Lugdunum: [[Autun]] and [[Langres]]. The new governor bore the title of consularis. The mint was retained at Lugdunum, as was an administrative tax office and a state-run [[wool]] clothing factory.

Lugdunum was no longer the chief city and administrative capital of Gaul. Although the city continued, there seems to have been a population shift from the Fourviere heights where the original Roman city was situated to the river valley below. Other evidence suggests other cities surpassed Lugdunum as trading centers.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Though the [[Western Roman Empire]] persisted until 476&nbsp;AD, the border regions extending along the [[Rhine River]] in Germany to the [[Danube River]] in [[Dacia]] became far more important from a military and strategic standpoint. Cities like Augusta Treverorum ([[Trier]]) eclipsed Lugdunum in importance. The status of the western provinces declined further when Constantine made [[Byzantium]] (later named [[Constantinople]] after his death) the capital of the Eastern part of the Empire.

As the Western Empire disintegrated in the 5th century, Lugdunum became the principal city of the [[Kingdom of the Burgundians]] in 443&nbsp;AD. The Lugdunum mint remained in operation under the new rulers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stahl|editor1-last=Metcalf |editor1-first=William E. |chapter=The Transformation of the West|title=The Oxford handbook of Greek and Roman coinage |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-530574-6 |page=649}}</ref>