Laelia was an ancient city located in the Cerro de la Cabeza near Olivares in the

Province of Seville The Province of Seville ( es, Sevilla) is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Málaga, Cádiz in the south, Huelva in the west, Badajoz in the north and C ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Originally a Tartessian settlement, it was named ''Laelia'' by Roman settlers in the 2nd century BC. It was described by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

in his '' Natural History'' as lying on the Menoba River (

Guadiamar The Guadiamar is a river of Andalusia, Spain, and a tributary of the Guadalquivir. Its course runs entirely within the Province of Seville, flowing from Sierra Morena through the eastern border of Doñana National Park. Mining disaster In 1998, t ...

) near the towns of Olontigi and Lastigi. These three cities had their own

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

s and, thus, are well attested from numismatic evidence. Their exact location, however, has not been definitively established. All three were probably located relatively close to

Aznalcóllar Aznalcóllar is a city located in the province of Seville, southern Spain. It is located at the feet of the Sierra Morena. Aznalcollar mine The Boliden mine produces around 125,000 tonnes of zinc and 2.9 million ounces of silver per year. ...

, where the materials for their coins were probably mined. The settlement at the Cerro de la Cabeza, populated until the 13th century, most likely corresponds to Laelia given the archaeological evidence obtained from excavations in 1981. After Pliny,

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

mentioned the city (Lailia) as a settlement by the

Turdetani The Turdetani were an ancient pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula, living in the valley of the Guadalquivir (the river that the Turdetani called by two names: ''Kertis'' and ''Rérkēs'' (Ῥέρκης); Romans would call the river by th ...

. No other classical accounts of the city have survived. In 1634, Rodrigo Caro proposed

Aracena Aracena () is a town and municipality located in the province of Huelva, south-western Spain. , the city has a population of 7,814 inhabitants. The town derived its name from the Sierra de Aracena, which is part of the Sierra Morena system. Arac ...

as the location for Laelia according to Ptolemy's indications, and in 1754 Enrique Flórez proposed

Berrocal Berrocal is a city located in the province of Huelva, Spain. According to the 2005 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used ...

, also in the

Province of Huelva Huelva () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva. Its area is 10,1 ...

. Based on Pliny's and Ptolemy's accounts,

Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez (17 September 1749 in Gijón3 December 1829 in Madrid) was a Spanish writer on art. Biography Bermúdez was born in Gijón, Asturias. He founded an art academy at Seville, and was given responsibility to order the Ar ...

(1832), Antonio Delgado (1871) and Rodrigo Amador de los Ríos (1891) agreed on a location in or near

Sanlúcar la Mayor Sanlúcar la Mayor is a municipality in the province of Seville, southern Spain. The municipality is the location of the Solucar Complex. Gaspar de Guzmán, Count of Olivares was created Duke of Sanlúcar la Mayor Duke of Sanlúcar la Mayor ( ...

, suggesting the Cortijo de la Pisana (or Pizana), located between

Gerena Gerena is a municipality in the Province of Seville, Spain. It is 25 km northwest of the provincial capital, Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the provi ...

and Olivares. Both Ceán Bermúdez and Sebastián Miñano, in his geographical dictionary, mention also Albaida, closer to Olivares, as a possible site, despite the lack of archaeological evidence for a settlement in that locality.

References

{{reflist Tartessos Roman towns and cities in Spain Former populated places in Spain Lost ancient cities and towns