he eastern coast of the Adriatic was once dominated by the Liburnians – a preRoman nation that, in ancient written sources, was best known for its seafaring and excellent shipbuilding. The Liburnians built their settlements along the coastal area called Liburnia which stretched from the river Raša in Istria to Krka in Dalmatia. Given its geographical location, well-indented coast and calmer sea, it has been attractive to many people wanting to rule it throughout history, which was first attempted by the Greeks. The first significant changes in the Liburnian area were made by the later arrival of the Romans. From the very beginning of Romanization, Liburnia enjoyed a special treatment and due to which its pacification had a different course in contrast than the territories of the neighboring nations. During the Roman rule, Iader was the only Liburnian settlement that was coping well with the newly arrived Romans, for which he attained the status of a Roman colony (Colonia Iader) and went trough a complete cultural, social, economic and religious transformation. The economic importance of the town was contributed by wealthy Roman settlers and wealthy freedmen who lived and died there. The paper provides an analysis and overview of the burial rites and funerary customs that were performed before and after the arrival of Roman citizens in Iader. Funeral activities have clearly been changing over time and have not been applied equally to all citizens. Therefore, the paper describes funeral rituals and funerals (which took place for individual social strata) in detail, as well as information on funeral establishments in Rome. Data on funeral rituals from Liburnia are absent from ancient sources, which evidently indicates that the rituals in Liburnia were the same as those in Rome. Although the necropolis in Zadar represents the largest systematically researched investigated necropolis in Croatia, it can be evident that during its research large number of grave items that could be related to the mentioned funeral rituals were not found. This fact is not surprising taking into consideration that the most funeral rituals belong to an intangible culture that we ourselves have inherited.