VELIA (Gr. 'TEktl, later'EXfa)  , an ancient town of Lucania, Italy, on the hill now crowned by the medieval castle of Castellammare della Bruca, 440 ft. above sea-level, on the S.W.coast, 11 m . N.W. of the modern railway station of Ascea, 25 M . S.E. of Paestum . Remains of the city walls, with traces of one gate and several towers, of a total length of over 3 m., still exist, and belong to three different periods, in all of which the crystalline limestone of the locality is used . Bricks were also employed in later times; their form is peculiar to this place, each having two rectangular channels on one side, and being about 15 in. square, with 'a thickness of nearly 4 in . They all bear Greek brick-stamps . There are some remains of cisterns on the site, and various other traces of buildings . The town was mainly celebrated for the philosophers who bore its name (see ELEATIC ScxooL) . About 530 B.C. the Phocaeans, driven from Corsica, seized it from the Oencrians . Its coins were widely diffused in S . Italy, and it kept its independence even in Roman times, and only became a municipiun after the Social War . See W .

Schlenning in Jahrbuck

des K . Deutschen Arch . Instituts (T889), iv . 169 sqq . (T .