Editing Nantes (section)

===Prehistory and antiquity===
[[File:Enceinte gallo-romaine Nantes detail.jpg|thumb|alt=Photo showing a section of the Roman wall in Nantes.|Section of the Roman city wall]]
The first inhabitants of what is now Nantes settled during the [[Bronze Age]], later than in the surrounding regions (which have [[Neolithic]] monuments absent from Nantes). Its first inhabitants were apparently attracted by small iron and [[tin]] deposits in the region's subsoil.{{sfn|Pétré-Grenouilleau|2008|p=17}} The area exported tin, mined in [[Abbaretz]] and [[Piriac-sur-Mer|Piriac]], as far as [[Ireland]].{{sfn|Decours|2006|p=9}} After about 1,000 years of trading, local industry appeared around 900 BC; remnants of [[Forge|smithies]] dated to the eighth and seventh centuries BC have been found in the city.{{sfn|Decours|2006|p=10}} Nantes may have been the major Gaulish settlement of Corbilo, on the Loire estuary, which was mentioned by the Greek historians [[Strabo]] and [[Polybius]].{{sfn|Decours|2006|p=10}}

Its history from the seventh century to the Roman conquest in the first century BC is poorly documented, and there is no evidence of a city in the area before the reign of [[Tiberius]] in the first century AD.{{sfn|Pétré-Grenouilleau|2008|p=19}} During the [[Gaul]]ish period it was the capital of the [[Namnetes]] people, who were allied with the [[Veneti (Gaul)|Veneti]]{{sfn|Bois|1977|p=31}} in a territory extending to the northern bank of the Loire. Rivals in the area included the [[Pictones]], who controlled the area south of the Loire in the city of Ratiatum (present-day [[Rezé]]) until the end of the second century AD. Ratiatum, founded under [[Augustus]], developed more quickly than Nantes and was a major port in the region. Nantes began to grow when Ratiatum collapsed after the [[Germanic Wars|Germanic invasions]].{{sfn|Pétré-Grenouilleau|2008|p=20}}

Because tradesmen favoured inland roads rather than Atlantic routes,{{sfn|Bois|1977|p=39}} Nantes never became a large city under Roman occupation. Although it lacked amenities such as a [[Roman theatre (structure)|theatre]] or an [[Roman amphitheatre|amphitheatre]], the city had sewers, [[thermae|public baths]] and a temple dedicated to [[Mullo (god)|Mars Mullo]].{{sfn|Pétré-Grenouilleau|2008|p=19}} After an attack by German tribes in 275, Nantes's inhabitants built a wall; this defense also became common in surrounding Gaulish towns.{{sfn|Lelièvre|2000|p=19}} The wall in Nantes, enclosing {{convert|16|ha}}, was one of the largest in Gaul.{{sfn|Bois|1977|p=41}}

[[Christianity]] was introduced during the third century. The first local [[martyr]]s ([[Donatian and Rogatian]]) were executed in 288–290,{{sfn|Bois|1977|p=43}} and a cathedral was built during the fourth century.{{sfn|Bois|1977|p=44}}{{sfn|Pétré-Grenouilleau|2008|p=20}}