Your search results

Podróż do tajemniczych i nieznanych Dalmacji – Asseria i Varvaria

Published on 03/29/2017 by amedic

What if I tell you that in the middle of Dalmatia are real megalithic and cyclopean walls and cities that are truly amazing to visit. And when you visit them for the moment you think that you are in South America or in Malta. And what is weird, most of locals do not even know of it existence, and how rich is Dalmatia in cultural and history heritage. Those two cities are called Asseria and Varvaria. Two pre-Roman (we can only guess the age) cities are located near today small city Benkovac. They are very close to each other, and if you climb to the ruins of Varvaria in the distance you can see remains of the once great city of Asseria.

Varvaria – ancient city on the small hill

Varvaria is located near Bribir, and it is located on the small hill. It is a real joy to climb on it, but you can also come with the car right near to the megalithic walls. We do not know much about these mysterious ruins. Most of historians mentions only Roman ruins and later Medieval building. But large megalithic walls are clearly visible, and they are really long. They surround 3 sides of the hill (more than 1 km) while the fourth side is guarded by the cliff. Different styles of construction are clearly visible. On the lower part of the walls are great and massive stone blocks that are connected with no mortar, and to the top of the walls is visible more primitive and simpler construction that belongs to Romans and Medieval times. There are no much archaeological research on this locality, and today is hard to tell how old it is, and who originally built it. But it is really, really old. And we can only assume that old pre-Roman Illyrian tribes have build it. And it is awkward to think that they are mostly called primitive, and yet they have the technology to built such a great walls that stands the test of time. And we can only imagine how great they was when they were built.

Remains of the Roman mozaic

Very interesting holes in the stone that are seen in Peru and Egypt, used to connect large blocks with melted metal

Polygonal and complex walls

Large megaliths

Asseria – large pre-Roman city with walls more than 2.5 km long

Asseria is even larger, and probably more important ruins of the once great city. It is hard to tell how old the city is, but probably is formed by old Illyrian tribe called Liburnians. But those massive megalithic walls, that are connected with no mortar simple arise a lots of questions for all of those who are interested in history. How, supposedly those primitive tribes, was able to create such a complex buildings. Answer probably lies in that famous sentence that „History is written by the winners”. Romans after conquering, now mysterious tribes like Gals, Kelts, Dacians or Illyrians, have tendency in the written documents to call them primitive. But now we can see that they were anything but primitive. After the fall of Illyria, the Romans continue to live in these cities. That is clearly visible in construction. Large and massive megaliths are replaced with simpler construction. Asseria in not explored like it should be, and excavation after 100 years started again in 1998. But that must not stop you to explore this less know but amazing and mysterious archaeological sites.