The Albiones or Albioni were a Gallaecian people living the north coast of modern Spain in western Asturias and eastern Galicia mentioned by Pliny the Elder. They are generally included in maps of Roman Spain.
The name Albiones is also attested on the "stele of Nicer Clutosi" found near Vegadeo, which has the inscription:
- ☧ NICER CLUTOSI (filius) C(astello) CARIACA PRINCIPIS ALBIONUM AN(norum) LXXV HI(c) S(itus) EST, which can be translated as " Nicer, of Clutoso from the house of Cariaca, prince of the Albions, 75 years, lies here."
This same area was settled by a group of Britons in the post-Roman period, from whom the region took the name Britonia or Bretoña, mentioned in ecclesiastical sources as Britonensis ecclesia ("British church") and an episcopal see called the sedes Britonarum - see the History of Galicia.
References
- Pliny. "Natural History Book 4". University of Chicago. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
- Tabula Imperii Romani K-29, Porto: Conimbriga, Bracara, Lucus, Asturica, (Madrid, 1991) 20-21; Richard J.A. Talbert (ed.), Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, map 24, E1.
- L'Année épigraphique (1946), 121.
External links
- Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)
- Stone of Nicer prince of the albions. From "People of Asturias Museum" Oviedo
Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula | |||||||
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Aquitani (Proto-Basques) | |||||||
Iberians | |||||||
Celts |
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Para-Celtic peoples? | |||||||
Germanic peoples? | |||||||
Greeks | |||||||
Semitic peoples | |||||||
The Madeira, Azores, and Canary Islands were not occupied by the Romans. The Madeira and Azores islands were unoccupied until the Portuguese in the 15th century; the Canary islands, the Guanches occupied the territory until the Castilians. |