Oescus, Palatiolon or Palatiolum ( bg, Улпия Ескус, ) was an important ancient city on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

river in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

. It later became known as ''Ulpia Oescus''. It lay northwest of the modern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n city of

Pleven Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...

, near the village of

Gigen Gigen ( bg, Гиген, ) is a village in northern Bulgaria, part of Gulyantsi Municipality, Pleven Province. It is located near the Danube River, close to the place where the Iskar River empties into it, opposite the Romanian town of Corabia. ...

. For a short time it was linked by the longest and most famous stone bridge across the Danube, Constantine's Bridge, with the ancient city of

Sucidava Sucidava (Sykibid, Skedevà after Procopius,Olga Karagiorgou Σucidava after Vasile Pârvan, where Σ is pronounced "sh"Pârvan - știri din Dacia Malvensis http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/ParvanArticole/ParvanStiriNouaDinDaciaMalvensis.pdf)) ...

(modern-day

Corabia Corabia () is a small Danube port located in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania, which used to be part of the now-dissolved Romanați County before World War II. Across the Danube from Corabia lies the Bulgarian village of Gigen. History Beneath ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

). The city seems to have at one point reached a area of 280,000 m² and a population of 100,000. Archaeological excavations have brought to light parts of the ancient city and are continuing.

Etymology

The name of the Roman town comes from the river Oescus (today Iskar). It probably meant "water" in the local

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

dialect.

History

The Greek geographer Claudius

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(ca. 90–168 AD) described Ulpia Oescus as a city of the

Triballi The Triballi ( grc, Τριβαλλοί, Triballoí, lat, Triballi) were an ancient people who lived in northern Bulgaria in the region of Roman Oescus up to southeastern Serbia, possibly near the territory of the Morava Valley in the late Iron ...

, an independent ancient tribe which inhabited today’s northwestern Bulgaria. Under Roman rule, Oescus began as an important military base and legionary fortress as part of the

Danubian Limes The Danubian Limes (german: Donaulimes), or Danube Limes, refers to the Roman military frontier or ''limes'' which lies along the River Danube in the present-day German state of Bavaria, in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria a ...

. Together with the adjacent settlement, it developed into a city. It was connected to the rest of the Roman empire by three important roads: # linking the

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a con ...

to the Danube: from

Heraclea Lyncestis Heraclea Lyncestis, also transliterated Herakleia Lynkestis ( grc, Ἡράκλεια Λυγκηστίς; la, Heraclea Lyncestis; mk, Хераклеја Линкестис), was an ancient Greek city in Macedon, ruled later by the Romans. Its ...

to Ceramiae,

Stobi Stobi or Stoboi ( grc, Στόβοι, Stóboi; la, Stobi; mk, Стоби, Stobi), was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and finally turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris. It is located near ...

, Astibos, Tranupara,

Pautalia Pautalia is one of the great ancient cities of Thrace, now located in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. It was a settlement of the Dentheletae, a Thracian tribe, and had been occupied since at least the Iron Age. It is noted for its temple of Asclepius on th ...

, Aelea,

Serdica Serdika or Serdica ( Bulgarian: ) is the historical Roman name of Sofia, now the capital of Bulgaria. Currently, Serdika is the name of a district located in the city. It includes four neighbourhoods: "Fondovi zhilishta"; "Banishora", "Orlandov ...

, Oescus. # from Philippopolis to Oescus: Philippopolis ‐ Viamata (

Voynyagovo Voynyagovo ( bg, Войнягово) is a village in central southern Bulgaria, part of Karlovo Municipality, Plovdiv Province. As of 2008, it has a population of 1,260. The village lies in the Sredna Gora mountains, above sea level. History ...

