Veleia (Italy)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Veleia (Italian Velleia ) is an ancient city ​​in the Italian province of Piacenza . It is located southeast of today's city of Lugagnano Val d'Arda on the northern edge of the Apennines and belongs to the Emilia-Romagna region .

history

Veleia was founded in the 2nd century BC. Founded. The inhabitants belonged to the Velietes tribe from the Ligurian people . The community belonged to the Roman province of Gallia cisalpina and there to the district of Aemilia (Gallia cispadana) . Valleia received 89 BC The status of a Colonia latina . 49 BC It became a Municipium , and the free residents received Roman citizenship . The municipality became the center of a rich, arable area, which is shown by numerous archaeological finds, ancient buildings such as the basilica , the Roman baths, the cistern and the amphitheater . When and why the city was abandoned in the late Roman period is not known.

Tabula alimentaria Traianea

The most important find in Veleia was the discovery of the largest bronze tablet from Roman times, the Tabula alimentaria , from the time of Emperor Trajan . The 1.38 meter high and 2.86 meter wide board is a property register in which the property owner, the trustee of the land, an estimate of the property's value, the amount owed, the name of the property and two neighboring properties, the use of the property and the location with indication of the pagus and sometimes the vicus were shown.

The reason for this directory was a mortgage contract from the year 102 AD between the emperor and 51 property owners from Veleia, Libarna , Piacenza , Parma and Lucca , in which these the amount of 1,116,000 sesterces at an interest rate of 5% each annum borrowed. The listed properties served as security for the mortgages taken out and were valued at an estimated 13 million sesterces. The interest had to be paid to the public security fund and served to support poor children in Veleia. The beneficiary 266 boys each received 16 sesterces per month and the 6 girls each received 12 sesterces per month from the fund. The emperor achieved several goals with the agreements: on the one hand he had good security for the mortgages, since the mortgage rate of 5% was considerably below the usual market rate of 12% and thus the burden was easier for the debtors to bear, and on the other hand it would be public Poverty alleviated, and ultimately the capital was preserved as only interest was paid.

Finds

The tablet was discovered in 1747; more systematic excavations were only carried out from 1760 onwards. Other finds included part of a bronze tablet on which the Lex Rubria de Gallia cisalpina from 49 BC. BC, which established the legal administration in the Gallia cisalpina. The most recent inscription is from the year 276. The finds, including 12 marble statues and a bronze head of the Emperor Hadrian , can now be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Parma , copies of some finds, including the tablet, are in the antiquarium on site.

Veleia today

Despite the archaeological importance of Veleia, the site is not overcrowded today (2015). Every year in July, theatrical performances are also held in the ruins with Greek and Roman tragedies and comedies as part of a festival of ancient theater .

literature

  • Passegiate archeologiche piacentine: Da Piacenza a Veleia . Edizioni Diabasis, Piacenza 2004, ISBN 88-8103-298-8 .
  • Eleonora Salomone Gaggero: Veleia. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/1, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01482-7 , Sp. 1164.

Web links