Valentia
- I A town of the Editani, in Hispania Tarraconensis, now Valencia, Mel. 2, 6, 6; Sall. H. 2, 18 al.—
- II A town of Gallia Narbonensis, now Valence, Plin. 3, 4, 5, § 36. —
- III Vibo Valentia (called also simply Vibo or Vibon), a town in the territory of the Bruttii, now Monteleone, Mel. 2, 4, 9.— Hence. Vălentīni, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Valentia, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 16, § 40. —
- IV A name given to the southern part of Scotland, in honor of the emperor Valentinian, Amm.28, 3, 7.—
- V A translation of Gr. Ῥώμη, an ancient name of Rome, Sol. 1.
VALE´NTIA (Eth. Valentinus: Nuragus), a town in the interior of Sardinia, SE. of Usellis. It seems to have been a considerable place, as the Valentini are one of the few names which Pliny thought it worth while to mention among the Sardinian towns. Ptolemy also notices the Valentini among the tribes or 4 populio f the island, and there can be little doubt that the Valeria of the same author is only a false reading for Valentia. (Plin. Nat. 3.12. s. 17; Ptol. 3.3. § § 6, 7.) Its remains are still visible at a village called Nuragus, near the town of Isili, about 12 miles from the ruins of Usellis. The adjoining district is still called Parte Valenza. (De la Marmora, Voy. en Sardaigne, vol. 2. p. 407.)
[E.H.B]VALE´NTIA the later name of a Roman province in the S. part of Britannia Barbara, or of the country lying N. of the Picts' wall, as far as Graham's Dike, including Northumberland, Dumfries, &c. This district was wrested from the Picts and Scots in the time of Valentinian, and formed by Theodosius into a Roman province, but it remained only a short time in the possession of the Romans. (Ammian. Marc. 28.3; Not. Imp. )
[T.H.D]VALE´NTIA (Οὐαλεντία, Ptol. 2.6.62), a considerable town of the Edetani in Hispania Tarraconensis, situated on the river Turium, at a distance of 3 miles from its mouth, and on the road from Carthago Nova to Castulo. (Plin. Nat. 3.3. s. 4; Vib. Seq. p. 18; Itin. Ant. p. 400.) Ptolemy (l. c.) erroneously attributes it to the Contestani. It became at a later period a Roman colony (Plin. l. c.), in which apparently the consul Junius Brutus settled the soldiers of Viriathus. (Liv. Epit. lv.) Pompey destroyed it. (Epist. Pomp. ap. Sallust, ed. Corte, p. 965; cf. Plut. Pomp. 18.) It must, however, have been restored soon afterwards, since Mela mentions it as being still an important place (2.6), and coins of it of a late period are preserved. (Cf. Florez, Med. 2. p. 610, 3. p. 125; Mionnet, 1. p. 55, Suppl. 1. p. 110; Sestini, p. 209; Eckhel, i p. 60.) The town still bears the same name, but has few antiquities to show. COIN OF VALENTIA IN SPAIN.
[T.H.D]VALE´NTIA (Οὐαλεντία), in Gallia Narbonensis, a colonia in the territory of the Cavari, as Pliny says (3.4); but D'Anville proposes to alter the meaning of this passage of Pliny by placing a full stop between Cavaruma nd Valentia.H owever, Valentia (Valence) was not in the country of the Cavari, but in the territory of the Segallauni, as Ptolemy (Ptol. 2.10.12) says, who calls it colonia. Valence is a town on the east bank of the Rhone, a few miles below the junction of the Isère. In the middle ages it was the capital of the Valentinois, and in the fifteenth century it became the seat of a university.
[G.L]VALENTIA in Bruttium. [HIPPONIUM]
(1) Now Valencia; the chief town of the Edetani on the river Turia, three miles from the coast, and on the road from Carthago Nova to Castulo.
(2) Now Valence; a town in Gallia Narbonensis on the Rhône, and a Roman colony.
(3) A town of Sardinia of uncertain site.
(4) Or Valentium, a town in Apulia, ten miles from Brundusium.
(5) A province in the north of Britain, beyond the Roman wall. It existed for only a short time. See Britannia.
A city of the Segovellauni in Gallia Narbonensis, situated on the Rhône at an important crossroads where the N-S road of Agrippa branched off towards Italy by way of the Drôme valley, and secondary roads led towards the Isère valley and the Vivarais region. The Roman colony, which may have been founded by Caesar, is mentioned in Pliny's list of cities that received Roman citizens. At the latest it was founded in Augustus' reign.
Traces of Roman city planning are still to be seen in the grid plan of the old quarter of the modern town; remains of the cardo maximus pavement and the S city gate have been found. The decumanus and cardo probably met near the modern Place de la Visitation. Several Roman burials have been discovered in the Saint-Jacques suburb, indicating that the area of the ancient city was ca. 30 ha. The city had a number of surrounding walls: the first one, dating from the Republican era, was razed and reused in the foundations of the second, which goes back to the Early Empire. The foundations of a tower 7 m in diameter have been unearthed; the walls were 1.6 m thick.
