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TOLE´TUM

TOLE´TUM (Τώλητον, Ptol. 2.6.57: Eth. Toletani, Plin. Nat. 3.3. s. 4; Orelli, Inscr. no. 980), the capital of the Carpetani, in Hispania Tarraconensis, situated on the Tagus, and on the road from Emerita to Caesaraugusta, and connected also by another road with Laminium. (Itin. Ant. pp. 438, 446.) It was a very strong town, though only of moderate size, and famed for its manufacture of arms and steel-ware. (Liv. 35.7, 22, xxxix, 30; Grat. Cyneg. 341; cf. Miñano, Diccion. viii, p. 453.) According to an old Spanish tradition, Toledo was founded in the year 540 B.C. by Jewish colonists, who named it Toledoch, that is, “mother of people,” whence we might perhaps infer a Phoenician settlement. (Cf. Miñano, 1. c.; Puente, Travels, i. p. 27.) It is still called Toledo, and contains several remains of Roman antiquities, and especially the ruins of a circus. (Cf. Florez, Esp. Sayr. v. p. 22; Puente, i. p. 165, seq.)

[T.H.D]

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