ILERDA
(Lérida) Léridu, Spain.
Town on
the W bank of the Sicoris (Segre) river in Tarraconensis,
named for the Ilergetes. It was the most important pre-Roman town N of the Iber (Ebro). Its silver coins,
imitating Massalian oboli and the drachmas of Emporion,
were inscribed in Iberian letters. Allied with the Carthaginians, Ilerda tenaciously opposed the Romans under
the leadership of its chiefs, Indibil and Mandonius, until
they were captured in 205 B.C. According to Pliny the
town was inhabited by the Surdaones and had Roman
rights (
HN 3.24), and nearby Julius Caesar won a famous tactical victory over Pompey's forces in 49 B.C.
(
BCiv 1.38; App. 2.42). Under the Romans it minted
coins according to the Roman system (denarii and asses)
during the 2d and 1st c. B.C.
Situated on the Roman road from Tarraco to Osca,
it always retained its importance (
Ant.It. 391.2; Auson.
23.4): it was a municipium attached to the Conventus
Caesaraugustanus and an Islamic center during the late
Middle Ages. No Roman monuments are visible but Roman inscriptions, marbles, pottery, and glassware are frequently found. Excavation in the cellars of the town
hall has produced strata covering 2000 years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Hübner,
Monumenta Linguae Ibericae (1893) no. 30a; G. Hill,
Notes on the Ancient Coinage of Hispania Citerior (1931);
Fontes Hispaniae Antiquae V (1940).
J. MALUQUER DE MOTES
