Ancient Issa Archaeological Zone, Vis

The town of Vis on the island of the same name is the successor of ancient Issa, one of the first Greek settlements on the Adriatic. A walk through the town and its surroundings reveals traces of the Greek and Roman past beneath later layers of building.

Dorian settlers from Syracuse founded the colony at the beginning of the 4th century BC. The town spread over terraces and was surrounded by walls. In the south were baths from the beginning of the 1st century. On the Prirovo peninsula stood a Roman theatre, probably built on the foundations of a Greek one; in the 16th century a monastery of Conventual Franciscans was built there. Southwest of the town extended the Issaean necropolis Mrtvilo, known for its ceramic grave goods. Issa had features that later marked Roman culture, and the newer settlement contains examples of various styles from the late Middle Ages onwards.

The zone is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-5100.

Photo: Jadvinia, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).