Two thousand years ago, a mighty Asseria ruled part of the region called Liburnia, fighting with neighbors over pastures and fields and welcoming emperors. Now, just magnificent walls remain and most of the city is burried under meadows and fields.
Asseria was founded in the pre-historic iron-age period. It was then an important settlement and center of the Liburnians, the Illyrian tribe that inhabited the area before the Romans. Scholars think that name Asseria originates from word in Illyrian that describes the “mast” or high position since it is located on 234 m high hill. It had a very prominent position on the road that connected the colony of Iader (the present day Zadar) with other the municipal centers like Nedinum (Nadin), Varvaria (Bribir) and the military outpost in Burnum (Ivoševci). The boundaries of the territory of Asseria reached as far north as the village of Bruška and east to Dobropoljci. The borders were established to control the pastures for livestock. Some border stones from the time of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Nero and Vespasianus, which marked the borderlines, have been found and preserved.
