Balkans and Thrace in the Ancient Roman Era

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BALKANS IN THE ROMAN ERA

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The Balkans, which corresponds partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with a number geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria and into other countries. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The Balkan countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. All or part of each of these countries located within the Balkan peninsula. Parts of Greece and Turkey are also located within the Balkan geographic region. [Source Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica]

Starting in the 2nd century B.C., the Romans began annexing parts of the Balkan area, and ultimately transformed it into one of the Empire's most prosperous and stable regions. To this day, the Roman legacy is represented by numerous monuments and artifacts scattered throughout the region, and the existence of Latin-based languages spoken by almost 25 million people.

Beginning in the A.D. 3rd century, Rome's frontiers in the Balkans were weakened because of internal political and economic disorders. During this time, the Balkans, especially Illyricum, grew in importance, becoming one of the Empire's four prefectures, and producing many warriors and administrators as well as some emperors. region. Many rulers built their residences in the region.

Though the situation had stabilized temporarily by the time of Constantine, waves of non-Roman peoples, most prominently the Thervings, Greuthungs and Huns, began moving into the Balkans. Turning on their hosts after decades of servitude and simmering hostility, Thervingi under Fritigern and later Visigoths under Alaric I eventually conquered the entire Balkan region before moving westward to invade Italy itself.

By the end of the Empire the region had become a conduit for invaders to move westward, as well as the scene of treaties and complex political maneuvers by Romans, Goths and Huns, all seeking the best advantage for their peoples amid the shifting and disorderly final decades of Roman imperial power.

Romans in the Balkans

In the third century B.C., Rome conquered the west Adriatic coast and began exerting influence on the opposite shore. Greek allegations that the Illyrians were disrupting commerce and plundering coastal towns helped precipitate a Roman punitive strike in 229 B.C., and in subsequent campaigns Rome forced Illyrian rulers to pay tribute. Roman armies often crossed Illyria during the Roman-Macedonian wars, and in 168 B.C. Rome conquered the Illyrians and destroyed the Macedonia of Philip and Alexander. For many years, the Dinaric Alps sheltered resistance forces, but Roman dominance increased. In 35 B.C., the emperor Octavian conquered the coastal region and seized inland Celtic and Illyrian strongholds; in A.D. 9, Tiberius consolidated Roman control of the western Balkan Peninsula; and by A.D. 14, Rome had subjugated the Celts in what is now Serbia. The Romans brought order to the region, and their inventive genius produced lasting monuments. But Rome's most significant legacy to the region was the separation of the empire's Byzantine and Roman spheres (the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, respectively), which created a cultural chasm that would divide East from West, Eastern Orthodox from Roman Catholic, and Serb from Croat and Slovene. [Source: Glenn E. Curtis, Library of Congress, December 1990 *]

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Over the next 500 years, Latin culture permeated the region. The Romans divided their western Balkan territories into separate provinces. New roads linked fortresses, mines, and trading towns. The Romans introduced viticulture in Dalmatia, instituted slavery, and dug new mines. Agriculture thrived in the Danube Basin, and towns throughout the country blossomed into urban areas with forums, temples, water systems, coliseums, and public baths. In addition to gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon, Roman legionnaires brought the mystic cult of Mithras from Persia. The Roman army also recruited natives of the conquered regions, and five sons of Illyrian peasants rose through the ranks to become emperor. The Illyrian, Celtic, and Thracian languages all eventually died out, but the centuries of Roman domination failed to create cultural uniformity. *

Internal strife and an economic crisis rocked the empire in the third century A.D. , and two ethnic Illyrian emperors, born in areas now in Yugoslavia, took decisive steps to prolong the empire's life. Emperor Diocletian, born in Dalmatia, established strong central control and a bureaucracy, abolished the last Roman republican institutions, and persecuted Christians in an attempt to make them identify more with the state than the church. Emperor Constantine, born near Nis, reunited the empire after years of turmoil, established dynastic succession, founded a new capital at Byzantium in A.D. 330, and legalized Christianity. *

