Balsa (Roman town)
Coordinates: 37°05′08″N 7°41′38″W / 37.0855497°N 7.6938629°W Balsa was a Roman coastal town in the province of Lusitania, Conventus Pacensis (capital Pax Julia).
The modern location is in the rural estates of Torre d'Aires, Antas and Arroio, parish of Luz de Tavira, county of Tavira, district of Faro, in Algarve, Southern Portugal.
Balsa is a pre-Roman place-name with a probable Phoenician etymology: B'LŠ..., a possible theonym connected with the older Phoenician occupation of neighbouring Tavira.
It is mentioned by Pomponius Mela (DC III 1, 7), Pliny (HN IV 35, 116), Ptolemy (GH: II 5, 2), and Marcianus of Heracleia (PME: II, 13).
Mints bronze asses and its lead divisors (semis, quadrans, triens, sextans) about mid 1st century BCE, in Latin alphabet with marine motives (tunas, dolphins, several kinds of boats). The name BALSA, recorded in these coins is the oldest attestation of the toponym.
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