Oescus

The Iskar River is the largest river that joins the Danube in Bulgaria. It is also the only river that crosses the Balkan Mountains; therefore, along it passed the historical road from the areas north of the empire (Romania and beyond) to the ports of the Mediterranean Sea. It was the only place where you could cross the mountains without climbing them. It was better to wind along the Iskar Gorge from the Danube to Sofia (and from there through the Struma River Valley to the shores of the Mediterranean) than to risk the mountain passes.

At the mouth of the Iskar River, where it empties into the Danube, are the remains of a large Roman city called Oescus, which at its peak had 100,000 people and was the largest city in this part of the Danube. At this place, Emperor Constantine briefly built a bridge across the river that connected Bulgaria, then called Moesia, with Romania. At the time, it was the longest bridge in the world (more than 2 km), but it lasted only 27 years and was destroyed by the barbarians in their first invasions in 355 AD.

The city of Oescus was established as a military fortress on the defensive line of the empire and was inhabited by parts of the Macedonian legion. In addition to it, there were many fortresses along the Danube, some of which became cities, such as the fortresses of Nikopol and the fortress of Novae in Svishtov. At the beginning of the 2nd century, Emperor Trajan gave the city of Oescus the status of a colony and settled veterans there, and since then it was called Ulpia Oescus. Ulpia is the middle name of Trajan, and Oescus is the ancient name the Thracians gave to the River Iskar.

In 167 AD, the city’s residents received full Roman civil rights and later built temples to the gods. This was a time when Plovdiv and other Roman cities throughout Bulgaria reached their peak. The city probably became rich from trade with the northern countries (Romania), as well as from crafts and artisan workshops that were established there, whose products were exported throughout the empire by boats that sailed on the Danube.

oescus roman Bulgaria