Iria Flavia

Iria Flavia or simply Iria in Galicia, northwestern Spain, was a Celtiberian port, the main seat of the Caporos, on the road between Braga and Astorga. The Romans rebuilt the road as via XVIII or Via Nova and refounded the Celtiberian port as Iria Flavia ("Flavian Iria") to complement Vespasian. Iria was the seat of a sixth-century Christian bishopric that shared its seat with Compostela, then moved there in 1095. The modern city on the site of Iria Flava is Padrón.

The followers of Priscillian were deeply embedded in the culture of Iberia's northwest. To restore catholic orthodoxy in the Visigothic marches that were recovered from the Kingdom of the Suevi in a series of campaigns during the years leading up to 585, nine dioceses were established in Galicia, including Iria Flavia, mentioned in the document Parroquial suevo (ca 572–582); the Parroquial divides the region into dioceses and marks the first definitive integration of this zone in the monarchy of the Visigoths, who had been catholicized from Arianism in 587 (Quiroga and Lovell 1999). The list of the bishops of Iria present at councils and noted in other sources begins in the sixth century with an Andreas and gains historic credibility in the seventh . No commercial or political rationale for siting a bishop at Iria Flavia seems to present itself, though excavations have identified a cult sanctuary dating to the second half of the sixth century (Quiroga and Lovelle 1999). The relics that were...
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