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Castles of Petuntium, Neraste and Oneum: Sacral Centres of Pagi in the Territory of Salona

The Salonitan juridical convent was mentioned and described by Pliny. Against this background, the character of the ager, and the identity of the Petuntium, Neraste i Oneum communities have been brought to question. It is hereby proposed that they represented lower-level constitutive territorial units (pagus) within the unitary Salonitan territory, which precluded them from assuming the status of autonomous civitates peregrinorum. For this reason, the boundary inscriptions and limites made a part of the interior network of the Salonitan property boundaries, and the spread of the centuriae to the areas covered by the three communities failed to result in the change of their administrative character. The clusters of the sacral materials, discovered in several areas, seem to indicate that the pagi had cult centres, with the potential divine patrons of Venus at Petuntium, Diana and Asclepius at Neraste, and divinized Emperors at Oneum. The character of these deities and the status of the dedicants indicate that these pagi were inhabited by the indigenous population, as well as by the colonists of Salona. The appellation of a castellum, given by Pliny in his geographic description of the province to Petuntium, Neraste, and Oneum, was not used to impart a military meaning, but the sacral one instead.

ager Salonitanus, castellum, Petuntium, Neraste, Oneum, pagus, paganicum

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