RISINIUM
(Risan) S Montenegro, Boka-Kotorska,
Yugoslavia.
A city 11 km NW of Kotor. It
was mentioned in the Pseudo-Skylax, Polybios (2.16),
Pliny (
3.144), and Ptolemy (2.16.3). It was well known
because of the Roman campaigns against the Illyrians
under Teuta. The city consisted of a fortress in Gradine
and a civilian community below in the NE part of Carine.
The city was a colony from early Imperial times and
developed into a typically Roman city with a strong
Italian element added to the native Illyrian population.
Economically important, Risinium had contacts with
other cities, especially in the inner province of Dalmatia
(Doclea, Municipium S.).
Archaeological investigations have so far been only
preservative. The remains of one building in the forum
are today in the city park of Risan.
A villa near the route Risan-Nikšić comprises ca. 1000
sq. m consisting of a central courtyard around which a
number of rectangular rooms were arranged. Four of
them were decorated with mosaics. In many places on
the walls, traces of fresco paintings have been discovered.
To the W of the atrium additional mosaics have been
discovered but have not yet beea investigated and published.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. Vuksan, “Las mosaiques romains de
Risan,”
Albania 4 (1932); C. Marković, “Travaux conservativo-restauratifs dans ha localité des mosaiques de
Risan en 1963,”
Annuaire de l'Institut pour protection
des monuments historiques du Montenegro 2 (1964) 103-16.
A. CERMANOVIĆ-KUZMANOVIĆ
