Siscia
- a city of Pannonia, now Siszek, Vell. 2, 113; Plin. 3, 25, 28, § 147; Prud. στεφ. 7, 3.
SI´SCIA, SEGESTA, or SEGE´STICA (Σισκία, Σεγέστα, Σεγεστική), a great town in the south of Upper Pannonia, on the southern bank of the Savus, on an island formed by that river and two others, the Colapis and Odra, a canal dug by Tiberius completing the island. (Dio Cass..) It was situated on the great road from Aemona to Sirmium. （ It. Ant. pp. 259, 260, 265, 266, 272, 274; Plin. Nat. 3.28.) According to Pliny the name Segestica belonged only to the island, and the town was called Siscia; while Strabo (7. p. 314) says that Siscia was a fort in the neighbourhood of Segestica; but if this was so, it must be supposed that subsequently the fort and town became united as one place. (Comp. Strab. 4. p. 202, 5. p. 214, 7. p. 218; Appian, Illyr. 16, 23, &c.) Siscia was from the first a strongly fortified town; and after its capture by Tiberius, in the reign of Augustus (Appian, Dio Cass., ll. cc.;Vellei. 2.113), it became one of the most important places of Pannonia; for being situated on two navigable rivers, it not only carried on considerable commerce (Strab. v. pp. 207, 214), but became the central point from which Augustus and Tiberius carried on their undertakings against the Pannonians and Illyrians. Tiberius did much to enlarge and embellish the town, which as early as that time seems to have been made a colonia, for Pliny mentions it as such: in the time of Septimius Severus it received fresh colonists, whence in inscriptions it is called Col. Septimia Siscia. The town contained an imperial mint, and the treasury for what was at a later time called the province Savia; at the same time it was the station of the small fleet kept on the Savus. Siscia maintained its importance until Sirmium began to rise, for in proportion as Sirmium rose, Siscia sank and declined. (Comp. Zosim. 2.48; Orelli, Inscript. n. 504, 505, 2703, 3075, 3346, 4993.) The modern town of Sissek, occupying the place of the ancient Siscia, contains many interesting remains of antiquity. (Marsili, Danubius, p. 47; Schönwisner, Antiq. Sabariae, p. 52, foll.; Muchar, Norikum, 1. p. 159.)
[L.S]Now Sissek, called Segesta by Appian. An important town in Pannonia Superior, situated upon an island formed by the rivers Savus, Colapis, and Odra, and on the road from Aemona to Sirmium (Dio Cass. xlix. 37).
First mentioned by Strabo (7.5.2), the Iron Age settlement Segestica, on an island at the mouth of the Kupa (Colapis) in the Sava river, preceded a later Celtic settlement Siscia at the mouth of the Odra in the Kupa river. Being at the confluence of three rivers, the place “was strongly protected by the river and with a large ditch encircling it” (App. Ill. 22; Dio Cass. 49.37.3-4). In 35 B.C. Octavian captured the town after a thirty-day blockade. The town was used as a base for a campaign against the Dacians. In the time of the great Illyrian rebellion in the winter of A.D. 6, Tiberius reached Siscia and kept it as the base for his army, which with a strength of ten legions and seventy auxiliary cohorts, stamped out the rebellion in A.D. 9. Siscia became the station of the river fleet against the Dacians, and Vespasian gave to the town the status of colonia Flavia Siscia. Because of the new influx of the colonists this status was confirmed by Septimius Severus (colonia Septimia). The town had the state mint and treasury in the 3d and 4th c. It was the capital of Pannonia Savia, and from the 3d c. it was a bishop's seat (St. Quirinus). In 530 Ioannes from Siscia attended a provincial synod at Salona. Since the modern town is built over the ancient one, it has not been possible to establish its exact size. Every excavation in the town encounters ancient walls and constructions and often inscriptions and other monuments are found in a secondary use in these walls. Bath buildings near the Kupa river have been discovered. The bed of this river has yielded many important finds of arms, metal ware, and small bronze statuary from the numerous workshops. Tiles stamped SISC(ia) are also known.
The rich archaeological material is in the Archaeological Museum at Zagreb and in the City Museum at Sisak.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. Brunšmid, “Kameni spomenici Hrvatskog Narodnog muzeja,” Vjesnik Hrvatskog arheološkog društva, NS, 7-12 (1904-12); G. Veith, Die Feldzüge des C. Iulius Caesar Octavianus in Illyrien in den J. 35-33 v. Chr. (Schriften der Balkankommission, Antiq. Abt. 8; 1914), 51ff, map 7; V. Hoffiller & B. Saria, Antike Inschriften aus Jugoslawien (1938) 237-68.
M. ZANINOVIĆ