STOLAC
(“Diluntum”) Bosnia-Hercegovina, Yugoslavia.
A Roman town on the Bregava river ca.
50 km SE of Mostar. It has been identified tentatively
as Diluntum (
Tab. Peut.).
Before the arrival of the Romans, the principal settlement in the area was based at Ošanići, a hilltop site
across the river from Stolac. This was the stronghold of
the Illyrian Daorsii, mentioned frequently from this region in ancient sources (App.
Ill. 2; Plin.
HN 3.143;
Polyb. 32.18; Ptol.
Geog. 2.16;
Strab. 7.5.5). Archaeological evidence indicates that the Daorsii had close commercial contacts with the Greeks on the Adriatic via the Neretva river. In the 1st c. A.D., with Roman control and
pacification of the area, a large settlement of Roman
immigrants and native Illyrians grew up on the site of
modern Stolac. The settlement attained municipium status and became the most prosperous city on the territory
of Narona outside of the Neretva valley. Its native inhabitants were granted citizenship under the Flavians, and
two inscriptions attest to the existence of a statio of
beneficiarii consules (both from Legio XIIII Gemina).
The high point of prosperity for the community (3d-4th
c.) was apparently based on agriculture and on the trade
resulting from the town's position on the main road between Salona and Doclea.
Ošanići is a typical Illyrian site and includes one of
the best-preserved examples of megalithic wall construction in Dalmatia. The site is a combination of fortified
acropolis and a settlement containing various public and
private buildings. The acropolis commands a dominating
view of the Bregava valley and employs both natural and
man-made defenses for its protection. The S side of the
acropolis is fortified with a cyclopean wall with towers
at either extremity, all dating to the end of the 4th c.
B.C. Within the acropolis the principal remains are those
of cistern and a large building, circular in plan, perhaps
the residence of the ruler and his family. The site was
inhabited to the Roman period; with peace established
and the need for fortification gone, the settlement moved
down to the Bregava valley. The Roman remains around
Stolac consist mainly of upper-class dwellings and farm
buildings. The buildings are small and generally not complicated in plan although the quality of construction is
good. Some of the houses included bath blocks, and
many had mosaic floors. The mosaic patterns are traditional, with mythical and allegorical figures on a field
of elaborate geometric designs. The stamped tiles associated with the remains are Italian imports, dating to
the 1st c. A.D., whereas most of the coins are assigned
to the 3d and 4th c. The finds from excavations on both
sites, including some of the preserved mosaics, are displayed in the Zemaljski Muzej in Sarajevo.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
K. Hörmann & V. Radimsky, “Ošanić kod Stoca,”
Glasnik Zemaljskog Muzeja u Bosni i Hercegovini 4 (1892) 40-49; D. Basler, “Gradina na Ošanićima kod Stoca,”
Naše Starine 3 (1955) 79-94
MPI; E. Pašalić,
Antička naselja i komunikacije u Bosni i Hercegovini (1960); J. J. Wilkes,
Dalmatia (1969)
MP; I. Bojanovski,
“Mogorjelo: Rimsko Turres,”
Glasnik Zemaljskog Muzeja u Sarajevo, NS 24 (1969); Z. Marić, “Gradina à
Ošanići, Stolac,”
Epoque préhistorique et protohistorique en Yougoslavie—Recherches et résultats (1971) 58-60; id., “Gradina na Ošanićima kod Stoca: centar ilirskog plemena Daorsa,”
Bosna i Hercegovina iseljenićki almanah (1972) 226-30.
M. R. WERNER