In A.D. 395, the sons of Emperor Theodosius split the empire into eastern and western halves. The division, which became a permanent feature of the European cultural landscape, separated Greek Constantinople (as Byzantium was renamed in A.D. 330) from Latin Rome and eventually the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. It likewise separated the lands in what is now Yugoslavia, exercising a critical influence on the Serbs and Croats. Economic and administrative breakdown soon softened the empire's defenses, especially in the western half, and barbarian tribes began to attack. In the fourth century, the Goths sacked Roman fortresses along the Danube River, and in A.D. 448 the Huns ravaged Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica northwest of presentday Belgrade), Singidunum (now Belgrade), and Emona (now Ljubljana). The Ostrogoths had conquered Dalmatia and other provinces by 493. Emperor Justinian drove the invaders out in the sixth century, but the defenses of the empire proved inadequate to maintain this gain. *

Thrace and Illyricum

Thrace is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Sea to the east, it comprises present-day southeastern Bulgaria (Northern Thrace), northeastern Greece (Western Thrace), and the European part of Turkey (East Thrace), roughly the Roman Province of Thrace. Lands also inhabited by ancient Thracians extended in the north to modern-day Northern Bulgaria and Romania and to the west into Macedonia. At the beginning of the second century A.D., the emperor Trajan founded Plotinopolis ("Plotina's city") in honor of his wife, Plotina. It soon became an important Roman city in Thrace.

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Illyricum was a Roman province that existed from 27 B.C. to sometime during the reign of Vespasian (A.D. 69–79). It comprised Illyria/Dalmatia in the south and Pannonia in the north. Illyria included the area along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland mountains, eventually being named Dalmatia. Pannonia included the northern plains that now are a part of Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. The area roughly corresponded to part or all of the territories of today's Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia. [Source: Wikipedia]

The Romans fought three Illyrian wars between 229 BC and 168 BC. The First Illyrian War (229–228 BC) broke out due to concerns about attacks on the ships of Rome's Italian confederates in the Adriatic Sea by Illyrian pirates and the increased power of the Ardiaei (an Illyrian tribe in today's Montenegro and northern Albania).

The province of Illyricum was eventually dissolved and replaced by two smaller provinces: Dalmatia (the southern area) and Pannonia (the northern and Danubian area). It is unclear when this happened. An inscription on the base of a statue of Nero erected between 54 and 68 AD attests that it was erected by the veteran of a legion stationed in Pannonia and argues that this is the first epigraphic evidence that a separate Pannonia existed at least since the reign of Nero. There is an inscription that lists a governor of Illyricum under the reign of Claudius (A.D. 43–51).

Thracians

The Thracians were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history, mainly in modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, N. Macedonia and northern Greece, but also in north-western Anatolia (Asia Minor) in Turkey. The exact origin of the Thracians is uncertain, but it is believed that they like other Indo-European speaking groups in Europe descended from a mixture of Proto-Indo-Europeans and Early European Farmers. Around the 5th millennium B.C., the people of eastern region of the Balkans became organized in different groups that were later named "Thracians" by the ancient Greeks. Historical and archaeological records indicate that the Thracian culture flourished in the 3rd and 2nd millennium B.C.. Writing in the 6th century BC, Xenophanes described them as "blue-eyed and red-haired". The Getae and Dacians were other major regional groups of tribes that lived around the same time. [Source Wikipedia]

According to Greek and Roman historians, the Thracians were uncivilized and remained largely disunited, until the establishment of their first permanent state the Odrysian kingdom in the 5th century B.C.. The Thracian kingdom faced subjugation by the Persian Achaemenid Empire around the same time. After the Persians were defeated by the Greeks in the Persian Wars, the Thracians experienced a short period of peace. In the late 4th century BC the Odrysian kingdom lost independence to Macedon, becoming incorporated into the empire, but it regained independence following Alexander the Great's death.

The Thracians faced conquest by the Romans and internal strife in the mid 2nd century B.C. . They composed major parts of rebellions against the Romans along with the Macedonians until the Third Macedonian War. Beginning in 73 BC, Spartacus, a Thracian warrior from the Maedi tribe who was enslaved as a gladiator by the Romans, led a revolt that posed a significant challenge to Roman authority.

