Epidaurus (Dalmatia)
Epidaurus (Greek: Επίδαυρος) was an ancient Greek colony in Dalmatia (modern-day coastal Croatia) founded sometime in the 6th century BC.[1][2] The town changed its name to Epidaurum during Roman rule in 228 BC.[3] During the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the city was besieged by M. Octavius but saved by the arrival of the consul Publius Vatinius.
The city was destroyed by Avars and Slavic invaders in the 7th century.[4] Refugees from Epidaurus fled to the nearby island Laas or Laus (meaning "stone" in Greek[5], from which Ragusa (through rhotacism), which over time evolved into Dubrovnik.[6] In the middle ages the town Cavtat (Ragusa-Vecchia) was established in the same area.
Several Roman inscriptions are found amongst its ruins: the sepulchre of P. Cornelius Dolabella, who was the consul under Augustus and governor of Illyricum, and the remains of a aqueduct.[7] The Illyrians used to call the city Zaptal.
There were two other similarly named Greek cities. One Epidaurus in the Saronic Gulf and another, Epidaurus Limera in Lakonia.
[edit] References
- ^ Aulus Hirtius, De Bello Alexandrino XIV
- ^ Austria: Her People & Their Homelands by James Baker,""... dates back to the sixth century B.c., when the Greeks founded here Epidaurus"
- ^ Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992, ISBN 0-631-19807-5, page 216.
- ^ Researches on the Danube and the Adriatic by Andrew Archibald Paton (1861). Contributions to the Modern History of Hungary and Transylvania, Dalmatia and Croatia, Servia and Bulgaria- page 247
- ^ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, word λάας (laas).
- ^ Dalmatia and Montenegro by Sir John Gardner Wilkinson
- ^ Notizie Istorico-Critiche Sulla Antichita, Storia, e Letteratura de' Ragusei (published in two vols) by Francesco Maria Appendini.
