ALBION, the most ancient name of the British Isles, gen erally restricted to England (in Ptolemy 'AXoviwv; Lat. Albion, Pliny 4, 16 [3o], 102). The name is perhaps Celtic but the Romans connected it with albus, white, in reference to the chalk cliffs of Dover, and A. Holder (Alt-Keltischer Sprachschatz, 1896) translates it IFeissland, "white-land." The early writer (6th century B.e.) whose Periplus is translated by Avienus (end of 4th century A.D.) does not use the name Britannia; he speaks of vifros 'IEp?cov icai 'AX f3covcov ("island of the Ierni and the Albiones"). So Pytheas of Massilia (4th century B.c.) speaks of "AX 3cov and 'Iipvrl.