An old legend claims that Kaunas was established by the Romans in ancient times. These Romans were supposedly led by a patrician named Palemon, who had three sons - Barcus, Kunas and Sperus. Palemon fled from Rome because he feared the mad Emperor Nero. Palemon, his sons and other relatives travelled all the way to Lithuania.
After Palemon's death, his sons divided his land. Kunas got the land where Kaunas now stands. He build a fortress near confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers, and city that grew up there was named after him.
A settlement had been established on the site of the current Kaunas old town at the confluence of two large rivers, at least by the tenth century AD. It is believed the town was founded in 1030, but it is first mentioned in written sources in 1361.
In the thirteenth century, a stone wall was built as protection from constant raids by the Teutonic Knights.
In 1362, the town was captured by the Teutonic Knights, who destroyed the Kaunas Castle. The castle was rebuilt at the beginning of the 15th century.In 1408 the town was granted Magdeburg Rights by Vytautas the Great and became a center of Kaunas Powiat in Trakai Voivodeship in 1413. Kaunas then began to gain prominence, since it was at an intersection of trade routes and a river port. In 1441 Kaunas joined the Hanseatic League, and Hansa merchant offices were opened. By the 16th century, Kaunas had a public school and a hospital and was one of the best-formed towns in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.In 1665, the Russian army attacked the city several times, and in 1701 the city was occupied by the Swedish army. The Black Death struck the area in 1657 and 1708, and fires destroyed parts of the city in 1731 and 1732.
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