Dacia Ripensis

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Dacia Ripensis
Provincia Dacia Ripensis
Δακία Παραποτάμια (
Avar
invasion
586
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Dacia Aureliana
Pannonian Avars

Dacia Ripensis (lit.'

Middle Danube.[1] Its capital was Ratiaria (modern Archar, Bulgaria).[2] It was a district less urban than neighbouring Dacia Mediterranea and more militarized; "military camps and forts, rather than cities, were typical of the province".[3] Besides Ratiaria, Oescus was the major settlement.[3]

Dacia Ripensis was one of the "Two Dacias" established south of the Danube in the late 3rd century.

Moesia Secunda (downstream).[1][3] The northern part of Aurelian's Dacia Aureliana is attested as "Dacia Ripensis" in 343/4.[1] The southern part, with its capital at Serdica (modern Sofia) was known as Dacia Mediterranea.[1]

According to the Laterculus Veronensis, both provinces were part of the Diocese of Moesiae after the empire was divided into dioeceses during the reign of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337), but by the time of the Notitia Dignitatum they were part of the Diocese of Thrace. According to the Notitia, Dacia Ripensis was governed by a praeses, while the governor of Dacia Mediterranea was a more senior consularis. Dacia Ripensis was under the authority of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum.

Dacia Ripensis flourished in the mid-4th century, and some forts on the northern bank of the Danube were recovered by the Romans. In the 5th century Priscus described Ratiaria as large and densely populated. In the 6th century, Hierocles's Late Greek Synecdemus identifies Ratiera as the principal city of the province, calling the province Δακία Παραποτάμια, Dakía Parapotámia, 'Dacia-by-the-river', though Procopius referred to it as Ῥιπησία, Rhipēsía.[4]

In 535, emperor Justinian I (527-565) created the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima as a regional primacy with ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all provinces of the Diocese of Dacia, including the province of Dacia Ripensis.[5]

Excavated ruins of fortifications at Oescus (after restoration)
Felix Romuliana (after anastylosis
)

History

It is unclear whether Aurelian or the Emperor

.

Moesia Superior) and served both as the seat of the military governor (or dux) and as the military base for the Roman legion XIII Gemina.[8]

According to

Famous individuals

  • Aurelian, Roman emperor from 270 to 275, was probably born in Dacia Ripensis,[11] at that time still named Moesia.
  • Roman Emperor Galerius was born in Dacia Ripensis.[12]
  • Arian
    Christian theologian.
  • Constantius Chlorus, Roman emperor from 293 to 306, born in Dacia Ripensis, c. 250.

See also

References

  1. ^ , retrieved 2020-08-25
  2. , retrieved 2020-08-25
  3. ^ , retrieved 2020-08-25
  4. ^ Hierocles, Synecdemus, 655.1. Procopius, De Aedificiis, 4.5.11.
  5. ^ Turlej 2016, p. 47-86.
  6. ISSN 0075-4358
    . The date must be A.D. 283, and it is obvious that Aurelian set up the boundary stones, one of which Gaianus restored. There were, then, two Dacias when Diocletian came to the throne and, therefore, Mr. Fillow has inferred that we should read in our List: Dacia, that is presumably Dacia Ripensis and Dacia Mediterranea. Aurelian's Dacia mediterranea might have included Dardania, and Dardania, Mr. Fillow thinks, was split off as a distinct province by Diocletian
  7. ^ Loring 1890, p. 330.
  8. ^ a b Jones 1988, p. 231: "When founded as a colony by Trajan, Ratiaria was within Moesia Superior: when Aurelian withdrew from the old Dacia north of the Danube and established a new province of the same name on the south (Dacia Ripensis), Ratiaria became the capital. As such it was the seat of the military governor (dux), and the base of the legion XIII Gemina. It flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries, and according to the historian Priscus was μεγίστη καί πολυάνθρωπος ("very great and with numerous inhabitants") when it was captured by the Huns in the early 440s. It appears to have recovered from this sack, but was finally destroyed by the Avars in 586, though the name survives in the modern Arcar."
  9. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1955, p. 389: "What the Romans could not anticipate was that the Huns would take Castra Martis in Dacia Ripensis by treachery."
  10. ^ Hind 1984, p. 191: "The emperor Aurelian formed two provinces of Moesia Superior and Inferior. In fact, Dacia Ripensis was formed out of a stretch of the Danube between Moesia Superior and Inferior, while Dacia Mediterranea was the old inland Balkan region of Dardania."
  11. ^ Eutropius (9.13.1) states that Aurelianus was born in Dacia Ripensis; Historia Augusta (Aurelianus 3.1) supports the birth in Sirmium or Dacia Ripensis, but reports also origins of Moesia (Aurelianus 3.2); Aurelius Victor (Epitome de Caesaribus, 35.1) claims he was born between Dacia and Macedonia.
  12. ^ Mackay 1999, pp. 207–208: "Lactantius and the Epitome de Caesaribus state that the emperor Maximus was of peasant origin. His birthplace is unknown but his mother's brother, the emperor Galerius, was born in Dacia Ripensis, part of the former province of Moesia Superior (Epit. de Caes. 41.14)."

Sources