‐"Gorni Stenici") – Sub Radice (Hristo Danovo) – Montemno (Beklemeto‐"Karcovija Buk") – Ad Radices (Beli Osăm/Kamen Most) –

Sostra Sostra is an ancient Roman fort and settlement near the village of Lomets, Bulgaria. Impressive remains have been excavated and partially restored. Sostra was strategically situated along the major Roman road (the Via Traiana) linking ancient ...

( Lomec) – Melta ( Loveč) – Doriones – Storgosia (

) –

Ad Putea Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

(

Riben The word '' Japan'' is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon () and Nihon (). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji . During the third-century CE Three Kingdoms ...

) – Oescus # along the Danube:

Singidunum Singidunum ( sr, Сингидунум/''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 Celtic tribe Scordisci settled the area in the 3r ...

(

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

) –

Viminacium Viminacium () or ''Viminatium'', was a major city (provincial capital) and military camp of the Roman province of Moesia (today's Serbia), and the capital of ''Moesia Superior'' (hence once a metropolitan archbishopric, now a Latin titular see). ...

(Costolac) –

Ratiaria Ratiaria (or: Raetiaria, Retiaria, Reciaria, Razaria; bg, Рациария; el, Ραζαρία μητρόπολις;) was a city founded by the Moesians, a Daco-Thracian tribe, in the 4th century BC, along the river Danube. In Roman times it w ...

– Oescus –

Novae A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

(Steklen by Svistov) – Durostorum (

Silistra Silistra ( bg, Силистра ; tr, Silistre; ro, Silistra) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Si ...

) – mouth of the Danube River. The Roman Legio V Macedonica (Fifth Macedonian Legion) maintained its permanent military fortress intermittently at this site from 10 to 101 AD. In 62 the legion left to take part in the Nero's Parthian War in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

and was later sent to the east to fight in the conclusion of the war. It also fought in the Jewish-Roman War in 66–67. After a short stay in Alexandria in Egypt, this legion returned to Oescus in 71. During its absence, the camp in Oescus was probably occupied by cohors IV Gallorum equitata. When the Danube defences were strengthened a second legion (

Legio IV Scythica Legio was a Roman military camp south of Tel Megiddo in the Roman province of Galilee. History Following the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136CE), Legio VI Ferrata was stationed at Legio near Caparcotna. The approximate location of the camp of the Leg ...

) was also stationed here until 101 AD. Between 106 and 112

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

granted the city the status of a '' colonia'' and it received a new name, ''Colonia Ulpia Oescensium'' ("Ulpia" after Trajan's middle name, ''Ulpius''). Veterans of the VI Macedonica and the

Legio I Italica Legio I Italica ("First Italian Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded by emperor Nero on September 22, 66 (the date is attested by an inscription). The epithet ''Italica'' is a reference to the Italian origin of its first r ...

Legions may have been settled here as shown by archaeology. The city was built on top of the legionary fortress. In 167, Oescus received the unique additional privilege of being granted all Roman rights. In 190–191, the city dedicated a pagan temple to the goddess

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

, who was designated as protector of the city. There also existed a temple of the

Capitoline Triad The Capitoline Triad was a group of three deities who were worshipped in ancient Roman religion in an elaborate temple on Rome's Capitoline Hill (Latin ''Capitolium''). It comprised Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The triad held a central place in th ...

(

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...

, Juno and

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...

). The city's economy included manufacturing of jewellery, bronze statuettes bronze brooches and other metal objects and vessels, glass, ceramics ('' terra sigillata'', red slip pottery and other), metal and bone articles. It was also home to one of the largest sculpture workshops in the region. After 271, the Legio V Macedonica returned and built a second fortress, called Oescus II. An aqueduct was built to deliver fresh water from springs 20 km away, and a stone wall was constructed to protect the site from invaders and from the Danube floods. On 5 July 328 emperor

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

personally opened and consecrated the Constantines's Bridge, the biggest and most famous stone bridge on the Danube. The crossing linked Oescus with

to the north and, measuring 2.5 km long (1.3 km over the river) by 5.7 m wide, was the largest river bridge in ancient times. However, the span was only used for about 27 years; it was destroyed during a barbarian invasion in 355. In 411, the

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

destroyed Oescus, and in 444 an attempt was made to resettle it as a Hun settlement, named ''Hunion''.

