Moesia (;

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

and later

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

situated in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, R ...

as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballia'. It included most of the territory of modern eastern

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

, north-eastern

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, northern parts of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

(Moesia Superior), Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobruja and small parts of Southern Ukraine (Moesia Inferior).

Geography

In ancient geographical sources, Moesia was bounded to the south by the Haemus (

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

) and Scardus (Šar) mountains, to the west by the Drinus (Drina) river, on the north by the Donaris (Danube) and on the east by the

Euxine The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

(Black Sea).

History

The region of Moesia was inhabited chiefly by

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

, Illyrian, and Thraco-Illyrian peoples. The name of the region comes from Moesi, the Latin name of a Thracian tribe who lived there before the Roman conquest. Parts of Moesia belonged to the

polity A polity is a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of political Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any group of people org ...

of Burebista, a

Getae The Getae or Getai ( or , also Getans) were a large nation who inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania, throughout much of Classical Antiquity. The main source of informa ...

(Dacian) king who established his rule over a large part of the northern Balkans between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led raids for plunder and conquest across Central and Southeastern Europe, subjugating most of the neighbouring tribes. After his assassination in a palace intrigue, the empire was divided into several smaller states. In 74 BC, C. Scribonius Curio,

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

of Macedonia, took an army as far as the Danube and chased the Geto-Dacians to the border of their remote country. The expansion of the Dacians on the middle and lower reaches of the Danube worried the Romans and destruction of Dacian power became one of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's key political objectives, who made plans to launch an offensive from Macedonia in about 44 BC. Once

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

had established himself as sole ruler of the Roman state in 30 BC after the naval Battle of Actium in 31 BC, he took up Caesar's project and aimed to advance the empire's south-eastern European border from Macedonia to the line of the Danube. The main objective was to increase strategic depth between the border and Italy and also to provide a major river supply route between the Roman armies in the region. The lower Danube was given priority over the upper Danube and required the annexation of Moesia. It was therefore necessary to conquer the tribes who dwelt south of the Danube namely (from west to east) the Triballi, Moesi, Getae and the Bastarnae who had recently subjugated the Triballi, and with their capital at Oescus. Augustus also wanted to avenge the defeat of Gaius Antonius Hybrida at Histria 32 years before and to recover the lost military standards held in the powerful fortress of Genucla.Dio LI.26.5

Marcus Licinius Crassus Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115–53 BC) was a ancient Rome, Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome".Wallechinsky, Da ...

, grandson of Crassus the triumvir was appointed for the task. He was an experienced general at 33 years of age, and proconsul of Macedonia from 29 BC. After a successful campaign against the Moesi, he drove the Bastarnae back toward the Danube and finally defeated them in pitched battle, killing their King Deldo in single combat. Augustus formally proclaimed this victory in 27 BC in Rome but blocked Cassius' entitlement to the Spolia opima and use of the term ''imperator'' apparently in favour of his own prestige. Moesia was split off as a separate military command some time before 10 BC. As a result of the Dacians constant looting that occurred whenever the Danube froze, Augustus decided to send against them some of his proven generals such as

Sextus Aelius Catus Sextius Aelius Catus was a Roman senator and consul ''ordinarius'' for 4 AD with Gaius Sentius Saturninus as his colleague. Catus was the father of Aelia Paetina, the second wife of the emperor Claudius from 28 AD to about 31 AD (when Aelia's ad ...

and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Augur (sometime between 1-11 AD). Lentulus pushed them back across the Danube and placed numerous garrisons on the right bank of the river to defend against possible and future incursions. These became the Moesian Limes frontier defensive system that was developed further later.

Roman Province

The region, however, was not organised as a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

until the last years of

' reign; in 6 AD, mention is made of its governor, Caecina Severus. As a province, Moesia was under an imperial consular legate (who probably also had control of

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

and Macedonia). In 15 AD complaints about the corruption of the governors of Macedonia and Achaia led

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

to put these provinces under the control of the governor of Moesia. In 86 AD the Dacian king Duras attacked Moesia after which the Roman emperor Domitian personally arrived in Moesia and reorganised it in 87 into two provinces, divided by the river Cebrus (Ciabrus): to the west ''Moesia Superior'' (meaning upriver) and to the east ''Moesia Inferior'' or ''Ripa Thracia'' (from the Danube river's mouth and then upstream). Each was governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator. From Moesia Domitian began planning future campaigns into

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

and Domitian's Dacian War started by ordering General Cornelius Fuscus to attack who, in the summer of 87, led five or six legions across the Danube. The war ended without a decisive outcome and

Decebalus Decebalus (; ), sometimes referred to as Diurpaneus, was the last Dacians, Dacian king. He is famous for fighting three wars, with varying success, against the Roman Empire under two emperors. After raiding south across the Danube, he defeated a R ...

, the Dacian King, later brazenly flouted the terms of the peace (89 AD) which had been agreed on.

Dacian Wars

Trajan's Dacian Wars (101–102 AD, 105–106 AD) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and

during

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on Moesia and also by the increasing need for resources of the economy of the Empire. Starting with AD 85, Dacia was unified under King Decebalus. Following an incursion into Moesia, which resulted in the death of its governor, Gaius Oppius Sabinus, a series of conflicts between the Romans and Dacians ensued. Although the Romans gained a major strategic victory at Tapae in AD 88, Emperor Domitian offered the Dacians favourable terms, in exchange for which Roman suzerainty was recognised. However, Emperor Trajan restarted the conflicts in 101-102 and then again in 105–106, which ended with the

annexation Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...

of most of Dacia and its reorganisation as a Roman Province.

Gothic raids

The first incursion in Moesia that can be attributed to Goths is by the

Costoboci The Costoboci (; , or Κιστοβῶκοι) were a Dacian tribe located, during the Roman imperial era, between the Carpathian Mountains and the river Dniester river, Dniester. During the Marcomannic Wars the Costoboci invaded the Roman Empire i ...

in 170 in the

Marcomannic Wars The Marcomannic Wars () were a series of wars lasting from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against principally the Germanic peoples, Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts ...

when they destroyed Tropaeum Traiani. In 238 the Carpi sacked Histria and Tropaeum Traiani. Afterwards Moesia was frequently invaded or raided by the Dacian Carpi, and the East Germanic tribes of the

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

. In the

Gothic War (248–253) The Gothic War of 248–253 took place between the years 248 and 249, as well as in the year 253. Within this war, a series of battles occurred and Looting, plundering was carried out by the Goths and their allies in the eastern territory of the ...

, the Gothic king Cniva captured the city of Philippopolis and then inflicted a devastating defeat upon the Romans at the Battle of Abrittus, in which the Roman Emperor

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius ( 201June 251), known as Trajan Decius or simply Decius (), was Roman emperor from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops a ...

was killed, one of the most disastrous defeats in the history of the Roman army.Heather, Peter (2010). Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe. Oxford University Press. pp=109–20

Retreat from Dacia

After the abandonment of

Roman Dacia Roman Dacia ( ; also known as ; or Dacia Felix, ) was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today all in Romania, except the last regi ...

to the

Aurelian Aurelian (; ; 9 September ) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 270 to 275 AD during the Crisis of the Third Century. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disinte ...

(270–275) and the transfer of the Roman citizens from the former province to the south of the Danube, the central portion of Moesia took the name of '' Dacia Aureliana'' (later divided into '' Dacia Ripensis'' and '' Dacia Mediterranea''). During administrative reforms of Emperor Diocletian (284–305), both of the Moesian provinces were reorganised. Moesia Superior was divided in two, northern part forming the province of Moesia Prima including cities Viminacium and Singidunum, while the southern part was organised as the new province of Dardania with cities Scupi and Ulpiana. At the same time, Moesia Inferior was divided into Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor. Balkans 6th century

As a frontier province, Moesia was strengthened by stations and

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

s erected along the southern bank of the Danube, and a wall was built from Axiopolis to Tomis as a protection against the Scythians and

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

. The garrison of Moesia Secunda included Legio I Italica and

Legio XI Claudia Legio XI Claudia ("Claudius' Eleventh Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The legion was levied by Julius Caesar for his campaign against the Nervii. XI ''Claudia'' dates back to the two legions (the other was the XIIth) recruit ...

, as well as auxiliary infantry units, cavalry units, and river flotillas. Hard-pressed by the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...

, the Goths again crossed the Danube during the reign of

Valens Valens (; ; 328 – 9 August 378) was Roman emperor from 364 to 378. Following a largely unremarkable military career, he was named co-emperor by his elder brother Valentinian I, who gave him the Byzantine Empire, eastern half of the Roman Em ...

(376) and with his permission settled in Moesia. After they settled, 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 The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

Late Empire

The

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

allied with the Avars invaded and destroyed much of Moesia in 583–587 in the Avar–Byzantine wars. Moesia was settled by Slavs during the 7th century. Bulgars, arriving from Old Great Bulgaria, conquered Lower Moesia by the end of the 7th century. During the 8th century the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

lost also Upper Moesian territory to the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...

.. The region would return to Byzantine control under Basil II in 1018 and would last until the formation of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185.

References

External links

Inscriptions of Moesia Superior

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

Cities in the Provinces Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior

Timacum Maius
{{authority control Ancient history of the Balkans Provinces of the Roman Empire Romanization of Southeastern Europe Historical regions in Bulgaria Historical regions in Romania Historical regions in Serbia Ancient Bulgaria Ancient history of Romania Ancient history of Serbia Ancient history of Ukraine Roman Balkans . . Šar Mountains Former countries in the Balkans