VARVARIA
(Bribir) Croatia, Yugoslavia.
A
hill fort settlement of the Liburni in N Dalmatia 12 km
NW of Scardona (Skradin). It was the center of the
Varvarini, one of the 14 Liburnian communities (civitates) administered from their iudicial conventus at Scardona. First tribute exemption and then municipal rank was granted to the settlement, most probably by Augustus.
Because the municipium was administered by the four
viri, some judge that this grant dates from Caesar's reign.
The families of native Liburnian origin kept their privileged positions in the Roman period.
Strong defensive walls from the Preroman period encircle the top of the hill, enclosing an area of 72,000 sq. m. The current excavations have uncovered large stretches of these walls, which were to 2 m thick and 3-4 m high
constructed of big stone blocks. Mediaeval building destroyed much of the ancient settlement, but many ancient
foundations and cisterns have been excavated. The forum
was probably on the site of the present Turkish tower
because many fragments of the monumental architecture
have been found there. Many inscriptions, coins, and
pottery fragments have been found. The settlement was
destroyed in the invasions of the Goths and Slavs in the
6th and 7th c.
The finds are preserved in the Archaeological Museum
at Zadar and in a small collection on the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Suić, Municipium Varvariae,
Diadora
2 (1960-62) 179-98; M. Suić, “Bribir u antici,”
Starohrvatska prosvjeta 3, 10 (1968) 217-34; G. Forni, “Varvariana,”
Adriatica praehistorica et antiqua—Miscellanea Gregorio Novak dicata (1970) 573-77.
M. ZANINOVIĆ
