A Contribution to the Study of the Population From the South of the Province of Dalmatia (Examples From the Trebišnjica Valley and Its Surroundings)

By analyzing narrative sources, epigraphic monuments, and various archaeological finds from the south of the Roman province of Dalmatia (the Trebišnjica River valley / eastern Herzegovina), the paper attempts to examine and determine the ethnicity of the population of classical antiquity. The conquest of Illyricum (during the wars fought from the 3rd century BC until the beginning of the 1st century AD) and the education of the population in the province of Dalmatia (believed to have started in AD 7/8 until the end of AD 9), lead to territorial and ethnic changes. Roman citizens (cives Romani) settled in the valley of the Trebišnjica River and lived there along with the local population (peregrini). The Italic peoples mostly contributed to the penetration of the Roman culture, civilization, and Roman way of life in this region. They brought the remains of the Roman civilization with them, which influenced the local population in different ways. Epigraphic monuments and diverse archaeological finds reveal these processes in the south of the province of Dalmatia. The analysis will attempt to reconstruct the ethnic image of the population living in the south of the province of Dalmatia. The analysis of epigraphic monuments will reveal whether foreigners or locals were the dominant factor in this region. Moreover, the analysis of material facts will suggest when the process of Romanization in this region began and how long it lasted. The Romanization process in the south of the Roman province of Dalmatia implied granting citizen rights under certain emperors. Members of higher social strata of a community (civitas) were granted civil rights. Today we can trace the Romanization process only indirectly through onomastics of the local population using epigraphic monuments. The results obtained through the analysis of epigraphic monuments and different archaeological finds will show which areas in the south of the province of Dalmatia maintained their local ethnic characteristics during the Roman period, and which succumbed to Romanization, which was best recorded again by onomastics.