Almost nothing is known of the forum, temples, baths, or houses. However, the outer theater wall has been found near the Place Saint-Jean in the modern Saint-Ursule quarter, and perhaps a trace of an amphitheater. The cathedral apparently stands on the remains of a pagan temple, as does the Chapelle Saint-Martin. A Temple of Kybele and a Mithraeum are known from inscriptions.
Christianity was introduced at the end of the 2d c. by the priest Felix and his deacons Fortunatus and Achilleus, martyred in 212. The first bishop, as evidenced by the texts, was Saint Aemilian (362-374). The only known Christian monument of the period is the baptistery (13 x 17 m), discovered in 1886 and explored in 1952, near the modern cathedral. Designed in the form of a cross around an octagonal pool, it was probably built in the 4th c., of material from Roman baths (?); mosaics were added in the 5th-6th c., and in the 7th-8th c. it was made into a chapel by the addition of an apse (mosaic of Eve). Finally, in the Early Middle Ages it was covered by the Chapelle des Penitents.
The museum has architectural remains, fragments of statues, a Christian sarcophagus and bas-relief, altars, and inscriptions.
BIBLIOGRAPHYA. Blanc, “Valence romaine,” Cahiers Valentinois 1 (1953) PI(with bibl.).
M. LEGLAYA city on the banks of the Turia, ca. 3 km from the sea (Mela 2.92; Plin. HN 3.20, referring to it as a colony; Ptol. 2.6.61). It was founded by Junius Brutus in 138 B.C. (Livy, Per. 55: Junius Brutus consul in Hispania iis qui sub Viriato militaverant agros et oppidum dedit quod vocatum est Valentia). Based on lines 479-82 of the Ora Maritima of Avienus, it has been claimed that the Roman city was built over the indigenous city of Tyris, but there is no archaeological confirmation. Identification with any of the Valencias on the border of Portugal may be rejected since they received the name, with the meaning of fortress, only in the 13th c., and the only Valencia whose stone tablets mention the valentini is that on the Mediterranean.
There are two schools of thought about the first inhabitants: one relates the text of Livy to those of Appian (Iber. 72) and Diodorus Siculus (33.1.3) and claims that they were the defeated troops of Viriatus; the other, taking into account that no indigenous names appear on the tablets, that no Iberian money was coined, that indigenous remains are scarce compared to Roman, and that “militare” is inappropriate for Viriatus' men, supports the thesis that they were discharged from the Roman army, and translates “at the time” and not “under the orders” of Viriatus. Some tablets bear the inscriptions “valentini veterani et veteres” and “uterque ordo decurionum,” proving that there were two stages of settlement, one with the veteres, the first inhabitants, and the other with the veterani who came later, perhaps with Afranius, which would justify the tablet that the Valencians dedicated to him (CIL IX, 5275).
The location of the Roman city and its area is unknown, but the greatest density of finds indicate the vicinity of the Cathedral. Fragments of Roman buildings and tablets are incorporated in the facade of the 17th c. basilica. In general, the Imperial levels are 3 m down, and the Republican on virgin soil, at 4.5 m, with Campanian pottery A and B mixed, as in Ventimiglia and Pollentia. Above 3 m are the Visigoth levels (tablet of Bishop Justinianus, A.D. 546). A necropolis, La Boatella, has been excavated (over 200 tombs with poor furnishings, 3d to 5th c. A.D.), as have other tombs within the city.
There is abundant pottery from Arezzo, S Gaul, Spain, and Campania A and B (more of B). The most interesting mosaic is one of Medusa (2d c.) similar to that of Tarragona. Little is known about sculpture, since a collection formed in the 18th c. disappeared when Napoleon's troops were transporting it to France by ship. About 70 tablets are known (CIL II, 3710, 3725-75, 3903, 4948, 5127, 6004-5). Valentia coined money, ca. 123 to 75 B.C., with asses of various weights (19.25-13 gm). On the face was the head of Roma on the right with a winged helmet and the names of the quinquennales, and on the reverse a cornucopia tied with a sheaf of six rays and the name VALENTIA. There are also semisses and quadrantes. Most of the finds are in the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Prehistory in Valencia.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. Sanchis Sivera, Epigrafía romano-valenciana (1920); D. Fletcher, La Tyris ibérica y la Valentia romana (1953); id., Consideraciones sobre la fundacion de Valencia (1963); S. Roda, Aportacion al estudio de la arqueología valenciana (1955); various authors, in Dos miel cien años de Valencia (1962) and La ciudad romana de Valencia (1962).
D. FLETCHER