ASTORGA, a city of N.W. Spain, province of Leon; on the right bank of the river Tuerto. Pop. (1930) 8,243. Astorga was the Roman Asturica Augusta, the administrative centre of one Asturian district and the point of convergence of the great military roads connecting the north-west with the Pyrenean passes and with Baetica. The route followed by this last road, which used the valley of the river Alagon to cross the Central Sierras, is in essence the route of the modern railway lines con necting the south-west with the north-west via Merida, Plasencia and Astorga, the junction with the main line from Madrid to Corunna. Astorga has been the see of a bishop since the 3rd century, but the city was left in partial or total abandonment in the Muslim period from the time of the expulsion of the Berbers (c. 75o) until the repopulation under Ordono I. of Leon (c. 86o). Its Gothic cathedral dates from the 15th century.