Moesia

Moesia, province of the Roman Empire, in the southeastern Balkans in what is now Serbia, part of Macedonia, and part of Bulgaria. Its first recorded people were the Moesi, a Thracian tribe. The lower Danube River was the province’s northern border, with the Drinus (now Drina) River on the west, the Haemus (Balkan) Mountains on the south, and the Black Sea on the east. Moesia was conquered by Marcus Licinius Crassus (grandson of the famous triumvir) in 28 bc, according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius. At first Moesia was treated as part of the imperial province of Macedonia and was ruled by imperial legates, called prefects (praefecti), who are recorded no later than ad 6. By the time that the rest of Macedonia was divided in 45 or 46, Moesia already was a separate province.

During the emperor Domitian’s Dacian Wars (85–89), Moesia was divided into western and eastern provinces: Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior, separated by the Ciabrus (modern Tsibritsa) River. Under the emperor Trajan, parts of present Romania were added to Moesia Inferior. Because Moesia was a frontier region, the area had to be garrisoned by Roman troops, whose legionary camps were built along the Danube River. Several Greek cities sprang up near the mouth of the Danube, and the other principal cities of Moesia grew out of the legionary camps along the Danube—for example, Singidunum (now Beograd). These, too, had sizable Greek elements in their population, given the predominantly Greek composition of the legions there.

Moesia was a fairly prosperous province, since surplus wheat from the Black Sea area was always assured of a market in the Roman Empire. In the province’s interior, agriculture and fruit-growing flourished, and there was mineral wealth in the Balkan Mountains. The province suffered heavily from barbarian invasions in the 3rd century ad, and when the neighbouring province of Dacia was abandoned about 270, its inhabitants were largely transferred to Moesia. Despite these difficulties, Moesia remained part of the Eastern Roman Empire until the 7th century.