The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites
Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L., McAlister, Marian Holland, Ed.

VELEIA or Beleia (Iruña) Alava, Spain.

The Notitia Dignitatum, the Antonine Itinerary, and the Ravenna Cosmographer note this oppidum, 11 km from modern Vitoria. It forms a triangular area enclosed by walls, and had a native Iberian population, for which a Roman one was substituted on the occasion of the Cantabrian wars. The site flourished in the 2d c., from which the chief remains date; it was abandoned towards the 4th c., although its walls survived into the 5th. Finds include specimens of terra sigillata, column shafts and bases, and glass. The most outstanding remains are a torso armed with breastplate, now in the museum of Vitoria, and an unidentified female statue.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

G. Nieto Gallo, El oppidum de Iruiña (Alava) (1958).

J. ARCE