Thracians Under the Romans

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A Thracian kingdom still existed under the Roman Empire until the first century A.D., when Thrace was incorporated into the empire, and Serditsa was established as a trading center on the site of the modern Bulgarian capital, Sofia. In the fourth century, the region became part of the Byzantine Empire, and Christianity was introduced. Both Latin and Greek cultures pervaded the region in the centuries that followed. [Source Library of Congress]

Occupied by the Romans, it remained a kingdom within the Roman Empire until the emperor Vespasian incorporated it as a district in the first century A.D. Roman domination brought orderly administration and the establishment of Serditsa (on the site of modern Sofia) as a major trading center in the Balkans. In the fourth century A.D., when the Roman Empire split between Rome and Constantinople, Thrace became part of the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire. Christianity was introduced to the region at this time. Both the Latin culture of Rome and the Greek culture of Constantinople remained strong influences on ensuing civilizations.

Thracians were described as "warlike" and "barbarians" by the Greeks and Romans since they were neither Romans nor Greeks, who both employed Thracians as mercenaries and regarded them as first-rate fighters. While the Thracians were perceived as unsophisticated by the Romans and Greeks, their culture was reportedly noted for its sophisticated poetry and music. Thracians followed a polytheistic religion with monotheistic elements. One of their customs was tattooing, common among both men and women. The Thracians culturally interacted with the peoples surrounding them – Greeks, Persians, Scythians and Celts Their language is now extinct. The last reported use of a Thracian language was by monks in the 6th century AD.

Dacians

The Dacians were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often considered a subgroup of the Thracians and lived in the present-day countries of Romania and Moldova, as well as parts of Ukraine, Eastern Serbia, Northern Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and Southern Poland. The Dacians and the related Getae spoke the Dacian language, which was related to the Thracian language and may be a subgroup of it. Dacians were somewhat culturally influenced by the neighbouring Scythians and by the Celtic invaders of the 4th century B.C.. [Source Wikipedia]

Like the proto-Thracians, proto-Dacians are believed to have developed from a mixture of indigenous peoples and Indo-Europeans from the time of Proto-Indo-European expansion in the Early Bronze Age (3,300–3,000 B.C.) when the latter, around 1500 BC, conquered the indigenous peoples. Indo-Europeanization was complete by the beginning of the Bronze Age.

The Dacians mainly lived north of the Danube in an area that extended from Bohemia in the west and the Dnieper cataracts in the east, and up to the Pripyat, Vistula, and Oder rivers in the north and northwest. In 53 BC, Julius Caesar stated that the Dacian territory was on the eastern border of the Hercynian forest. According to Strabo's Geographica, written around AD 20, the Getes (Geto-Dacians) bordered the Suevi who lived in the Hercynian Forest, which is somewhere in the vicinity of the river Duria. According to Strabo, Moesians also lived on both sides of the Danube.

Andrew Curry wrote in National Geographic: “The Dacians had no written language, so what we know about their culture is filtered through Roman sources. Ample evidence suggests that they were a regional power for centuries, raiding and exacting tribute from their neighbors. They were skilled metalworkers, mining and smelting iron and panning for gold to create magnificently ornamented jewelry and weaponry. Dacians fashioned precious metals into jewelry, coins, and art, such as the 17-centimeter-high gold-trimmed silver drinking vessels and 12-centimeter-in-diameter bracelets weighing up to a kilogram. [Source: Andrew Curry, National Geographic, April 2015 |*|]

Sarmizegetusa, the Dacians Political and Spiritual Capital

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Andrew Curry wrote in National Geographic: ““Sarmizegetusa was their political and spiritual capital. The ruined city lies high in the mountains of central Romania. In Trajan’s day the thousand-mile journey from Rome would have taken a month at least. To get to the site today, visitors have to negotiate a potholed dirt road through the same forbidding valley that Trajan faced. Back then the passes were guarded by elaborate ridgetop fortifications; now only a few peasant huts keep watch. || [Source: Andrew Curry, National Geographic, April 2015 ||]

Sarmizegetusa—a terrace carved out of the mountainside—was the religious heart of the Dacian world. Traces of buildings remain, a mix of original stones and concrete reproductions, the legacy of an aborted communist-era attempt to reconstruct the site. A triple ring of stone pillars outlines a once impressive temple that distantly echoes the round Dacian buildings on Trajan’s Column. Next to it is a low, circular stone altar carved with a sunburst pattern, the sacred center of the Dacian universe.

