Iruña-Veleia

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Location of Veleia and other Roman cities in the context of ancient Basque tribes and the modern Basque Country

Veleia was an ancient Roman town in the southern Basque Country. The town was an important station on the Roman road ab Asturicam Burdigalam that ran parallel to the coast of the Bay of Biscay. At its apogee, the city could have been inhabited by some five to ten thousand people.

The archaeological site of Iruña-Veleia, located in the municipality of Iruña-Oka, 10 kilometers west of Vitoria-Gasteiz, is one of the most important from the Roman period in the Basque Country. Unique findings unearthed include the oldest known texts written in the Basque language as well as the oldest representation of the crucifixion of Christ found to date.

1 Chronology
2 Findings
- 2.1 Basque texts
- 2.2 Epigraphic set
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Chronology

[edit] Bronze and Iron ages

The town was originally founded in the 8th century BC, in the Late Bronze Age. The houses from this period, rectangular and round with adobe walls and thatched roofs, are similar to those found at the nearby site of Atxa (Vitoria-Gasteiz).

[edit] Roman period

In the first half of the 1st century some of these houses were replaced by others of Roman style (domus). This architectural romanization continued as the century advanced.

The late Roman city (3rd and 4th centuries) is better known. It shows signs of decay and the construction of a wall that encloses an eleven hectare area. The town survived into the 5th century after Roman power had disappeared from the region, but by the end of the century only burial plots in abandoned buildings are found.

[edit] Modern age

There was an abbey at the site at least since the 16th century whose buildings remained visible until the mid 19th century.

[edit] Findings

[edit] Basque texts

Iruña-Veleia has yielded the oldest non-onomastical texts in Basque. These texts were in a filling under a house. Among the rubble a large number of potshards with brief texts in Basque have been found. Some of the texts made public so far are the following ^[1] (showing also modern rendering and translation):

URDINISAR - urdin izar (?) 'blue star' (?)
ZURI URDINGORI - zuri, urdin, gorri 'white, blue, red'
EDANIANLO - edan, jan, lo 'drink, eat, sleep'
IANTAEDAN - jan ta edan 'eat and drink'
IAUN - jaun 'lord', 'sir' or 'mister'
GEURE ATAZUTAN - geure aita zutan 'our father standing'
IESUS IOSE ATA TAMIRIAN AMA - Jesus, Joxe aita ta Mirian ama 'Jesus, Joseph the father and Myriam the mother'.

Dating of these texts is not yet conclusive, but they are believed to belong to the Roman period because they use the Latin alphabet rather than the Iberian syllabary, were written on ceramica sigillata of clear Roman style, and were used as filling in the foundations of a house. Nuclear spectroscopic analysis by the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique indicates that the texts could not have been buried more recently than the 3rd century. ^[2]

[edit] Epigraphic set

In the Domus de Pompeia Valentina, built in the 1st century and inhabited continuously until the 5th, a sealed room has yielded an epigraphic set described as "among the most important in the Roman world"^[3]. Among the findings are:

270 inscriptions and drawings on pottery fragments, some of which refer to Egyptian history and even some written in Egyptian hieroglyphs "with a perfect layout". Experts hypothesize that these may have been used for teaching children.
The earliest representation of the Calvary (crucifixion of Jesus) found anywhere to date.

The importance of this epigraphic set has been compared to those found in Pompeii, Rome and Vindolanda (England).