Margum
Margum was an ancient fortress-city located in Upper Moesia, near the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, in what is now eastern Yugoslavia. This strategic location made it a significant site throughout history, particularly during the Roman Empire. Initially inhabited since the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, Margum became a Roman municipium, known as municipium Aurelium Augustum, around AD 169. It served as a vital trading hub and customs station, and following the evacuation of Dacia, it became an important military outpost.
In 285, Margum was the site of a pivotal battle that led to the rise of Diocletian, a later emperor, marking its importance in Roman military history. Over time, it evolved into a critical center for river naval patrols and hosted a bishopric, although it faced challenges, including invasions by Attila's Huns around 441/2. Despite these setbacks, Margum continued to thrive, becoming a key military headquarters in subsequent centuries. Archaeological remains have revealed Roman houses with intricate wall paintings and heating systems, highlighting its historical significance and cultural heritage.
Margum
(Orašje, near Dubravica)
A fortress-city in Upper Moesia (eastern Yugoslavia), situated on the Danube, at the point where it is joined by its important and strategic tributary, the Margus (Morava). The town lay between Singidunum (Belgrade) and Viminacium (Kostolac), on a site that had been extensively inhabited in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.
The geographer Ptolemy mentions Margum as the winter quarters of a legion in AD 169, and it was about the same time that it became a Roman citizen community, under the name of municipium Aurelium Augustum, engaging in substantial trading activities and housing a customs station. After the evacuation of Dacia—just across the river—by Aurelian (271), the city became an imperial frontier post. In 285 one of the decisive battles of the epoch was fought in its neighborhood. An Illyrian soldier Diocles (the future Diocletian) had risen against the emperor Carinus, who in the middle of a prolonged and fiercely contested battle was assassinated by one of his own officers, whose wife he had seduced. Diocletian thus came to the throne, and was free to carry out the sweeping reorganizations of the empire that followed; in the course of these re-adjustments, Margum was assigned to the province of Moesia Prima.
During the fourth century a fortress was built on the left bank of the Danube opposite the city, known as the Castra Augustoflaviensia. About 400, Margum was serving as a base for river naval patrols. It was also the seat of a bishop, who in 441/2 had to surrender the city to Attila's Huns. Nevertheless, it recovered, to become an important military headquarters at the beginning of the following century. Parts of a number of Roman houses have been uncovered, displaying wall paintings, mosaic floors and a house with an underground heating system (hypocaust).