Nicopolis ad Istrum () or Nicopolis ad Iatrum was a

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and Early

Byzantine 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 the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

town. Its ruins are located at the village of Nikyup, 20 km north of

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo (, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. It is the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria. Often referred to as the "''City of the Tsars''", Velik ...

in northern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. The town reached its zenith during the reigns of

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

, the Antonines and the

Severan dynasty The Severan dynasty, sometimes called the Septimian dynasty, ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235. It was founded by the emperor Septimius Severus () and Julia Domna, his wife, when Septimius emerged victorious from civil war of 193 - 197, ...

. Archaeological excavations are continuing to reveal more of the city. The site was placed on the Tentative List for consideration as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

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in 1984.

History

The site was at the junction of the Iatrus (

Yantra Yantra (; 'machine'/'contraption') is a geometrical diagram, mainly from the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions. Yantras are used for the worship of deities in temples or at home; as an aid in meditation; and for the benefits believe ...

) and the Rositsa rivers, where the Roman army under Emperor

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 ...

had been amassed in readiness for the attack in the winter of 101–2 to the

Roxolani The Roxolani or Rhoxolāni ( , ; ) were a Sarmatian people documented between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD, first east of the Borysthenes (Dnieper) on the coast of Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), and later near the borders of Roman Daci ...

tribe from north of the Danube and who were allied to the

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. This area include ...

. The city was founded by Trajan around 102–106, as indicated on Trajan’s Column, in memory of his victory in the Dacian Wars over the

and also later victories in 105. It was named ''Ulpia Nicopolis'' in his honour using his family name, or '' nomen''. However the name ''Nicopolis ad Haemum'' was used in Ptolemy's Geographia dating from before 130. Trajan clearly intended it to become a magnificent city which is gradually being verified. The monumental character of the city however dates mainly to

and

Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...

(138–161) and inscriptions found are no earlier than 136 when the name ''Ulpia Nicopolis ad Istrum'' was in use. The new agora included a monumental ionic stoa and a sumptuous hall of unknown function. The city was ransacked 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 170-171, a tribe from today’s Western Ukraine, shortly after which the city walls were built. Many buildings were excluded from the walled area from this time. The city prospered again in the 2nd and 3rd centuries under the

(193–235). In 198 CE,

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 cursus honorum, the ...

and Caracalla sent a letter to the city, thanking its leaders and inhabitants for their festival celebrating the emperors' victory over the

Parthians Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemen ...

and for sending a substantial monetary gift. This gesture may have been aimed at gaining favor and securing additional privileges, such as the status of '' neokoros''. However from about 212 the honorary title ''Ulpia'' was no longer used in public inscriptions which is believed to be a result of

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...

's displeasure with the city after his visit there in 211–212. Caracalla closed the mint and it lost its status of '' civitas stipendaria'' as well as its economic prosperity. After his death the city organised games for the new emperor and as a result it seems that the city regained its civic status, though not its full name, and re-opened the mint, issuing coins bearing images of its public buildings. In 250 near the city, 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 ...

defeated 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 ...

under Cniva at the Battle of Nicopolis ad Istrum. Nicopolis grew further as a major urban centre under Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

's (284–305) reforms. Nevertheless at least the north wing of the agora was damaged during the 3rd century. Under Constantine from 306 the damaged northern agora buildings were replaced by two built with '' opus mixtum'' masonry, divided into three aisles by rows of large pillars, which may well have been horrea (warehouses), given that other nearby cities (e.g. Tropaeum and Zaldapa) also received horrea rather than basilicas in the same period. These horrea probably formed part of the large supply network for the Danube army helped by building a large number of horrea in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. In 447, the town was destroyed by Attila's

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 ...

. Perhaps it was already abandoned before the early 5th century.Curta (2001), pg. 158. In about the middle of 5th century after the Huns' invasion, new high and strong walls were built adjoining the southern wall of the old city. It seems that by then the old walls were in poor condition and repairing them was not viable. Moreover, their considerable length of 1.8 km required more defenders than were available. The new city had an area of 1/4 of the original city enclosing little more than military buildings and churches, following a very common trend for the cities of that century in the Danube area. The larger area of the extensive ruins (21.55 hectares) of the classical Nicopolis was not reoccupied. The south wall of the old city was reconstructed as the north wall of the new one. Its towers were built upon destroyed and abandoned buildings, and ornamented stone blocks from their facades were used in the new structures. The towers were about 15m in front of the 10m high wall. The outside of the wall was rendered with mortar with incised grooves imitating massive stone blocks. The old south gate later also underwent a major reconstruction to compensate for higher surrounding terrain as the gate was situated in a hollow. The town became an episcopal centre during the early Byzantine period. The names of two of the early bishops of the city are known: Marcellus (in 451) and Amantius (in 518). The city was destroyed by the Avars and

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 ...

in the late 7th c. during the

Avar–Byzantine wars The Avar–Byzantine wars were a series of conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the Avar Khaganate. The conflicts were initiated in 568, after the Avars arrived in Pannonia, and claimed all the former land of the Gepids and Lombards as the ...

