Nauportus ''(Navport, Navportus)'' ( grc, Ναύπορτον),
[Strabo, Geography, §7.5.2]
/ref> was an ancient Roman town in Pannonia Superior
Pannonia Superior, lit. Upper Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Carnuntum. It was one on the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pan ...
(later 10th Italian region) on the road from Aquileia to Emona
Emona (early gkm, Ἤμονα) or Aemona (short for ) was a Roman castrum, located in the area where the navigable Ljubljanica river came closest to Castle Hill, with a port at the Nauportus river, now the Ljubljanica River.
Strabo wrote that near the Nauportus was a river, called Corcoras ( grc, Κορκόρας), which received the cargoes.[
According to historian ]Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
, the name was derived from the legendary landing of the Argonauts at the river, where they are said to have founded the town.
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
reports that in year 14 the town was plundered by mutinous Roman forces that has been sent to build roads and bridges.[Tacitus ''Annales'', 1.20: Interea manipuli ante coeptam seditionem Nauportum missi ob itinera et pontes et alios usus, postquam turbatum in castris accepere, vexilla convellunt direptisque proximis vicis ipsoque Nauporto, quod municipii instar erat, ...]
Remains of Nauportus were found in present-day Vrhnika
Vrhnika (; german: Oberlaibach;''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120. la, Nauportus) is a town in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Mun ...
in central Slovenia. A Late Roman emporium with warehouses and a central market was located and excavated at river banks. Traces of the defense system of ''Claustra Alpium Iuliarum
(Latin for 'Barrier of the Julian Alps'; hereby, the term Julian Alps refers to the wider mountainous and hilly region from the Julian Alps to the Kvarner Gulf) was a defense system within the Roman Empire between Italia and Pannonia that pro ...
'', a guard tower
A guard tower is any military tower used for guarding an area. These towers are usually operated by military personnel, and are structures built in areas of established control. These include military bases and cities occupied by military forces. ...
, and a Late Roman castellum can be seen in Vrhnika and its vicinity.
References
External links
Nauportus - an Early Roman trading post at Dolge njive in Vrhnika
Roman towns and cities in Slovenia
Roman harbors in Slovenia
Ancient Greek geography
{{Slovenia-stub