Home > Moesia

In 75 BC, C. Scribonius Curio , proconsul of Macedonia, penetrated as far as the Danube, and gained a victory over the inhabitants, who were finally subdued by M. Licinius Crassus, grandson of the triumvir and also proconsul of Macedonia, during the reign of Augustus c. 29 BC. The country, however, was not organized as a province until the last years of the reign; in AD 6 mention is made of its governor, Caecina Severus (Dio Cassius lv. 29).

Originally one province, under an imperial consular legate (who probably also had control of Achaea and Macedonia), it was divided by Domitian into Upper (superior) and Lower (inferior, also called Ripa Thracia) Moesia, the western and eastern portions respectively, divided from each other by the river Cebrus (Ciabrus; mod. Cibritza or Zibru). Some, however, place the boundary further west. Each was governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator. As a frontier province, Moesia was strengthened by stations and fortresses erected along the southern bank of the Danube, and a wall was built from Axiopolis to Tomi as a protection against the Scythians and SarmatiansSarmatians Sarmatae or Sauromatae (the second form is mostly used by the earlier Greek writers, the other by the later Greeks and the Romans) were a people whom Herodotus (4. 21-117) in the 5th century BC put on the eastern boundary of Scythia beyond the.

After the abandonment of DaciaAlternate meanings: see Dacia (disambiguation Dacia in ancient geography the land of the Daci or Getae, was a large district of Central Europe, bounded on the north by the Carpathians, on the south by the Danube, on the west by the Tisa ( Tisza river, in to the GothsThis article is about the Germanic tribes. For the late 20th century youth subculture see Goth. The Goths were a Germanic tribe which according to their own traditions originated in southern Sweden (cf. Gotaland and Gotland). They migrated southwards and by AurelianLucius Domitius Aurelianus ( 214 275), known in English as Aurelian Roman Emperor ( 270 275), was the second of several highly successful "soldier-emperors" who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the b ( 270Events Quintillus briefly holds power over the Roman Empire, and is succeeded by Aurelian Vandals and Sarmatians driven out of Roman territory Romans leave Utrecht after regular invasions of Germanic people. Births Nicholas of Myra, Roman priest and later— 275Events Eutychian elected pope (probable date) September 25 Marcus Claudius Tacitus appointed emperor by the senate Births Eusebius of Caesarea (approximate date) Saint George, soldier of the Roman Empire and later Christian martyr (or 280, approximate dat) and the transference of that province's inhabitants to the south of the Danube, the central portion of Moesia took the name of Dacia Aureliani (again divided into Dacia ripensis and interior). The district called Dardania (in Upper Moesia), inhabited by the Illyrian Dardani, was formed into a special province by Diocletian with capital Naissus or Nissa (modern Niš), the birthplace of Constantine the Great. The Goth], who had already invaded Moesia in 250, hard pressed by the Huns, again crossed the Danube during the reign of Valens ( 376), and with his permission settled in Moesia.

But quarrels soon took place, and the Goths under Fritigern defeated Valens in a great battle near Adrianople. These Goths are known as Moeso-Goths, for whom Ulfilas made the Gothic translation of the Bible. In the 7th century, Slavs and Bulgars entered the country and founded Serbia and Bulgaria.

The chief towns of Upper Moesia were: Singidunum ( Belgrade), Viminacium (sometimes called municipium Aelium; Kostolac ), Bononia (Widdin, Vidin), Ratiaria (Arcar): of Lower Moesia; Oescus (colonia Ulpia, Gigen), Novae (near Sistova, the chief seat of Theodoric the Great), Nicopolis ad Istrum (Nikup), really on the Iatrus or Yantra, Odessus ( Varna), Tomi ( Constanta), to which the poet Ovid was banished. The last two were Greek towns, which, with Istros, Mesambria and Apollonia, formed a pentapolis.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica