Stobi
Stobi is an ancient city located in northern Macedonia, situated at the confluence of the Erigon (Crna Reka) and Axius (Vardar) rivers. Historically significant as the principal city of Paeonia, Stobi emerged as a vital commercial and communication hub due to its strategic location on important trade routes between the Mediterranean and the Danube. Initially inhabited by Illyrians, the city came under Macedonian control in the fourth century BC, later flourishing under Roman rule when it was designated as a municipium and later a Roman colony. Stobi was notable for its role as an ecclesiastical center during Christian times, with its bishop attending the Council of Nicaea in 325, and it was also the birthplace of the scholar Johannes Stobaeus.
Despite experiencing destruction by the Ostrogothic King Theoderic the Great and subsequent earthquakes, significant archaeological remains have been uncovered, including a colonnaded street, a theater, and various churches from the fourth to sixth centuries. Noteworthy structures include an elaborate basilica and a baptistery adorned with mosaics. Today, artifacts from Stobi are preserved in a museum on-site, as well as in collections in Belgrade and Skopje, reflecting the city's rich historical legacy.
Subject Terms
Stobi
(Stoboi, Stoloi)
The principal city of Paeonia (northern Macedonia, southeastern Yugoslavia), on a low ridge beside the left bank of the river Erigon (Crna Reka) at its junction with the Axius (Vardar), of which the valley provided an important route between the Mediterranean and the middle reaches of the Danube. At Stobi this thoroughfare crossed another road coming from the southwest and leading to a lower stretch of the river (in Lower Moesia). Thus the town was an important communications and commercial center. After its Illyrian inhabitants had come under Macedonian rule during the fourth century BC, it played a significant part in the northern campaigns of Philip V shortly before 200.
Under subsequent Roman rule, Stobi coined as a municipium from the time of the Flavian dynasty (AD 69–96) to Elagabalus (218–22), issuing pieces that depicted a personification of the city standing between two river-gods. It became a Roman colony during the third century, and in the later empire was the capital of the province of Macedonia Salutaris (Secunda). In Christian times the town became a major ecclesiastical center, and its bishop attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Theodosius I the Great (379–95) resided there briefly, and it was the birthplace of the influential and encyclopedic anthologist Johannes Stobaeus, who seems to have lived in the early fifth century. In 479 Malchus records destruction by the Ostrogothic King Theoderic the Great, and the process was completed by an earthquake in the following century.
The city wall has been almost completely destroyed, and temples of Asclepius and Dionysus depicted on the coinage have not been traced. But there are extensive remains of a colonnaded street and a bath and a second-century theater, subsequently converted for employment as a gladiatorial arena. A third-century complex included a substantial residence (one of a number in the city) and a Jewish synagogue, and other large buildings have also been explored beneath the flood level of the Erigon river. But most of the monuments revealed by excavations date between the fourth and sixth centuries. They include portions of a river bridge and remains of some half-a-dozen churches, including an elaborately decorated two-storeyed basilica of Bishop Philip, constructed over an earlier building with geometrical wall paintings, and comprising three aisles that were increased to five shortly before or after 500. Beside and below the basilica was a quatrefoil, externally rectangular baptistery, adorned with further wall paintings and with floor mosaics depicting animals in paradise. The extensive episcopal palace can also be seen. Finds are preserved in a museum on the site and at Belgrade and Skoplje.