Myrtilis
MY´RTILIS surnamed JULIA (Μυρτιλίς, Ptol. 2.5.5), a town of the Turdetani in Lusitania, on the Anas, which had the Jus Latii; now Mertola. (Plin. Nat. 4.21. s. 35; Mela, 3.1; It. Ant. p. 431; Sestini, Med. p. 11; Mionnet, Suppl. 1. p. 8; Florez, Esp. Sagr. xiv. pp. 208, 238; Forbiger, 3. p. 36.)
Mentioned by Pliny (HN 4.22), Mela (3.1), Ptolemy (2.5), and referred to in the Antonine Itinerary. Myrtilis was the port of embarcation on the Guadiana for the copper mined in the neighboring mines of S. Domingo. Good examples of sculpture are preserved from the period of Roman domination. Six huge columns on the bank of the river have been thought the remains of a Roman bridge, but they are more likely the remains of an aqueduct of the Muslim period.
BIBLIOGRAPHYL. F. Delgado Alves, “Aspectos da Arqueologia em Myrtílis (Mértola),” Arquivo de Beja 13 (1956) 21-104I.
J. ALARCÃO