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Eboracum was a fort and town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as York, located in the English county of Yorkshire. The name may have been derived from another Roman city in the Iberian peninsula called Ebora (current day Evora in Portugal).

The Roman conquest of Britain began in 43, but an advance beyond the River Humber did not take place until the early 70s when the Ninth Legion marched north from Lincoln to pacify the Celtic people known as the Brigantes. The legion was led by the governor of Britain, Quintus Petilius Cerialis, during the reign of Roman Emperor Vespasian, who signalled Rome's determination to conquer the north by constructing a military fortress on the north-east bank of the River Ouse at York, in 71.

The original wooden camp was refurbished by Agricola in 81, before being completely rebuilt in stone between 107 and 108. For the Romans, York, or Eboracum, was a the major military base in the north of Britain and, following the third century division of the province of Britannia, the capital of northern Britain, Britannia Inferior. There is evidence that the Emperor Hadrian visited in 122 on his way north to plan his great walled frontier. He certainly brought with him the Sixth Legion to replace the existing garrison. A legion at full strength at that time numbered some 5,500 men, and provided new trading opportunities for enterprising local people, who doubtless flocked to Eboracum to take advantage of them. As a result permanent civilian settlement grew up around the fortress especially on its south-east side. Civilians also settled on the opposite side of the Ouse, initially along the main road from Eboracum to the south-west. By the later 2nd century, growth was rapid; streets were laid out, public buildings were erected and private houses spread out over terraces on the steep slopes above the river.

Emperor Septimius Severus visited York in 211 and made it his base for campaigning in Scotland, The fortress wall was probably reconstructed during his stay and at the east angle it is possible to see this work standing almost to full height. In that same year, Severus became the first of the two Roman Emperors to die in York and was succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta.

Almost certainly in the reign of his successor, Caracalla, the civilian town at York was promoted to the rank of colonia, the highest legal status a Roman town could attain. This mark of Imperial favour was probably a recognition of York as the largest town in the north and the capital of Britannia Secunda, one of the two provinces into which Britain had been divided in 296.

In the later 3rd century, the western Empire experienced political and economic turmoil and Britain was for some time ruled by usurpers independent of Rome. It was after crushing the last of these that Emperor Constantius I came to York and, in 306, became the second Emperor to die there. His son Constantine was instantly proclaimed as successor by the troops based in the fortress. Although it took Constantine eighteen years to become sole ruler of the Empire, he may have retained an interest in York and the reconstruction of the south-west front of the fortress with polygonally-fronted interval towers and the two great corner towers, one of which, the 'Multangular Tower', still survives, is probably his work. In the colonia, Constantine's reign was a time of prosperity and a number of extensive stone town houses of the period have been excavated.

Substantial remains of the headquarters building of the Roman legionary fortress were discovered under the Minster, and they are open to the public. A re-erected Roman column now stands on nearby Deangate, where there is also a recent statue of Constantine. Other sites of excavated remains include a Roman bath, located under the Roman Bath pub in St Sampson's Square, a Roman temple, near the foot of Lendal Bridge, and the site of a Roman bridge over the River Ouse. Some remains of the Roman city walls can be seen between Monk Bar and the Merchant Taylors' Hall, and a more substantial section can be seen between Museum Gardens and the Central Library, together with the late Roman Multangular Tower. Outside the city walls are the remains of substantial Roman cemeteries. A large number of Roman finds are now housed in the Yorkshire Museum.