Delminium
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Delminio Proper-name noun: neuter dative singular, Proper-name noun: neuter ablative singular of Delminium
- the ancient capital of Dalmatia, Flor. 4, 12, 11.
DELMI´NIUM [DALMINIUM]
On the plain near Duvno in Duvanjskopolje. The pre-Roman settlement of the same name, the capital and the largest city of the Illyrian Delmatae, was near its Roman successor at either Lib or Gradina kod Gaja. The city was besieged by the Romans in 156 B.C. under C. Marcius Figulus; a year later it was captured by P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, its fortifications destroyed, and the surrounding country converted into sheep pasturage (App. Ill. 11; Florus. 2.25; Frontin. Str. 3.6.2; Strab. 7.5.5). Following the typical Dalmatian pattern, the later Roman settlement moved from a hilltop site to the valley as the need for fortifications passed, and the territory of the Delmatae was administered from Salona on the coast (Plin. HN 3.142). Roman Delminium was probably established under Augustus and survived through the 6th c. when it was mentioned as a bishopric under Pope Gregory ca. 585. Grants of Roman citizenship to the native population first appear under the emperor Hadrian. The city flourished as the agricultural center for the valley although it never regained the importance held by its Illyrian predecessor.
The major monument known from the site is the forum, partially excavated. Over three-quarters of the forum area consists of a paved open space surrounded by a wall. The principal feature within the enclosure is the building on its S end. The long axis of the building is parallel to the S edge of the forum pavement and is divided by cross walls into two larger spaces and several smaller ones. The two largest occupy the central and E part of the building and presumably served as the city basilica and senate house. The senate chamber is distinguished by the addition of a fireplace sometime after its original construction. The whole forum complex is probably contemporary with the granting of municipium status to the town, usually assigned to Hadrian or Antoninus Pius. Further building activity there is recorded during the 3d c. The relatively high concentration of Roman burials and traces of roads in the valley suggest a fairly large population for the area in the Roman period. However, the poor quality of construction in the civic center indicates that the city did not attain the same degree of prosperity under the Romans as did the former Illyrian centers at Doclea and Salona.
The finds from the site are located in the Zemaljski Musej at Sarajevo.
BIBLIOGRAPHYD. Sergejevski, “Epigrafski nalazi iz Bosne,” Glasnik Zemaljskog Muzeja u Sarajevo, NS 12 (1957) 109-25; B. Pašalić, Antička naselja i komunikacije u Bosni i Hercegovini (1960); M. Zaninović, “Delminium. Primjedbe uz lokaciju,” Vjesnik za arheologiju i historiju dalmatinsku 63-64 (1961-62) 49-55; J. J. Wilkes, Dalmatia (1969) MP.
M. R. WERNER