Ilerda

• a city in Hispania Tarraconensis, on the Sicoris, now Lerida, Caes. B. C. 1, 41 sq.; Hor. Ep. 1, 20, 13; Luc. 4, 144; 261.
• —Hence, Ĭlerdenses, ium, m., its inhabitants, Plin. 3, 3, 4, § 24.

ILERDA (Ἰλέρδα, and rarely Εἰλέρδα; Hilerda, Auson. Epist. 25.59: Eth. Ἰλερδίται, Ilerdenses: Lerida), the chief city of the ILERGETES in Hispania Tarraconensis, is a place of considerable importance, historically as well as geographically. It stood upon an eminence, on the right (W.) bank of the river SICORIS(Segre), the principal tributary of the Ebro, and some distance above its confluence with the CINGA(Cinca); thus commanding the country between those rivers, as well as the great road from Tarraco to the NW. of Spain, which here crossed the Sicoris. (Itin. Ant. pp. 391, 452.) Its situation (propter ipsius loci opportunitatem, Caes. B.C. 1.38) induced the legates of Pompey in Spain to make it the key of their defence against Caesar, in the first year of the Civil War (B.C. 49). Afranius and Petreius threw themselves into the place with five legions; and their siege by Caesar himself, as narrated in his own words, forms one of the most interesting passages of military history. The resources exhibited by the great general, in a contest where the formation of the district and the very elements of nature seemed in league with his enemies, have been compared to those displayed by the great Duke before Badajoz; but no epitome can do justice to the campaign. It ended by the capitulation of Afranius and Petreius, who were conquered as much by Caesar's generosity as by his strategy. (Caes. B.C. 1.38, et seq.; Flor. 4.12; Appian, App. BC 2.42; Vellei. 2.42; Suet. Jul. 34; Lucan, Pharsal. 4.11, 144.) Under the empire, Ilerda was a very flourishing city, and a municipium. It had a fine stone bridge over the Sicoris, on the foundations of which the existing bridge is built. In the time of Ausonius the city had fallen into decay; but it rose again into importance in the middle ages. (Strab. 3. p. 161; Horat. Epist. 1.20. 13; coins, ap. Florez, Med. ii. pp. 451, 646, 3. p. 73; Mionnet, vol. 1. p. 44, Suppl. vol. 1. p. 89; Sestini, pp. 161, 166; Eckhel, vol. 1. p. 51.) COIN OF ILERDA.

A town of the Ilergetes in Hispania Tarraconensis, situated on a height above the river Sicoris (Segre), which was here crossed by a stone bridge. It was here that Afranius and Petreius, the legates of Pompey, were defeated by Caesar (B.C. 49). Its modern name is Lerida.

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.

E. Hübner, Monumenta Linguae Ibericae (1893) no. 30a; G. Hill, Notes on the Ancient Coinage of Hispania Citerior (1931); Fontes Hispaniae Antiquae V (1940).