Illyrian Warfare - Fortifications

Fortifications

Illyrians built hill-forts as places of refuge (and perhaps as dwellings) such as Tilurium and Setovia of the Delmatae. Most enclosures were round or oval with very few exceptions for other shapes and the largest two were 200 meters across while most are not anything more than fortified blockhouses.

The Castellieri were fortified boroughs, usually located on hills or mountains or, more rarely (such as in Friuli), in plains. They were constituted by one or more concentric series of walls, of rounded or elliptical shape in Istria and Venezia Giulia, or quadrangular in Friuli, within which was the inhabited area. Some a hundred of castellieri have been discovered in Istria, Friuli and Venezia Giulia, such as that of Leme, in the central-western Istria, of the Elleri, near Muggia, of Monte Giove near Prosecco (Trieste) and San Polo, not far from Monfalcone. However, the largest castelliere was perhaps that of Nesactium, in the southern Istria, not far from Pula.