ACRUVIUM
(Kotor) Yugoslavia.
According
to the ancient sources (Plin.
HN 3.144; Ptol. Geog. 2.16)
on the S Dalmatian coast between Risan and Budva.
Archaeological soundings around the Bay of Kotor
have not yet definitely located the site, but evidence
available (mediaeval literary tradition, inscriptions now
at Kotor, and ceramic finds from the soundings) indicates that Kotor is the most likely site for the Roman city.
Before the Roman conquest, Acruvium was probably
a stronghold for the Illyrian pirates who raided the coast.
The inhabitants, the Agravonitae, may have been made
tax-exempt under the settlement of the praetor L. Anicius Gallus in 167 B.C. for not siding with Illyrian Gentius, and they certainly made up one of the three divisions
into which Anicius divided the Illyrian kingdom (
Livy
45.26). Pliny mentions the city later as an oppidum
civium Romanorum (
HN 3.144); it probably derived
its livelihood from agriculture and trade. It was enrolled
in the tribus Sergia and its magistrates were IIviri.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Sindik, “Gde se nalazio Acruvium?”
Glasnik geografskog društva 27 (1947) 117-21; M. Parović-Pešikan, “Novi arheološki nalazi u okolini Tivta,”
Starinar, NS 13-14 (1962-63) 211-17; P. Mijović, “Acruvium-Dekatera. Kotor u svetlu novih arheoloških otravića,”
Starinar, NS 13-14 (1962-63) 27-48; J. J. Wilkes,
Dalmatia (1969)
M.
M. R. WERNER
