Albiones
Encyclopedia
Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
This is a list of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian peninsula .-Non-Indo-European:*Aquitanians**Aquitani**Autrigones - some consider them Celtic .**Caristii - some consider them Celtic ....
Celtic tribe of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
living the north coast of modern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in western Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, probably belonging to the Gallaeci and Astur
Astur
The Astures were the Hispano-Celtic Gallaecian inhabitants of the northwest area of Hispania that now comprises almost the entire modern autonomous community of Asturias and the modern provinces León, and northern Zamora , and east of Trás os Montes in Portugal...
group, and mentioned by Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
. They are generally included in maps of Roman Spain.
The name Albiones is also attested on the "stele of Nicer Clutosi" found near Vegadeo
Vegadeo
Vegadeo is a municipality in the Autonomous Community in the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north and east by Castropol, on the south by Villanueva de Oscos, Taramundi, and San Tirso de Abres, and on the west by the Eo River and San Tirso municipality.It is one of Eonavian...
, 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, [son] of Clutoso of the castle of Cariaca, [of the house] of the prince of the Albiones, [died aged] 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
History of Galicia
The Iberian Peninsula has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, first by Neanderthals and then by modern humans.-Megalithic culture:Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias, western León, and Zamora formed a single megalithic area since the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Ages, around 4500–1500...
.