Octavian’s footprints: hillforts, camps and roads between Burnum and Sinotium

On the basis of a recent field survey of Petrovo polje, in comparison to the data of Appian and Dio Cassius, the Octavian war campaign against the Dalamatae in the area between Burnum and Sinotion (Synodium, Synodion, Sinotium) is reconsidered. We recognize two temporary Roman military camps. The first, near the village of Parčić, is part of the Octavian contravallation in the northwest corner of Petrovo polje, the siege system by which Dalmatian Promona was surrounded. We conclude that the central oppidum of that polis integrated three areas on and around the Orišnica hill. On the neighbouring hill, Petrovac, we locate the citadel (acropolis) of Promona. The second camp, above the villages of Otavice and Gradac, located on the southern slope of the Svilaja mountain, we link with the blockade of the Setovia hillforts on the edges of the eastern half of Petrovo polje. The chronological stratification of the Roman road network between Burnum and Salona is considered.