Veleia is an ancient town of Aemilia,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, about south of Placentia. It is mentioned by Pliny among the towns of the eighth region, though the Veleiates were ethnically

Ligurians The Ligures (singular Ligur; Italian: liguri; English: Ligurians) were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. Ancient Liguria corresponded more or less to the current Italian reg ...

. Its inhabitants were, in the census of

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Emp ...

, found to be remarkable for their longevity. Nothing further was known of it until 1747, when some ploughmen found the '' Tabula alimentaria'', now in National Archaeological Museum of Parma. This, the largest inscribed bronze tablet of antiquity (1.3 m by 2.8 m) contains the list of estates in the territories of Veleia,

Libarna Libarna was a Roman city located on the left bank of the Scrivia, on the stretch of the via Postumia between Genua and Dertona. Today Libarna's hamlet is part of the municipality of Serravalle Scrivia, in Alessandria province. Libarna's excav ...

, Placentia,

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...

and Luca, in which

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

had assigned before 102 CE 72,000 sesterces and then 1,044,000 sesterces on a mortgage bond to forty-six estates. The total value of which was reckoned at over 13,000,000 sesterces (~130,000), the interest on which at 5% was to serve for the support of 266 boys and 6 girls, the former receiving 16, the latter 12 sesterces a month. Excavations begun on the site in 1760, and were at first successful; the forum and basilica, the

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

and the

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

and private houses with many statues (twelve of marble from the basilica, and a fine bronze head of

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

) and inscriptions were discovered. Pre-Roman cremation tombs have also been found, with objects of bronze and iron. But later excavations which were carried on at intervals up to 1876 have given less fruitful results. The oldest dated monument is a bronze tablet with a portion of the text of the '' Lex Rubria de Gallia cisalpina'' of 49 BCE which dealt with the administration of justice in

Cisalpine Gaul Cisalpine Gaul ( la, Gallia Cisalpina, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts ( Gauls) during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. After its conquest by the Roman Republic in the 200s BC it was ...

in connection with the extension to it of the privileges of the Roman franchise, the latest an inscription of 276 CE. Most of the objects found are in the museum at Parma. How and when Veleia was abandoned is uncertain: the previously prevalent view that it was destroyed by a landslip was proved to be mistaken by the excavations of 1876.

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* * {{EB1911 article with no significant updates Veleia Veleia Veleia Veleia Former populated places in Italy