Archaeological research of prehistoric settlements and necropolises of the area confirmed the continuity of cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the oldest population in this part of the Drina valley, one of which Illyrian ethnos was created.

Zvornik is a town with a turbulent past and is one of the oldest ones in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It was and still remains a crossroad. Unfortunately, conquerors often came down these roads. The Romans started to conquer Illyricum (which, at that time, controlled the area of today’s municipality) during the reign of king Aragon and queen Teuta in 229 BC and they eventually had taken it over by 6-9 AD. When the Romans established their political, economic and social relations, they had a powerful cultural influence on the existing population.

In Roman times, the territory of Zvornik was on a very important road which connected Roman mines in Srebrenica (Domavia) with an important Roman centre of Sremska Mitrovica (Sirmium), where there was a mint and for a certain time period it was the residence of emperors. The remains of this Roman road along Drina were found north of Bratunac, near Voljevica and north of Zvornik, between Branjevo and Sepak in a three kilometre-long stretch.

Roman traces show that the area around Zvornik was densely populated and that the Roman fortifications were well protected. There are a number of hypotheses on the site of a Roman fortress town “Ad Drinum” but the most widely spread is that this settlement was located at the confluence of the Drinjača River into Drina.