It is believed that the city was originally established during the Celtic period as an Iberian settlement, about 300 B.C., although the name Abrantes comes from the Latin Aurantes perhaps owing to the alluvial gold (aurum) found along the Tagus. Roman mosaics, coins, the remains of an aqueduct, and other antiquities have been discovered in the neighborhood. Since 1172 (in the reign of Alfonso I), Abrantes was the Spanish military Order of Saint James of Compostela's first commandery in Portugal, where it soon became a distinct order, which Pope Nicholas IV in 1290 released from the jurisdiction of the Spanish grand master in Ucles.
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