Serbia in the Roman era


Much of the territory of the modern state of Serbia was part of the Roman Empire and later the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. In particular, the region of Central Serbia was under Roman rule for about 600 years, from the 1st century BC until the arrival of the Slavs into the Balkans during the 6th century. The territories were administratively divided into the provinces of Moesia, Pannonia and Dardania. Moesia Superior roughly corresponds to modern Serbia proper; Pannonia Inferior included the eastern part of Serbia proper; Dardania included the western part of Serbia proper.
The Danube River influenced the extension of the Roman Empire; its confluents, such as Sava and Morava, affected the growth of frontier fortresses and towns. Many authors and explorers wrote about traces of the Roman Empire on the Danube coast. One of the localities, Felix Romuliana, was ranked on the list of cultural heritage of UNESCO in July 2007.
The location has been invaded by many peoples over the centuries. The northern Serbian city of Sirmium was among the top 4 cities of the late Roman Empire, serving as its capital during the Tetrarchy.
Contemporary Serbia comprises the classical regions of Moesia, Pannonia, parts of Dalmatia, Dacia and Macedonia.

History

Roman conquest

The Roman Republic conquered the region of Illyria in 168 BC in the aftermath of the Illyrian Wars. "Illyria" was a designation of a roughly defined region of the western Balkans as seen from a Roman perspective, just as Magna Germania is a rough geographic term not delineated by any linguistic or ethnic unity.
The later province of Illyricum was to the west of what is now Serbia.
The Romans conquered parts of Serbia in 167 BC and established the province of Illyricum. What is now central Serbia was conquered in 75 BC when the province of Moesia was established. Srem is conquered by 9 BC and Backa and Banat in 106 AD after the Dacian wars.
The city of Sirmium was among the top four cities of the late Roman Empire, serving as its capital during the Tetrarchy. Contemporary Serbia comprises the classical regions of Moesia, Pannonia, parts of Dalmatia, Dacia and Macedonia.
The chief towns of Upper Moesia in the Principate were: Naissus, Viminacium, Singidunum, Remesiana
Many Roman noblemen and statesmen were born in present-day Serbia, including 17 or 18 Roman Emperors.
EmperorAncient Roman
birthplace		Present-day
settlement in Serbia		ruleddied
1. Trajan Deciusc.201, Budalia
Pannonia Inferior		MartinciSeptember 249-June 251June 251, Abrittus
2. Herennius Etruscusc.227, near Sirmium
Pannonia		Sremska MitrovicaMay-June 251June 251, Abrittus
3. Hostilianc.235, Sirmium
Illyricum		Sremska MitrovicaJuly-November 251November 251, Rome
4. Claudius II Gothicus10 May 210, Sirmium
Panonia Inferior		Sremska MitrovicaSeptember 268-January 270January 270, Sirmium
5. Aurelian9 September 214, Sirmium
Dacia Ripensis		Sremska MitrovicaSeptember 270-October 275October 275, Caenophrurium
6. Marcus Aurelius Probus19 August 232, Sirmium
Pannonia Inferior		Sremska Mitrovica276-October 282October 282, Sirmium
7. Maximianc.250, Sirmium
Pannonia Inferior		Sremska Mitrovica2 April 286-1 May 305; 306-11 November 308; 310July 310, Massilia
8. Constantius I Chlorus31 March 250, Naissus
Moesia Superior		Niš305-25 July 30625 July 306, Eboracum
9. Galeriusc.250, Felix Romuliana
Dacia Ripensis		Gamzigrad1 May 305-May 311May 311, Felix Romuliana
10. Valerius SeverusNaissus
Moesia Superior		Niš306-April 30716 September 307, Tres Tabernae
11. Licinius Ic.263, Felix Romuliana
Moesia Superior		Gamzigrad11 November 308-18 September 324325, Thessalonica
12. Constantine I the Great27 February 272, Naissus
Moesia Superior		Niš309-22 May 33722 May 337, Nicomedia
13. Maximinus II20 November 270, Felix Romuliana
Dacia Ripensis		Gamzigrad310-May 313August 313, Tarsos
14. Constantius II7 August 317, Sirmium
Pannonia Inferior		Sremska Mitrovica337-3 November 3613 November 361, Mopsuestia, Cilicia
15. VetranioMoesiaCentral Serbia ?1 March-25 December 350c356, Prusa ad Olympum
16. Jovian331, Singidunum
Moesia		Belgrade27 June 363-17 February 36417 February 364, Dadastana, near Nicaea
17. Gratian18 April 359, Sirmium
Pannonia Inferior		Sremska Mitrovica24 August 367-25 August 38325 August 383, Lugdunum
18. Constantius IIINaissus
Moesia Superior		Niš8 February-2 September 4212 September 421, Ravenna