Gelu Florea, an archaeologist from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, has spent summers excavating the site. The exposed ruins, along with artifacts recovered from looters, reveal a thriving hub of manufacturing and religious ritual. Florea and his team have found evidence of Roman military know-how and Greek architectural and artistic influences. Using aerial imaging, archaeologists have identified more than 260 man-made terraces, which stretch for nearly three miles along the valley. The entire settlement covered more than 700 acres. “It’s amazing to see how cosmopolitan they were up in the mountains,” says Florea. “It’s the biggest, most representative, most complex settlement in Dacia.”

“There is no sign that the Dacians grew food up here. There are no cultivated fields. Instead archaeologists have found the remains of dense clusters of workshops and houses, along with furnaces for refining iron ore, tons of iron hunks ready for working, and dozens of anvils. It seems the city was a center of metal production, supplying other Dacians with weapons and tools in exchange for gold and grain. |*|

“Not far from the altar rises a small spring that could have provided water for religious rituals. Flecks of natural mica make the dirt paths sparkle in the sun. It’s hard to imagine the ceremonies that took place here—and the terrible end. Florea conjures the smoke and screams, looting and slaughter, suicides and panic depicted on Trajan’s Column. |*|

Romanians, Dacians and Romans

Romanians regard themselves as direct descendants of Romans and see themselves as "a Latin island in a Slavic sea." Romania, as the name implies, was once Roman a colony. Known as Dacia in ancient times and formerly run by the Dacian king, Decebalus, it was conquered by Emperor Trajan in A.D 105 and remained a part of the empire for two centuries (A.D. 106-271).

Romanians descend from the Dacians, an ancient people who fell under Rome's dominance in the first century A.D., intermarried with Roman colonists, and adopted elements of Roman culture, including a Vulgar Latin that evolved into today's Romanian. Barbarian tribes forced the Romans out of Dacia in 271. In the eleventh century the Magyars, the ancestors of today's Hungarians, settled the mountainous heart of ancient Dacia, Transylvania. Hungarian historians claim that Transylvania was almost uninhabited when the Magyars arrived; Romanians, however, assert that their ancestors remained in Transylvania after Rome's exodus and that Romanians constitute the region's aboriginal inhabitants. This disagreement was the germ of a conflict that poisoned relations between Romanians and Hungarians throughout the twentieth century. [Source Library of Congress *]

By about 300 B.C., the Lower Danube Getae had forged a state under the leadership of Basileus Dromichaites, who repulsed an attack by Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great's successors. Thereafter, native Getian leaders protected the coastal urban centers, which had developed from Greek colonies. From 112 to 109 B.C. the Getae joined the Celts to invade Roman possessions in the western Balkans. Then in 72 B.C., the Romans launched a retaliatory strike across the Danube but withdrew because, one account reports, the soldiers were 4 'frightened by the darkness of the forests." During the third and second centuries B.C., the Getae began mining local iron-ore deposits and iron metallurgy spread throughout the region. The ensuing development of iron plowshares and other implements led to expanded crop cultivation. *

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As decades passed, Rome exercised stronger influence on the Getae. Roman merchants arrived to exchange goods, and the Getae began counterfeiting Roman coins. In the middle of the first century B.C., the Romans allied with the Getae to defend Moesia, an imperial province roughly corresponding to present-day northern Bulgaria, against the Sarmatians, a group of nomadic Central Asian tribes. Roman engineers and architects helped the Getae construct fortresses until the Romans discovered that the Getae were preparing to turn against them. Burebista, a Getian king who amassed formidable military power, routed the Celts, forced them westward into Pannonia, and led large armies to raid Roman lands south of the Danube, including Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyria. Burebista offered the Roman general, Pompey, support in his struggle against Julius Caesar. Caesar apparendy planned to invade Getian territory before his assassination in 44 B.C.; in the same year Getian conspirators murdered Burebista and divided up his kingdom. For a time Getian power waned, and Emperor Octavius expelled the Getae from the lands south of the Danube. The Getae continued, however, to interfere in Roman affairs, and the Romans in turn periodically launched punitive campaigns against them. *

