April 28, 2021 - Employees of the Neretva-Pelješac-Korčula-Lastovo-Mljet waterworks (NPKLM vodovod d.o.o.) from Korčula excavated several Roman stone blocks during the repair of the water pipe on the Mala Riva, north of the bridge at the entrance to Vid. Among them, three significant Roman monuments in Vid stand out, and on one of them, along with various decorations, an inscription is carved.
Metković News reports the letters AV and the third damaged letter (perhaps the letter G) have been preserved on the monument. It can be preliminary said that the name of the first Roman emperor Augustus was probably mentioned.
It is the largest inscription found in Narona. The height of the letters, 30 cm, indicates that the inscription stood on a large public building and can be associated with the most famous Naronitan site - the temple of Augusteum, where Emperor Augustus was worshiped.
The employees of NPKLM vodovoda d.o.o carefully removed the monuments. They will be presented to the public in the Narona Archeological Museum, the first on-site museum in Croatia, after the cleaning and conservation process.
"Since the works are taking place in the area of the former center of ancient Narona, we could expect something like this. Another reason for this is that much later, a stone was inserted into the foundations of the bridge over the Norin, so we expected to find something like this", said the director of AM Narona, Toni Glučina.
Whenever you dig a little deeper in the area of Vid, it can be expected that some stone witness of the famous Naronitan history will come to light. This is the biggest monument found in Vid from the ancient Roman city of Narona, since the archeological discovery of 17 marble statues with inscriptions and mosaic floors inside the Plečaš family barn. The unique archaeological find of the Roman remains indicated that the city was of great importance during the Roman era, built in the first century BC.
To find out more about the Narona Archeological Museum, click HERE.
