Metellinum

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography

METELLI´NUM(It. Anton. p. 416; Metelion, Geogr. Rav. 4.44), or METALLI´NUM (Colonia Metallinensis, Plin. Nat. 4.21. s. 35), a Roman colony of Lusitania on the Anas, 24 Roman miles from Augusta Emerita, now Medellin. The modern town lies on the southern side of the river, so that the ancient town ought to have been included in Baetica. Hence some modern writers have conjectured that the Anas may here have changed its bed. The form of the name would lead to the supposition that the colony was founded by Metellus, in which case Metellinum would be a more correct form than Metallinum.