By 87 A.D. Decebalus had established a new Getian state, constructed a system of fortresses, and outfitted an army. When Trajan became Roman emperor in 98 A.D., he was determined to stamp out the Getian menace and take over the Getae's gold and silver mines. The Romans laid down a road along the Danube and bridged the river near today's Drobeta-Turnu Severin. In 101 A.D. Trajan launched his first campaign and forced Decebalus to sue for peace. Within a few years, however, Decebalus broke the treaty, and in 105 A.D. Trajan began a second campaign. This time, the Roman legions penetrated to the heart of Transylvania and stormed the Getian capital, Sarmizegetusa (present-day Gradi§tea Muncelului); Decebalus and his officers committed suicide by drinking hemlock before the Romans could capture them. Rome memorialized the victory by raising Trajan's Column, whose bas-reliefs show scenes of the triumph. *

Trajan’s Conquests in Eastern Europe

Since the death of Augustus there had been made no important additions to the Roman territory, except Britain. But under Trajan the Romans became once more a conquering people. The new emperor carried his conquests across the Danube and acquired the province of Dacia. He then extended his arms into Asia, and brought into subjection Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, as the result of a short war with the Parthians. Under Trajan the boundaries of the empire reached their greatest extent. \~\

Trajan extended the Roman Empire into present-day Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria in A.D. 106 by defeatingGermanic tribes in two Dacian wars (101-102 and 105-106). To achieve victory Trajan built a bridge across the Danube, a startling achievement for its time. The bridge and battles from the Dacian campaign are immortalized in 200 meters of scenes that spiral around the 100-foot-high Trajan column. The campaign ended when the Dacian king, Decebalus, was overthrown.

After the conquest of Dacia, the region north of the Danube became a Roman province. Rome shifted the majority of its defenses from the Rhine to the Danube, which became heavily fortified to protect Roman territory from hostile Gothic and Germanic tribes in the north.Trajan's bridge was torn down by Hadrian who felt that it might facilitate a Barbarian conquest of Rome. Roman monuments can be found all over Bulgaria and Romania. The Romanian language evolved from the Roman's Latin tongue. The Romans also conquered and divided what is now Hungary it between the imperial provinces of Pannonia and Dacia.

Trajan's armies extended the Roman Empire to the Persian Gulf by capturing Armenia in A.D. 114 and defeating several Middle eastern kingdoms, including the arch rivals of the Romans, the Parthians. Trajan died in 117 without yet receiving the news of these conquests. Qasr Bashir was a Roman fort on the eastern fringes of Roman Empire in present-day Jordan. Covering three quarters of an acre, it embraced stone walls and three-story-high towers and was situated on a low hill surrounded by rocks and sand.

Trajan’s Conquest of the Dacians

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Andrew Curry wrote in National Geographic: “Trajan’s war on the Dacians, a civilization in what is now Romania, was the defining event of his 19-year rule. In back-to-back wars fought between A.D. 101 and 106, the emperor Trajan mustered tens of thousands of Roman troops, crossed the Danube River on two of the longest bridges the ancient world had ever seen, defeated a mighty barbarian empire on its mountainous home turf twice, then systematically wiped it from the face of Europe. [Source: Andrew Curry, National Geographic, April 2015 |*|]

“From their powerful realm north of the Danube River, the Dacians regularly raided the Roman Empire. Among Roman politicians, “Dacian” was synonymous with double-dealing. The historian Tacitus called them “a people which never can be trusted.” They were known for squeezing the equivalent of protection money out of the Roman Empire while sending warriors to raid its frontier towns. In A.D. 101 Trajan moved to punish the troublesome Dacians.” He “fortified the border and invaded with tens of thousands of troops. After nearly two years of battle Decebalus, the Dacian king, negotiated a treaty with Trajan, then promptly broke it. Trajan returned in 105 and crushed them. |*|

