History

The remains of the ancient city of Asseria are the most important monument of the Antiquity in the wider area of Benkovac. Asseria was founded in the pre-historic iron-age period. It was then an important settlement and center of the Liburnians, the Illyrian tribe that inhabited the area before the Romans. It had a very prominent position on the road that connected the colony of Iader (the present day Zadar) with other the municipal centers like Nedinum (Nadin), Varvaria (Bribir) and the military outpost in Burnum (Ivoševci). The boundaries of the territory of Asseria reached as far north as the village of Bruška and east to Dobropoljci. The borders were established to control the pastures for livestock. Some border stones from the time of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Nero and Vespasianus, which marked the borderlines, have been found and preserved.

Dionysius

Altar

Sculpture

In several excavating campaigns archeaeologists have been able do find a number of fragments of sculpture from different periods of Antiquity. Some of them can be seen in the Regional Museum in Benkovac. One of the more recent and interesting is a relief representing the Capitoline Wolf with the infant twins Romulus and Remus. The relief is carved on a side of a large altar found during excavations in 1999. The altar was built in as construction material in the fortification walls from the late Antiquity period .

Entrance

Roman wall

Late antiquity wall

Tombs

Among several types of tombstones from the Antiquity especially interesting is the Liburnian cippus. It is a cylindrical monument with a conical top, normally placed along roads. Some 65 specimens have been found so far in the territory of ancient Liburnia (Croatian coastal region north of the Krka river), 45 of which came from Asseria itself.

Tomb

Info

  • Hrvatska likovna enciklopedija
  • Asseria, periodična publikacija
  • Fra Stanko Bačić: Lisičić
  • Fra Stanko Bačić: Perušić
  • Ivo Fadić: Asseria - 5 godina istraživanja

Description

This ancient site is found some 6 kilometers from Benkovac, near the village of Podgrađe. It is almost a kilometer long and about 150 meters wide. The main entrance was on the west side until, in 113 AD, a trimphal arch in honor of emperor Trajan was erected on the north side. It comemorated his visit to Asseria on his way to the Dacian war.

As all the cities in the Roman Empire, Asseria also had a main square, or forum, a defense system, aqueduct etc. The forum of Asseria was located close to the walls. It was 28 meters long. It is today the site of the church of the Holy Ghost and the local graveyard. The aqueduct was about three kilometers long and conveyed water from a source in nearby Lisičić.

The city is surrounded with strong and tall walls on all sides. The height of these remains is between 4 and 7 meters, and they are 3.20 meters thick.

Trajan's arch

Cippus