Byzantine period

The Byzantine era of Serbia refers to a period of the Early Middle Ages with the Eastern Roman Empire being in several wars in the territory of Serbia. Justiniana Prima is a Cultural Heritage of Serbia-listed archeological site of the city founded by Emperor Justinian I. During the Byzantine period, the territory of Serbia was included into two themata: the Theme of Servia and the Theme of Sirmium.

Arrival of the Slavs

The Byzantines broadly grouped the numerous Slav tribes into two groups: the Sklavenoi and Antes. Apparently, the Sklavenoi group were based along the middle Danube, whereas the Antes were at the lower Danube, in Scythia Minor. Some, such as Bulgarian scholar Zlatarsky, suggest that the first group settled the western Balkans, whilst offshoots of the Antes settled the eastern regions. From the Danube, they commenced raiding the Byzantine Empire from the 520s, on an annual basis. They spread about destruction, taking loot and herds of cattle, seizing prisoners and taking fortresses. Often, the Byzantine Empire was stretched defending its rich Asian provinces from Arabs, Persians and Turks. This meant that even numerically small, disorganised early Slavic raids were capable of causing much disruption, but could not capture the larger, fortified cities on the Aegean coast.
The Slavs invaded Balkans during Justinian I rule, when eventually up to 100,000 Slavs raided Thessalonica. The Western Balkans was settled with Sclaveni, the east with Antes.
The Sklavenoi plundered Thrace in 545.
In 551, the Slavs crossed Niš initially headed for Thessalonica, but ended up in Dalmatia. During the 6th and 7th century, Slavic tribes made eight attempts to take Niš and in the final attack in 615 the Slavs took the city.
Menander Protector mentions a King of the Sklavenoi, Daurentius that slayed an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he however declined and is reported as saying: "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs so it shall always be for us".
In 577 some 100,000 Slavs poured into Thrace and Illyricum, pillaging cities and settling down.
By the 580s, as the Slav communities on the Danube became larger and more organised, and as the Avars exerted their influence, raids became larger and resulted in permanent settlement. In 586 AD, as many as 100,000 Slav warriors raided Thessaloniki. By 581, many Slavic tribes had settled the land around Thessaloniki, though never taking the city itself, creating a Macedonian Sclavinia. As John of Ephesus tells us in 581: "the accursed people of the Slavs set out and plundered all of Greece, the regions surrounding Thessalonica, and Thrace, taking many towns and castles, laying waste, burning, pillaging, and seizing the whole country." However, John exaggerated the intensity of the Slavic incursions since he was influenced by his confinement in Constantinople from 571 up until 579. Moreover, he perceived the Slavs as God's instrument for punishing the persecutors of the Monophysites. By 586, they managed to raid the western Peloponnese, Attica, Epirus, leaving only the east part of Peloponnese, which was mountainous and inaccessible. The final attempt to restore the northern border was from 591-605, when the end of conflicts with Persia allowed Emperor Maurice to transfer units to the north. However he was deposed after a military revolt in 602, and the Danubian frontier collapsed one and a half decades later.
Archaeological evidence in Serbia and Macedonia conclude that the White Serbs may have reached the Balkans earlier than thought, between 550-600, as much findings; fibulae and pottery found at Roman forts point at Serb characteristics and thus could have been either part of the Byzantine foedorati or a fraction of the early invading Slavs who upon organizing in their refuge of the Dinarides, formed the ethnogenesis of Serbs and were pardoned by the Byzantine Empire after acknowledging their suzerainty.

Administrative units

Moesia

In ancient geographical sources, Moesia was bounded to the south by the Balkans and Šar mountain mountains, to the west by the Drina river, on the north by the Danube and on the east by the Euxine. The region was inhabited chiefly by Thracian, Dacian and Illyrian peoples.
The region took its name from the Moesi, a Thraco-Dacian tribe that lived there before the Roman conquest 75 BC-c. 29 BC and formally became a Roman province of that name some years later.
Cities and towns, in Moesia Superior :
The cities and towns in Pannonia, located in modern Serbia, were: