Routes And Harbour Archaeology: An attempt to Identify Some Ancient Toponyms on the Eastern Adriatic Coast

Ancient geographical works, from the Pseudo-Skylax’s Periplous to the Ravenna Cosmography, talk about several toponyms of the Eastern Adriatic coast, most of which concerning islands. concerning islands. Some of these toponyms have been identified, usually paying attention to phylological more than to archaeological data, whereas most of them have not yet been clearly identified. In recent years new archaeological excavations concerning also harbour structures give us some information to draw the landing-places map of the Eastern Adriatic coast. What’s more, recently were intestigated the shipwrecks and the ancient sea routes, which are today the same in ancient times. So through an analysis of the port structures and of the maritime routes he author tries to identify some toponyms mentioned by Pliny the Elder (Nat. 3. 140, 152) and Claudius Ptolemaeus (Geog. 2. 16. 2). In particular about the first work, he suggests locating civitas Pasini on the coast between Nin/None and Zara and correcting the usual identification of Portunata: in fact, he thinks it should correspond to the modern islands of Ugliano/Ugljan or Pasman and not to the Isola Grossa/Dugi Otok. About the second work, he identifies the ptolemaic city of Οὐολκέρα with the modern city of Cirquenizza/ Crikvenica, on the base of recent archaeological publications.