“Rome had been betrayed one time too many. During the second invasion Trajan didn’t mess around.” On Trajan’s Column, “Just look at the scenes that show the looting of Sarmizegetusa or villages in flames. “The campaigns were dreadful and violent,” says Roberto Meneghini, the Italian archaeologist in charge of excavating Trajan’s Forum. “Look at the Romans fighting with cutoff heads in their mouths. War is war. The Roman legions were known to be quite violent and fierce.” |*|

“In the first major battle Trajan defeated the Dacians at Tapae. A storm indicated to the Romans that the god Jupiter, with his thunderbolts, was on their side. The destruction of Dacia’s holiest temples and altars followed Sarmizegetusa’s fall. “Everything was dismantled by the Romans,” Florea says. “There wasn’t a building remaining in the entire fortress. It was a show of power—we have the means, we have the power, we are the bosses.” The rest of Dacia was devastated too. Near the top of the column is a glimpse of the denouement: a village put to the torch, Dacians fleeing, a province empty of all but cows and goats. |*|

“The two wars must have killed tens of thousands. A contemporary claimed that Trajan took 500,000 prisoners, bringing some 10,000 to Rome to fight in the gladiatorial games that were staged for 123 days in celebration. Dacia’s proud ruler Decebalus, when his capital and all his territory had been occupied and he was himself in danger of being captured, committed suicide, sparing himself the humiliation of surrender. His end is carved on his archrival’s column. Kneeling under an oak tree, he raises a long, curved knife to his own neck. Decebalus’s head was brought to Rome.” the Roman historian Cassius Dio wrote a century later. “In this way Dacia became subject to the Romans.”

See Separate Article: TRAJAN 'S CONQUEST OF THE DACIANS AND TRAJAN'S COLUMN europe.factsanddetails.com

Dacia Under the Romans

From the newly conquered land, Trajan organized the Roman province of Dacia, whose capital, Ulpia Trajana, stood on the site of Sarmizegetusa. Many Getae resisted Roman authority and some fled northward, away from the centers of Roman rule. Trajan countered local insurrection and foreign threat by stationing two legions and a number of auxiliary troops in Dacia and by colonizing the province with legionnaires, peasants, merchants, artisans, and officials from lands as far off as Gaul, Spain, and Syria. Agriculture and commerce flourished, and the Romans built cities, fortresses, and roads that stretched eastward into Scythia. [Source Library of Congress *]

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In the next 200 years, a Dacian ethnic group arose as Roman colonists commingled with the Getae and the coastal Greeks. Literacy spread, and Getae who enlisted in the Roman army learned Latin. Gradually a Vulgar Latin tongue superseded the Thracian language in commerce and administration and became the foundation of modern Romanian. A religious fusion also occurred. Even before the Roman invasion, some Getae worshiped Mithras, the ancient Persian god of light popular in the Roman legions. As Roman colonization progressed, worshipers faithful to Jupiter, Diana, Venus, and other gods and goddesses of the Roman pantheon multiplied. The Dacians, however, retained the Getian custom of cremation, though now, amid the ashes they sometimes left a coin for Charon, the mythological ferryman of the dead. *

During the two centuries of Roman rule, Getian insurgents, Goths, and Sarmatians harassed Dacia, and by the middle of the third century A.D. major migrations of barbarian tribes had begun. In 271 A.D. Emperor Aurelian concluded that Dacia was overexposed to invasion and ordered his army and colonists to withdraw across the Danube. Virtually all the soldiers, imperial officials, and merchants departed; scholars, however, presume that many peasants remained. Those Dacians who departed spread over the Balkans as far as the Peloponnese, where their descendants, the Kutzovlachs, still live. *

Singidunum

Singidunum was an ancient city which later evolved into modern Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The name is of Celtic origin, going back to the time when the Celtic tribe Scordisci settled the area in the 3rd century B.C., following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans. Later, when the Roman Republic conquered the area in 75 B.C., it was incorporated it into the Roman province of Moesia, a frontier region south of the Danube River. [Source Wikipedia

According to the city government of Belgrade, Singidunum became one of the main settlements of the Roman province of Moesia. It was an important fort of the Danubian Limes and Roman Legio IV Flavia Felix was garrisoned there since A.D. 86. Soldiers from at least two Roman legions were garrisoned there to protect it and the nearby lands from "barbarian" invasions by Dacians, Dardanians, Scordisci and other hostile tribes. Singidunum was the birthplace of the Roman Emperor Jovian.

