Page 123 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

alysed, this publication will only include the re- the presumed Roman settlements at Osor, Cres
sults relating to the city wall of Beli, as these are and Beli are discussed.
directly relevant to the history of Roman urban-
isation on the island of Cres. Case Study Area
The paper begins with a brief overview of The Kvarner Islands are the northernmost is-
the case study area. A comprehensive list of all lands along the coast of modern-day Croatia.
publications dealing with the Cres-Lošinj archi- They include the islands of Krk, Cres, Lošinj
pelago is not included. Only publications that and Rab, as well as numerous smaller islands (fig.
are relevant and contain older citations, pro- 1). A total of five Roman settlements on three
vide an overview, or deal with a specific topic Kvarner islands have been mentioned in writ-
are mentioned, in order to avoid unnecessary re- ten sources: Fulfinum (Omišalj) and Curicum
dundancy. This is followed by a presentation of (Krk) on Krk; Apsorus (Osor) and Crexi (Cres)
the recent research results from Osor and Beli. on Cres; and Arba (Rab) on Rab (ancient topo- 123
The following discussion examines the contra- nyms after Margetić 1979, 330–2). According to
diction between recent research findings and the Starac (2000, 78–83), epigraphic sources indi-
prevailing view on the Roman cities of the Cres- cate the granting of municipal privileges during
Lošinj archipelago. This in turn requires a dis- the 1st century AD.
cussion of the reliability of the information sur- The extent of research into the suspect-
rounding the discovery of the inscription CIL ed larger Roman settlements in the present-day
III 3148 (10131). Other inscriptions from the re- towns of Osor, Cres and Beli varies greatly (e.g.
gion are not discussed in detail here, as such an Ćus-Rukonić 1984) (fig. 2). No excavation results
analysis would exceed the scope of this work. An are available for the village and region of Beli, al-
overview of the archipelago’s inscriptions and though a summary of archaeological zones in
their interpretation can be found in Kurilić’s the surrounding area indicates significant ar-
work (1999). Most of the inscriptions can also be chaeological potential (Bradanović 1999). Pub-
viewed in the Heidelberg Digital Epigraphic Da- lications dealing with Roman Beli mainly refer The Roman Urbanisation of the Northern Adriatic Island of Cres
tabase (https://edh.ub.uni-heidelberg.de). Final- to the Tiberian inscription and paint a picture
ly, the location, dating and the regional roles of of a flourishing city from the early imperial peri-

Figure 1: The Cres-Lošinj Ar-
chipelago, Including the Plac-
es and Geographical Names
Mentioned in the Text (Base:
SRTM, elaborated by Nives
Doneus, 2025)