TheVellavii (Gaulish: *Uellauī/Wellawī) were aGallic tribe dwelling around the modern city ofLe Puy-en-Velay, in the region of theAuvergne, during theIron Age and theRoman period.
They are mentioned asVellaviis (var.vellabiis) byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1]Ou̓ellaoúioi (Οὐελλαούιοι,var. -άοιοι, -άϊοι) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD),[2]Vellavi (var.velavi) byPliny (1st c. AD),[3]Ou̓éllaunoi (Οὐέλλαυνοι,var. Οὐέλλενες) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD),[4] and asVelavorum in theNotitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD).[5][6]
The city ofLe-Puy-en-Velay, attested ca. 400 AD ascivitas Villavorum ('civitas of the Vellavii'), and the region ofVelay, attested in 845 aspagus Vellaicus ('pagus of the Vellavi',Velhac in the 13th c.,Velai in 1335), are named after the Gallic tribe.[7]
Theoppidum of Ruessium, an early seat of a Catholic bishop, began to be called during the 4th century the[civitas] que dicitur Vetula in pago Vellavorum— the city "called Vetula in the country ('pays') of the Vellavii" a document of 1004 termed it (Lauranson-Rosaz).
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