Tabula Contrebiensis

The Tabula Contrebiensis is a bronze tablet which was produced in early first century BC eastern Iberia to a Roman pattern and which today can be found in Zaragoza's museum.

The plate has six regular and equal perforations, in circular form, each of six millimetres in diameter. They are aligned at regular intervals, close to the edges of the long sides. The conservation of the piece is poor. It has been subjected to strong deformations due to fire damage, which has caused the tablet to bend.

The tabula is especially useful in providing unique mentions of the populations of several Celtic or Celtiberian towns in very-recently-conquered eastern Iberia, an area which Rome had only just subdued.

It mentions the Sosinestani and a legal agreement between them and the similarly obscure Salluienses group to sell land to the latter for the construction of a canal. The process is handled through an enthusiastic early adoption of Roman legal norms.

However, the transfer leads to a legal dispute between the Salluienses and the Allvonenses for which adjudication must be provided by the Contrebienses. The latter unit occupies the town of Contrebia Belaisca (Zaforas de Botorita in Zaragoza. This falls within the territory of the Celtiberian Belli tribe.

As the 'Contrebienses' tag clearly refers to the inhabitants of the town in question rather than being a tribal name, the other names are likely also those of the dwellers of specific towns, although only the Salluienses can securely be located in a definitive town area.

The dispute's resolution is also recorded following a Roman model, in the sense that it is inscribed in bronze and is set up in a public space. Because the Salluienses wished to construct their canal through some private Sosinestani land, the latter had to be provided with appropriate compensation (External Link: Creative Commons Licence 2.5 Generic).

Original text copyright © P L Kessler and the History Files. Extracted text and principal source material © Celtiberia Historica. Image copyright © Ecelan. An original photo page for the History Files. Go back, return home, or go to the Belli or Suessetani pages.