Singidunum

Singidunum was founded with by the people Celte of the Scordisques. It was conquered and strengthened by the Romans. It is today the town of Belgrade in Serbia.

Etymology

One does not know really the true significance. Certain specialists propose this etymology: Gallic singi (Falcon and dunon (Dun (fortress)), Singidunum results literally in the fortress of the falcon. Others see there the thrace tribe of the Sings which occupied the site before the arrival of the Scordisques.

Origin and localization

Singidunum, capital of the Celtic people of the Scordisques becomes a Roman colony in Mésie higher under the Flaviens. Its strategic situation with the confluence of the Save and the the Danube in fact a garrison town of the Danubian Files on the great Roman way which passes by the valleys of the Save, of the the Danube and the Morava, and which links the Occident and the East by the terrestrial way.

When at the 5th century the Romans lose the control of this axis, Singidunum is the target of the attacks of the cruel people which settle in Pannonia.

History of the city

Fast chronology

Capital of the pleuple of the Scordisques
in 91 - the legion IV '' Flavia Felix '' settles in Singidunum.
In 441, Attila destroys Singidunum and takes along its inhabitants in captivity.
After 453 and the death of Attila, the Sarmates occupy the city
towards 470, Ostrogoths drive out Sarmates
in 488, Gépides seize Singidunum
in 504, Ostrogoths take again Singidunum
in 510, a peace treaty restores Singidium to the Byzantine Empire
In 535, Justinien Ier makes rebuild Singidunum
In the middle of the 6th century, the Gépides extend as a Messiah and take Singidunum, making flee the romanized populations.
In 584, the Avars ransack Singidunum
in 592, the Byzantines carried out by Maurice Ier take again Singidunum
Towards 630, Singidunum is taken by the Slaves, and ceases for several centuries belonging to the Byzantine Empire.

878 is the date of the oldest known writing which names the city Beograd (Belgrade)

Prehistory

The area with the confluences of the Save and the Danube was occupied since the Paléolithique means: the anthropologists exhumed there skeletons of Néandertalien and Homo sapiens .
Concerning the Neolithic , Fouille S in the district of Vinča (with Belgrade) gave their name to a culture which developed along the Danube between 6000 and 3000 av. J.C: culture of Vinča.

Protohistoire

Of VIIe in front IVe J.C, tribes cimmériennes, then Scythes cross this area of Balkans but do not fix themselves at it.

AT the 3rd century, the Scordisques, celto-thrace people, are installed on the top with the confluences of the two rivers. It is mentioned city for the first time in 279 av. J.C.

Roman era

The Romains start to conquer the area of Singidunum during Ier front century J.C. In 75 av. J.C, Gaius " Quintus" Scribonus Curio, proconsul de Macédoine invades the Balkans until the the Danube, trying to drive out Scordisques, Dardaniens (people yllirien and thrace of Dardanelles) and the Daces. The Romans gain are victorious in this countryside, but they briefly settle, leaving the areas not controlled by Rome. Thus, one knows few things about these Roman incursions and at which time was creates the province of Moesia. It is not before the reign of Octave, when Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives (small son of famous triumvir Marcus Lucinius Crassus Dives with César and Pompée), proconsul of Macedonia, stabilized the area with a campaign started in 29 av J.C in Moesia that the réfion was finally organized in Roman Province around 6 a. J.C. First mention is made by it by the gouvenor Caecinius Severus. Singidun is then romaniée in Singidunum. The city becomes one of the first Roman cities in Mésie, located between Sirmium (current town of Sremska Mitrovica) and Viminacium (current town of Kostolac) and on opposite bank of Save compared to Taurunum (current Zemun). Singidunum became an important strategic position along the Via Militaris, Roman way connecting the fortresses and the campings placed along the Danube and of the borders of the empire.

The city of Singidunum increased with the arrival of the legion IV Flavia Felix in 86 ap. J. - C. the legion occupied a fort which occupied the current town of Kalemagdan. The fortress was protected by a rampart from ground which was strengthened, thereafter, with stone. The remainders of the rampart are besides visible in north east of the acropolis. The legion also built a bridge on the Save to connect Singidunum to Taurunum. The legion became a power necessary against the threat continues of Daces located on other side of the Danube. Moreover, to reinforce their troops, the Romans installed a camping of veterans of the legion beside the fort.

The city was constuite according to a rectilinear plan with perpendicular streets which one can currently see in Belgrade with the streets Uzun Mirkova, Dušanova.Le Kralja Petra I. Studentski Trg (the public garden of the students) was a Roman forum, bordered by thermal baths (of which the remainders were discovered towards end of the year 70) which égalment preserve the orientation given by the Romans at the city. Other remainders of the Roman culture such as tombs, monuments, sculptures, ceramics and currencies were also found in the villages around Belgrade.

The emperor Hadrian gave the statute of Municipe to the city during the middle of the 2nd century. The growing city obtained thereafter the statute of colony. The Mésie knew one period of peace, but was disturbed again by the threats come from the outside and the interior of the Roman empire.

Byzantine and barbarian period

The Roman empire starts to decline at the end of the 3rd century. The province of Dacie conquered after several long campaigns by Trajan starts to crumble under the pressure of the invasions Goths into 256. In 270, Aurélien, vis-a-vis the sudden loss of many provinces and on the damage caused by the tribes of invaders, decides to give up the Dacie. Singidunum is again one of the last places fortififiées at the borders of the Roman empire to be opposed to the threats cruel tribes.

Into 395, after the death of Théodose Ier, the Roman empire is divided into two. Singidunum is located then at the north-western border of the Roman Empire of the east (future Byzantine empire). The Messiah and the Yllyrie are victims of the successive raids of the Huns, of the Ostrogoths, the Gépides, the Sarmates, the Avars and the Slaves. Singidunum falls to the hands from the Huns into 441. Those shave the city and the fortress, subjecting the population to the constraint. During two hundred years, the city will be conquered on several occasions:

the Byzantine mpire takes the city after the fall of the Huns into 454.
the Sarmates conquer the city little time afterwards.
the Ostrogoths encircle the city, driving out Sarmates into 470.
the Gépides invade the city into 488.
the Ostrogoths take again the city into 504.

The Byzantine empire claims the city into 510, following an peace agreement made between the cruel Constantinople and tribes. The Byzantine emperor Justinien makes rebuild the city into 535, restoring the fortress and the city. The city then knows a short period of approximately 50 years peace, disturbed by the arrival of the Avars into 584. The Byzantine empire takes again the city 8 years later, but the reperd at the beginning of the 7th century when the Avars burn the city. Towards 630, the Slaves settle close to Singidunum. The city however loses its importance as a fortification of border and is ignored by the Avars and the Slaves which dominate the area. The city is mentioned later, under the name of Beograd, a Slavic word which means the white fortress due to the color of the stone of the buildings, in a letter of April 16th, 878 of the pope Jean VIII with the Bulgarian prince Boris I Mihail. It will not be mentioned any more under the name of Singidunum.

Sources

Official Site off Beograd: Ancient Period
Official Site off Beograd: Byzantine Worsens
Ancient Worlds: Singidunum
Belgrade Fortress: History

See too

the continuation of the chronology of Belgrade
List of the Roman cities in Serbia
List of the Latin names of the cities of Balkans

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