. A small Bulgarian settlement later arose upon its ruins (9th–14th century). Nicopolis ad Istrum can be said to have been the birthplace of Germanic literary tradition. In the 4th century, the Gothic bishop, missionary and translator

Ulfilas Ulfilas (; – 383), known also as Wulfila(s) or Urphilas, was a 4th-century Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent. He was the apostle to the Gothic people. Ulfila served as a bishop and missionary, participated in the Arian controv ...

(Wulfila) obtained permission from Emperor

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

to immigrate with his flock of converts to Moesia and settle near Nicopolis ad Istrum in 347–348. There, he devised the

Gothic alphabet The Gothic alphabet is an alphabet for writing the Gothic language. It was developed in the 4th century AD by Ulfilas (or Wulfila), a Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent, for the purpose of translating the Bible. The alphabet e ...

and oversaw the 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 ...

from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

to Gothic, which was performed by a group of scholars.

Archaeology

The classical town was planned according to the orthogonal system. The network of streets, the forum surrounded by an Ionic colonnade and many buildings, a two-nave room later turned into a basilica and other public buildings have been uncovered. The rich architectures and sculptures show a similarity with those of the ancient towns in Asia Minor. The

agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...

contained a statue of Trajan on horseback as well as other marble statues and an Ionic colonnade. The city also had a three-nave

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

, a

bouleuterion Bouleuterion (, ''bouleutērion''), also translated as and was a building in ancient Greece which housed the council of citizens (, ''boulē'') of a democratic city state. These representatives assembled at the bouleuterion to confer and de ...

, a temple of

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

, a small odeon, thermae (public baths) as well as a unique Roman building inscribed with ''termoperiatos'', a heated building with shops and enclosed space for walks and business meetings. Some town houses and buildings have also been excavated. A unique public building, a ''thermoperipatos'', has been identified only in Nicopolis ad Istrum so far, out of all cities in Roman Empire. It occupied a whole '' insula'' and was built under

Commodus Commodus (; ; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end o ...

in 184-5 on the ruins of an earlier building. It was probably used for trading and included shops. It was ruined in the 4th c. and another building later built over it. The city was supplied by three aqueducts and had several water wells, many of which have been unearthed in archaeological excavations. The western aqueduct of 25 km length had a bridge of almost 3 km long and almost 20m tall carrying water over the entire valley of the Rositsa River. Its 2nd century water catchment reservoir is located near the town of Musina in Pavlikeni municipality, to the west of the Roman city, where it still collects water from the karst springs inside the Musina Cave. A large of this aqueduct stands to the west of the city. In 2015 remains of a huge building were revealed which was probably the residence of the agoranomus or

curule aedile Aedile ( , , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public orde ...

, a public officer in charge of trade and market operations in Ancient Greek and Roman cities. The obelisk of Quintus Julius, an aristocrat from Nicopolis, still stands to a height of 14m in the countryside near Lesicheri, about 12 km west of the city. Many finds are on display in the

Regional Museum of History. In 2018, archaeologists found an

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

dedicated to the goddess

Tyche Tyche (; Ancient Greek: Τύχη ''Túkhē'', 'Luck', , ; Roman mythology, Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity who governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. In Classical Greek mythology, she is the dau ...

at a small square in the southwestern corner of the Forum complex, with an inscription in Ancient Greek which is a modified epigram by

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

Gallery

Image:Nicopolis ad Istrum - central part.jpg, Overview of the ruins of Nicopolis ad Istrum Image:Nicopolis ad Istrum - pediment.jpg, A pediment with a relief image Image:Nicopolis ad Istrum - street.jpg, A Roman street, one of the city's main streets running north–south Image:Nicopolis ad Istrum - pipe.jpg, The main city drain File:Nicopolis ad Istrum by Klearchos - Image 2.jpg

Notes

References

*Burns, Thomas, S. ''Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375-425 A.D.'', Indiana University Press, 1994. * *Liebeschuetz, J.H.W.G. ''The Decline and Fall of the Roman City'', Oxford University Press, 2001.
The ancient town of Nicopolis ad Istrum at UNESCO.ORG

External links