| Colonia Ulpia Oescensium | |
|---|---|
 Section of legionary fortress wall, Oescus | |
  | |
| Known also as | Oescus |
| Founded during the reign of | Trajan |
| Founded | 102 |
| Abandoned | 586 |
| Place in the Roman world | |
| Province | Mesia superiore |
| Limes | Danube |
| Stationed military units | |
| —Legions — | |
| Legio VMacedonica daAugusto aTraiano | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 43°42′N24°29′E / 43.700°N 24.483°E /43.700; 24.483 |
| Town | Gigen |
| County | Gulyantsi Municipality |
| State | Pleven Province |
| Country | Bulgaria |
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Oescus,Palatiolon[1] orPalatiolum[2] (Bulgarian:Улпия Ескус,pronounced[oɫˈpiɐˈɛskos]) was an important ancient city on theDanube river inRomanMoesia. It later became known asUlpia Oescus. It lay northwest of the modernBulgarian city ofPleven, near the village ofGigen.
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 ofSucidava (modern-dayCorabia,Romania).[3]
The city seems to have at one point reached an area of 280,000 m2[4] and a population of 100,000.[5]
Archaeological excavations have brought to light parts of the ancient city and are continuing.
The name of the Roman town comes from the river Oescus (todayIskar). It probably meant "water" in the localThracian dialect.
The Greek geographer ClaudiusPtolemy (ca. 90–168 AD) described Ulpia Oescus as a city of theTriballi, an independent ancient tribe which inhabited today's northwestern Bulgaria.[5]
Under Roman rule, Oescus began as an important military base and legionary fortress as part of theDanubian Limes.[4] Together with the adjacent settlement, it developed into a city. It was connected to the rest of the Roman empire by three important roads:
The RomanLegio 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 theNero's Parthian War inArmenia 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 bycohors IV Gallorum equitata. When the Danube defences were strengthened a second legion (Legio IV Scythica) was also stationed here until 101 AD.[8]
Between 106 and 112Trajan granted the city the status of acolonia and it received a new name,Colonia Ulpia Oescensium[9] ("Ulpia" after Trajan's middle name,Ulpius).[4] Veterans of the VI Macedonica and theLegio I Italica Legions[7] may have been settled here as shown by archaeology.[4] 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 goddessFortuna, who was designated as protector of the city. There also existed a temple of theCapitoline Triad (Jupiter,Juno andMinerva).[4]
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.[7]
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.[4]
On 5 July 328 emperorConstantine I personally opened and consecrated theConstantines's Bridge,[4] the biggest and most famous stone bridge on the Danube. The crossing linked Oescus withSucidava 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.[5] However, the span was only used for about 27 years; it was destroyed during a barbarian invasion in 355.[5]
In 411, theHuns destroyed Oescus, and in 444 an attempt was made to resettle it as a Hun settlement, namedHunion.Emperor Justinian I 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 theAvars.[5]
A Bulgarian village existed on the site during the 10th–14th centuries.
Oescus is one of the biggest and most continuously studied ancient cities of the Lower Danube.[7] Archaeological excavations began at the site in 1904, carried out byVaclav 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, containingepigraphic monuments of veterans.[4]
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.[7]
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,[7] at thePleven Regional Historical Museum.[4] Other artifacts from the site, such as a statue of the goddessFortuna, are on view at theNational Archaeological Museum in Sofia.[4][7]
Archaeological surveys of the eastern extension of Oescus II indicate houses from thePrincipate period, some of which were quite massive and were decorated with mosaics that could be dated to the time ofSeptimius Severus.[4]
The ruins indicate the wealth of the city in theAntonine andSeveran dynasties.[4] There are a main gate, administrative buildings, a civilbasilica, threepublic baths (thermae), wells, a perfectly preserved road, pagan temples, anecropolis, defensive walls, workshops, and aforum. There also exist ruins of Constantines's Bridge, but they can be seen only from the northern bank of the Danube.[4]
Archaeology is continuing at the site. In 2020 theAula regia, or great hall, was found to have been exquisitely and elaborately decorated with 14 types of rare multicloured marble.[10] 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.
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