Ptuj (Slovene:[ˈptùːj]ⓘ;German:Pettau,pronounced[ˈpɛtaʊ̯]ⓘ;Latin:Poetovium/Poetovio) is theeighth-largest town ofSlovenia, located in the traditional region ofStyria (northeasternSlovenia). It is the seat of theMunicipality of Ptuj. Being the oldest recorded city in Slovenia, it has been inhabited since the late Stone Age and developed from a Roman military fort, located at a strategically important crossing of theDrava River along a prehistoric trade route between theBaltic Sea and theAdriatic.[1]
Ptuj is the oldest recorded town in Slovenia. There is evidence that the area was settled in theStone Age. In the LateIron Age it was settled byCelts.[3]
By the 1st century BC, the settlement was controlled byAncient Rome as part of thePannonian province. In 69 AD,Vespasian was electedRoman Emperor by the Danubian legions in Ptuj, and the first written mention of the city of Ptuj is from the same year.Poetovium was the base-camp ofLegio XIIIGemina where it had its legionary fortress orcastrum. The name originated in the times of EmperorTrajan, who granted the settlement city status and named itColonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovio in 103. The patristic writer Victorinus was Bishop of Poetovio before his martyrdom in 303 or 304. The CaesarConstantius Gallus was divested of his imperial robe and arrested in Poetovio before his subsequent execution in Pola (354) (Amm.Marc. Hist. XIV) Thebattle of Poetovio in 388 sawTheodosius I's victory over the usurper, Maximus.
The city had 40,000 inhabitants until it was plundered by theHuns in 450.[3]
In 570 the city was occupied byEurasian Avars andSlavic tribes.[3] Ptuj became part of theFrankish Empire[3] after the fall of the Avar state at the end of 8th century. Between 840 and 874 it belonged to the SlavicBalaton Principality ofPribina andKocelj. Between 874 and 890 Ptuj gradually came under the influence of theArchbishopric of Salzburg which had both spiritual and temporal rule over the town;[3]city rights passed in 1376 began an economic upswing for the settlement.
After the re-establishment of the Habsburg rule in 1490, followingMatthias Corvinus's conquests, the Archbishop of Salzburg was stripped of the remaining temporal authority over the town and the surrounding areas; Ptuj (known in German as Pettau) was officially incorporated into theDuchy of Styria in 1555.[3]
Pettau was a battleground during theOttoman wars in Europe and suffered from fires in 1684, 1705, 1710, and 1744.[3] Its population and importance began to decline in the 19th century, however, after the completion of theVienna-Trieste route of theAustrian Southern Railway, as the line went throughMarburg (Maribor) instead.
According to the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, 86% of the population of Pettau's Old Town wasGerman-speaking, while the population of the surrounding villages predominantly spokeSlovenian.[4] After the collapse ofAustria-Hungary at the end ofWorld War I, Pettau was included in the short-livedRepublic of German Austria.
After theinvasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Ptuj was occupied byNazi Germany. From 1941 to 1944 the town's Slovenian population was dispossessed and deported. Their homes were taken over by German speakers fromSouth Tyrol andGottschee County, who had themselves been evicted according to an agreement betweenAdolf Hitler andBenito Mussolini. These German immigrants, along with the native GermanPettauer, wereexpelled toAustria in 1945; many later settled inNorth America.
Since 1945, Ptuj has been populated almost completely bySlovenes.
Ptuj is the center place of a ten-day-longcarnival in the spring, an ancientSlavic pagan rite of spring and fertility, calledKurentovanje or Korantovanje. Kurent is believed to be the name of an ancient god ofhedonism - the Slavic counterpart of the Greek godPriapos, although there are no written records.
Kurent or Korant is a figure dressed in sheep skin who goes about the town wearing a mask, a long red tongue, cowbells, and multi-colored ribbons on its head. The Kurent(s) from Ptuj and the adjoining villages also wear feathers, while those from theHaloze andLancova Vas wear horns. Organized in groups, Kurents go through town, from house to house, making noise with their bells and wooden sticks, to symbolically scare off evil spirits and the winter.
Ptuj Town HallTown Tower and TheatrePtuj City Cinema (opened on 3 March 1897) is the oldest still active commercial movie theater in the world.[5][6][7]
Theparish church in the settlement is dedicated toSaint George and belongs to theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor. It is a three-navedGothic building from the 13th and early 14th century, but the structure incorporates parts of a much earlier structure, dating to the mid-9th century.[8]
^Known as:Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (1944–1945); Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1963); Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963–1992)
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