The temple of the imperial cult (Augusteum) at Narona and its statues: interim report

Ancient Narona (the modern village of Vid, near Metković in Croatia; figs, 1a-b) was an important Roman colony in the valley of the river Neretva/Naron (Greek)/Naro (Latin) near the E coast of the Adriatic. The first mention of the place comes from Pseudo-Scylax and Theopompus in the 4th c. B.C. By the mid 2nd c. B.C. there was an emporium located at the top of the river delta, on the same spot where the forum of thecoloniawould be built in the last decades of the 1st c. B.C. That location was of strategic importance for communication between the Adriatic and the interior as far inland as the Sava and Danube rivers, and from the Late Republican period Narona connected the coast with the interior (the areas of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina) (fig. 2).