Emperor Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

rebuilt the city's defensive wall, in an attempt to re-establish Oescus as the stronghold of the Danube defense system, but all the efforts were stopped in late 585 and early 586 by the invasion of the Avars.

Middle Ages

A Bulgarian village existed on the site during the 10th–14th centuries.

Archaeology

Oescus is one of the biggest and most continuously studied ancient cities of the Lower Danube. Archaeological excavations began at the site in 1904, carried out by Vaclav Dobruski. Remains of the legionary fortress's defensive wall are still visible and areas to the east-northeast (Pyasutsite and Prez Livada) show signs of the presence of a necropolis from this period, containing

epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

monuments of veterans. The walled city has the shape of an irregular pentagon, with an initial area of 18 hectares; after 271 it was extended easterly with a 10 hectare addition. In 1948, the mosaic known popularly as " The Achaeans" (3rd century AD) was discovered. It is currently on display, along with many other of the site's artifacts, at the

Pleven Regional Historical Museum The Pleven Regional Historical Museum ( bg, Регионален исторически музей — Плевен), founded in 1953, is one of the largest museums in Bulgaria. The museum is situated in a two-story edifice near the centre o ...

. Other artifacts from the site, such as a statue of the goddess

, are on view at the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia. Archaeological surveys of the eastern extension of Oescus II indicate houses from the Principate period, some of which were quite massive and were decorated with mosaics that could be dated to the time of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...

. The ruins indicate the wealth of the city in the Antonine and

Severan The Severan dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235, during the Roman imperial period. The dynasty was founded by the emperor Septimius Severus (), who rose to power after the Year of the Five Empero ...

dynasties. There are a main gate, administrative buildings, a civil

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

, three

public baths Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender, religious affiliation, personal membership, and other cr ...

(''

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

''), wells, a perfectly preserved road, pagan temples, a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

, defensive walls, workshops, and a forum. There also exist ruins of Constantines's Bridge, but they can be seen only from the northern bank of the Danube. Archaeology is continuing at the site. In 2020 the

Aula regia An ''aula regia'' ( lat. for "royal hall"), also referred to as a ''palas hall'', is a name given to the great hall in an imperial or royal palace (German ''Kaiserpfalz''). In the Middle Ages the term was also used as a synonym for the ''Pfalz'' i ...

, or great hall, was found to have been exquisitely and elaborately decorated with 14 types of rare multicloured marble. Dating from the 4th century, its date and quality indicate that it may have been built for Constantine's visit to officially open the bridge in 328.

Honours

Oescus Island Oescus Island ( bg, остров Ескус, ostrov Eskus, ) is the low ice-free island in the Onogur group off the northwest coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica extending 380 m in southeast-northwest direction ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after Oescus.

Gallery

File:Colonia Ulpia Escus 2010 PD 0041.JPG File:Stitched Colonia Ulpia Escus 1.jpg File:Stitched Colonia Ulpia Escus 2.jpg File:Stitched Colonia Ulpia Escus 6.jpg File:Oescus.jpg File:Colonia_Ulpia_Escus_2010_PD_0164.JPG File:Colonia_Ulpia_Escus_2010_PD_0155.JPG File:Colonia_Ulpia_Escus_2010_PD_0124.JPG File:Colonia_Ulpia_Escus_2010_PD_0111.JPG File:Colonia_Ulpia_Escus_2010_PD_0102.JPG

References

Ancient

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents o ...

cca 395–413 * *

Modern

External links

*
3D Laser scanning and rendered movie
{{Authority control Moesia Inferior Dacian towns Roman towns and cities in Bulgaria Former populated places in Bulgaria History of Eastern Romance people Coloniae (Roman)