The area of Lienz had been settled since the Bronze Age about 2000 BC. Celtic people lived here from about 300 BC on, mainly as miners, who came under control of the Roman Empire in 15 BC. The area was incorporated into the province of Noricum and Emperor Claudius had a municipium called "Aguntum" erected near Lienz in the today's municipality of Dölsach. "Aguntum" became the see of an Early Christian bishop in the 5th century but decayed during the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps and the subsequent fights with the Bavarii under King Tassilo I about 600. Part of the Slavic principality of Carantania, the area passed under Bavarian and finally Frankish suzerainty during the 8th century.