The name
Ilercavonia to refer to the territory occupied by this Iberian tribe appears in ancient
Greek and
Roman texts and documents and it was still mentioned in medieval texts. The northern limits of this territory were in
Serra de la Llena, the northeastern in
Coll de Balaguer, the western in
Mequinensa and the southern in
Sagunt. The Ilercavones were very religious as a people. They did not have temples, but every mountain or hill was considered a sacred place. The Ilercavones as a nation or tribe were already mentioned by
Pliny the Elder, who said that they inhabited the lands between river
Udiva (possibly the
Millars River) and further north of the
Ebro, and by
Ptolemy, who named the
cape and the harbor where they lived
Tenebri (possibly
Orpesa). They were mentioned as well as by
Livy in his texts describing the first phase of the Roman invasion of Iberia. After the Roman conquest the Ilercavones became
romanized, much like the other Iberian tribes in the peninsula. Gradually, they became assimilated into the Roman population, especially after acquiring the
Latin language as their own vernacular. ==Archaeological sites==