Toletum

TOLE´TUM(Τώλητον, Ptol. 2.6.57: Eth. Toletani, Plin. Nat. 3.3. s. 4; Orelli, Inscr. no. 980), the capital of the Carpetani, in Hispania Tarraconensis, situated on the Tagus, and on the road from Emerita to Caesaraugusta, and connected also by another road with Laminium. ( Itin. Ant. pp. 438, 446.) It was a very strong town, though only of moderate size, and famed for its manufacture of arms and steel-ware. (Liv. 35.7, 22, xxxix, 30; Grat. Cyneg. 341; cf. Miñano, Diccion. viii, p. 453.) According to an old Spanish tradition, Toledo was founded in the year 540 B.C. by Jewish colonists, who named it Toledoch, that is, mother of people,whence we might perhaps infer a Phoenician settlement. (Cf. Miñano, 1. c.; Puente, Travels, 1. p. 27.) It is still called Toledo, and contains several remains of Roman antiquities, and especially the ruins of a circus. (Cf. Florez, Esp. Sayr. 5. p. 22; Puente, 1. p. 165, seq.)
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