According to Live Science: The emperor Hadrian, who ruled from A.D. 117 to 138, granted Singidunum city status and made its inhabitants Roman citizens, and the emperor Jovian, who ruled from 363 to 364, was born there in 331. Singidunum then became a center for Roman Christianity in the region, and for a time it was part of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire). But it fell in 441 to an invasion of the Huns, who burned it to the ground and enslaved its inhabitants. It was sacked again by Avars and Slavs in 584. At the beginning of the 7th century, the Singidunum fort was finally destroyed.

Roman-Era Tombs and Aqueduct Found in Serbia

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In July 2023, archaeologists announced they had unearthed several Roman tombs and the remains of an aqueduct in the center of Belgrade. Tom Metcalfe wrote in Live Science: The finds date to the period when the city was a settlement, known as Singidunum, within the Roman Empire. "So far, we have discovered 14 Roman tombs from the third and fourth centuries," Milorad Ignjatović, an archaeologist at the Belgrade City Museum, told the Serbian website Sve o arheologiji ("All about archaeology"). [Source: Tom Metcalfe, Live Science, July 3, 2023]

The site has different styles of Roman tombs. "Two of the tombs have rectangular bases with arched vaults walled with bricks, while two others are made from bricks stacked in the form of a coffin," he said in comments translated from Serbian. "We have also discovered four stone sarcophagi, which were considered the most luxurious way to be buried in Roman times."

The Roman-era tombs are built with different styles. The earliest tombs were pagan; some of the later tombs may have been Christian. The remains of two people were also found in simple graves without grave goods, signifying they were probably Christians buried late in the Roman era.

The Roman-era tombs were looted for their treasures in later periods. But some valuables still remain, such as a broken gold necklace. Artifacts from the Roman-era tombs, such as this pin or brooch made from glass, will now go on display at the Belgrade City Museum. The team also unearthed about 60 meters (200 feet) of lead pipe from the aqueduct. Ignjatović thinks it was built during the second century as an extension of an earlier aqueduct that had supplied water to a Roman fort nearby.

Roman Military Headquarters Found in a Serbian Cornfield

Archaeologists are excavating the well-preserved remains of a Roman legion's headquarters buried under a Serbian cornfield close to a coalmine in Kostolac, Serbia. Covering an estimated 3,500 square meters, the headquarters — or principium — belonged to the VII Claudia Legion. “There are over 100 recorded principiums across the territory of the Roman empire, but almost all are buried under modern cities, said Miomir Korac, lead archaeologist of digs there and at the Roman provincial capital Viminacium that the compound served. “A very small number of principiums are explored completely (and) ... so we can say (preservation of) this one is unique as it is undisturbed." [Source: Reuters, November 26, 2020]

Reuters reported: “The compound, which lies east of Belgrade and around one meter (3 ft) under the surface, had 40 rooms with heated walls, a treasury, a shrine, parade grounds and a fountain. Inside one room, archaeologists found 120 silver coins that "must have been lost during an emergency" such as an invasion or a natural disaster, said the principium's lead archaeologist Nemanja Mrdjic. “The distribution of coins from a corner to the door, ... suggests they (coins) spilled while someone was fleeing."

“The VII Claudia Legion was active between 2nd and 5th centuries AD, and its walled camp and principium were separated from the rest of Viminacium, which had its own fortifications.Excavations of Viminacium have been ongoing since 1882, and finds there include a Roman ship, golden tiles, jade sculptures, mosaics and frescos, along with 14,000 tombs and the remains of three mammoths. Archaeologists estimate that they have only uncovered 4% of the site, which they say its bigger than New York’s Central Park.

