Szombathely, city in western Hungary and capital of Vas County, on the Gyöngyös and Perint rivers. Situated in the Vas Hills near the Austrian border, it is a road, rail, and industrial center in a region in which fruit and market vegetables are grown. Manufactures include textiles, agricultural equipment, chemicals, lumber, bricks, footwear, and processed food. The city is the site of many Roman antiquities, some of which are housed in the municipal museum in the 18th-century episcopal palace. Founded by the Romans in AD48 as Savaria (or Sabaria), it became the capital of Pannonia Province and was the site of the proclamation of Lucius Severus as Roman emperor in 193. Population (1999 estimate) 82,074.
