Cultural Corridors of South East Europe

Heritage by Type / Ancient Site

Daorson - Hellenistic Town

Info Sections
Daorson - Hellenistic Town

About the site


Corridor: Via Adriatica
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Stolac
Type: Ancient Site
Epoch: Antiquity
Theme: Antiquity
World Heritage:
AntiquityAntiquityAncient Site

The old Hellenistic town of Daorson consists of three linked units the disposition of which is determined by the configuration of the terrain. The central part is occupied by the gradina or acropolis, which dominates the site. To the south and southwest are the terraces below the acropolis on ridge, while the area leading up to the acropolis extends eastwards to form the residential and commercial (mostly crafts and trade) areas of the settlement.
The Acropolis was built on a Prehistoric fortified settlement that was permanently inhabited from the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (17th to 16th century B.C.) to the end of the Late Bronze Age (9th to 8th century B.C..). The time of the demise of the town of Daorson that finally put an end to human settlement there can be determined with fair accuracy from the details of the wars waged by the Roman Praetor Vatinius against the Delmati tribe – the middle or second half of the 1st century B.C. No lasting settlement ever again formed on the ruins of the town of the Daorsi. The new settlement of the Daorsi developed in the Vidovo plain and in present-day Stolac in the early 1st century B.C. as Diluntum Municipium.
The acropolis in Ošani?i differs from all other fortifications of the same period created under powerful Hellenistic influence. The cyclopean wall was adapted to the configuration of the terrain and dates from the 4th century B.C. The two towers were probably constructed once the wall was completed. The other construction stages of the acropolis date from later centuries, up to the 1st century B.C.


Expert Network