(modern Lyons), a Roman settlement of Gallia, the capital of the Segusiani, situate at the confluence of the Rhodanus (Rhone) and the Arar (Saône), is said to Lugdunum have been colonized, in 43 B.C., by refugees from Vienna (Vienne). Its position at the junction of several Roman roads soon rendered it the seat of a thriving commerce, so that in the time of Strabo it was one of the most populous towns in Gaul. It was burnt in the time of Seneca, but was soon afterwards rebuilt by Nero. In 197 A.D., it was burnt again by the soldiers of Septimius Severus. Lugdunum contained the famous Ara Augusti, erected in 12 B.C. or 10 B.C., by the sixty Gallic States in honour of Augustus. In the reign of Marcus Aurelius this town was the scene of a fierce persecution of the Christians.