Following Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical History of the Kings of Britain,[11][12] it was long published as derived from an eponymous founder named Lud, son of Heli.

Substantial suburbs existed at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Westminster and around the southern end of the Thames bridge in Southwark, where excavations in 1988[25] and 2021 have revealed an elaborate building with fine mosaics and frescoed walls dating from 72 AD.

The precise date of this change is unknown, and no surviving source explicitly states that Londinium was "the capital of Britain," but there are several strong indications of this status: 2nd-century roofing tiles have been found marked by the "Procurator" or "Publican of the Province of Britain at Londinium",[35] the remains of a governor's palace and tombstones belonging to the governor's staff have been discovered, and the city was well defended and armed, with a new military camp erected at the beginning of the 2nd century in a fort on the north-western edge of the city, despite being far from any frontier.

The road from the Kentish ports of Rutupiae (Richborough), Dubris (Dover), and Lemanis (Lympne) via Durovernum (Canterbury) seems to have first crossed the Thames at a natural ford near Westminster before being diverted north to the new bridge at London.

[54][60] This route, now known as Watling Street, passed through the town from the bridgehead in a straight line to reconnect with its northern extension towards Viroconium (Wroxeter) and the legionary base at Deva Victrix (Chester).

His will had divided his wealth and lands between Rome and his two daughters, but Roman law forbade female inheritance and it had become common practice to treat allied kingdoms as life estates that were annexed upon the ruler's death, as had occurred in Bithynia[63] and Galatia.

[67] An early historical record of London appears in Tacitus's account of his actions upon arriving and finding the state of the 9th Legion:[29][31] At first, [Paulinus] hesitated as to whether to stand and fight there.

But those who stayed because they were women, or old, or attached to the place, were slaughtered by the enemy.Excavation has revealed extensive evidence of destruction by fire in the form of a layer of red ash beneath the city at this date.

[68] After the sack of the city by Boudica and her defeat, a large military fort covering 15,000 m2 was built at Plantation Place on Cornhill, with 3m-high banks and enclosed by 3m deep double ditches.

The city was eventually rebuilt as a planned Roman town, its streets generally adhering to a grid skewed by major roads passing from the bridgehead and by changes in alignment produced by crossings over the local streams.

[72] Forums elsewhere typically had a civic temple constructed within the enclosed market area; British sites usually did not, instead placing a smaller shrine for Roman services somewhere within the basilica.

The bulk of the Roman port was quickly rebuilt after Boudicca's rebellion[81] when the waterfront was extended with gravel to permit a sturdy wharf to be built perpendicular to the shore.

The so-called fire is not mentioned in any historical sources but has been inferred by evidence of large-scale burning identified by archaeologists on several excavation sites around the City of London.

[95] In the 19th century, Charles Roach Smith estimated its length from the Tower west to Ludgate at about one mile (1.6 km) and its breadth from the northern wall to the bank of the Thames at around half that.

Despite the smaller administrative area, the economic stimulus provided by the wall and by Septimius Severus's campaigns in Caledonia somewhat revived London's fortunes in the early 3rd century.

[e][f] In 286, the emperor Maximian issued a death sentence against Carausius, admiral of the Roman navy's Britannic fleet (Classis Britannica), on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon piracy and of having embezzled recovered treasure.

[110] The event was commemorated by the golden Arras Medallion, Chlorus on one side and on the other a woman kneeling at the city wall welcoming a mounted Roman soldier.

[112][113] Modern scholars more often list Londinium as the capital of Maxima Caesariensis on the assumption that the presence of the diocesan vicar in London would have required its provincial governor to outrank the others.

The present structure of St Peter upon Cornhill was designed by Christopher Wren following the Great Fire in 1666, but it stands upon the highest point in the area of old Londinium and medieval legends tied it to the city's earliest Christian community.

These unearthed an adjoining room covered in yellow panels with a black border, 'with a tessellated floor, suggesting it may have had a higher status than normal, possibly acting as an antechamber for the aedes or shrine-room'.

[123] In 1995 a large and ornate 4th-century building on Tower Hill was discovered: built sometime between 350 and 400, it seems to have mimicked St Ambrose's cathedral in the imperial capital at Milan on a still-larger scale.

Archaeologists have found evidence that a small number of wealthy families continued to maintain a Roman lifestyle until the middle of the 5th century, inhabiting villas in the southeastern corner of the city and importing luxuries.

[102] Memory of the earlier settlement survived: it is generally identified as the Cair Lundem[20] counted among the 28 cities of Britain included in the History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius.

[140] A 2017 genetic test of human remains in Roman cemeteries states the "presence of people born in London with North African ancestry is not an unusual or atypical result for Londinium.

Christopher Wren's renovation of St Paul's on Ludgate Hill found no evidence supporting Camden's contention[145] that it had been built over a Roman temple to the goddess Diana.

[149] The discovery recalls a passage in Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical History of the Kings of Britain where Asclepiodotus besieged the last remnants of the usurper Allectus's army at "Londonia".

Having battered the town's walls with siegeworks constructed by allied Britons, Asclepiodotus accepted the commander's surrender only to have the Venedotians rush upon them, ritually decapitating them and throwing the heads into the river "Gallemborne".

[150][151] Asclepiodotus's siege was an actual event that occurred in 296, but further skull finds beneath the 3rd-century wall place at least some of the slaughter before its construction, leading most modern scholars to attribute them to Boudica's forces.

From 1991, many excavations were undertaken by the Museum of London's Archaeology Service, although it was spun off into the separately-run MOLA in 2011 following legislation to address the Rose Theatre fiasco.

[83] Much of the surviving wall is medieval, but Roman-era stretches are visible near Tower Hill tube station, in a hotel courtyard at nearby 8–10 Coopers Row, and in St Alphege Gardens off Wood Street.