Roman-Era Wine Shop Found in Greece

In January 2024, archaeologists announced that they had discovered a 1,600-year-old wine shop that was destroyed and abandoned after a "sudden event," — possibly an earthquake or building collapse — in Greece. Owen Jarus wrote in Live Science: The shop operated at a time when the Roman Empire controlled the region. It was found in the ancient city of Sikyon (also spelled Sicyon), which is located on the northern coast of the Peloponnese in southern Greece. Within the wine shop, archaeologists found the scattered coins, as well as the remains of marble tabletops and vessels made of bronze, glass and ceramic. [Source: Owen Jarus, Live Science, January 24, 2024]

The wine shop was found on the northern end of a complex that had a series of workshops containing kilns and installations used to press grapes or olives, archaeologists noted in a paper they presented at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, which was held January 2024 in Chicago. "Unfortunately, we don't have any direct evidence of the types of wine that may have been sold. We have some evidence of grape pips (Vitis vinifera), but we aren't able to say anything more specific than that right now," said Scott Gallimore, an associate professor of archaeology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, who co-wrote the paper with Martin Wells, an associate professor of classics at Austin College.

In addition to wine, other items, such as olive oil, may have been sold in the shop. Most of the coins date to the reign of Constantius II, from 337 to 361, with the latest coin being minted sometime between 355 and 361, Gallimore told Live Science.

The wine shop appears to have suffered a "sudden event" that resulted in its destruction and abandonment, Gallimore said. The 60 bronze coins found in the floor are from the shop's final moments. "The coins were all found on the floor of the [shop], scattered across the space," Gallimore said. "This seems to indicate that they were being kept together as some type of group, whether in a ceramic vessel or some type of bag. When the [shop] was destroyed, that container appears to have fallen to the floor and scattered the coins.

Roman Cargo Ship Full of Wine Found off Albania's Coast

In August 2011, a U.S.-Albanian archaeological mission reported that it had found the well-preserved wreck of a Roman cargo ship off Albania's coast, with some 300 wine jars. Associated Press reported: The 30-meter long (yard) wreck dates to the 1st century B.C. and its cargo is believed to have been the produce of southern Albanian vineyards en route to western European markets, including France. [Source: Llazar Semini, Associated Press, August 22, 2011]

A statement from the Key West, Florida-based RPM Nautical Foundation said the find was made 50 meters deep near the port city of Vlora, 140 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of the capital, Tirana. The foundation, in cooperation with Albanian archaeologists, has been surveying a swath of Albania's previously unexplored coastal waters for the past five years. So far, experts have located 20 shipwrecks — including several relatively modern ones. "Taking into consideration the date and also the depth — which is well suited for excavation — I would include it among the top 10 most scientifically interesting wrecks found in the Mediterranean," said Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi, who participated in the project.

Officials said most of the jars, known by their Greek name of amphoras and used to transport wine and oil, were unbroken despite the shipwreck. However, the stoppers used to seal them had gone, allowing their contents to leak out into the saltwater. Mission leader George Robb said the ship could have been part of a flourishing trade in local wine. "Ancient Illyria, which includes present day Albania, was a major source of supply for the western Mediterranean, including present day France and Spain,' Robb said.

Pretorian Prefect of Illyricum

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Under the control of the illustrious pretorian prefect of Illyricum are the dioceses mentioned below: of Macedonia; of Dacia.
The provinces of Macedonia are six: Achaia; Macedonia; Crete; Thessaly; ancient Epirus; new Epirus; and a part of Macedonia salutaris.
The provinces of Dacia are five: Mediterranean Dacia; ripuarian Dacia; Moesia prima; Dardania; Praevalitana; and part of Macedonia salutaris.
[Source: Notitia Dignitatum (Register of Dignitaries), William Fairley, in Translations and Reprints from Original Sources of European History, Vol. VI:4 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press), 1899].

The staff of the illustrious pretorian prefect of Illyricum: A chief of staff,
A chief deputy,
A chief assistant,
A custodian,
A keeper of the records,
Four receivers of taxes; one of these for gold; another for services.
An assistant,
A curator of correspondence,
A registrar,
Secretaries,
Aids,
Notaries.
The pretorian prefect of Illyricum. himself issues [post-warrants].

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.

Last updated October 2024

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