Mursa Major
Mursa Major was a significant town located in Lower Pannonia, near the convergence of the Drava and Danube rivers. Established around AD 133 during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, it likely began as a Roman colony close to a legionary fortress. The town gained historical prominence due to two major battles. The first occurred around 260 AD, when Ingenuus, supported by the legions of Moesia, rebelled against Emperor Gallienus but was defeated at Mursa Major. The second pivotal event was in 351 AD, when the usurper Magnentius faced Emperor Constantius II in a bloody battle that resulted in heavy losses for both sides, marking a significant moment in Roman military history.
Mursa Major was also a cultural hub, housing important religious sites and workshops, and was home to various deities worshipped by its inhabitants, such as Jupiter and Hercules. The town experienced turmoil as it was later invaded by the Visigoths and subsequently sacked by the Huns, Avars, and Slavs. Despite its decline, the legacy of Mursa Major can still be gleaned from historical inscriptions and art, which indicate a lively urban center with diverse religious and commercial activities, including a street with numerous shops and a synagogue.
Subject Terms
Mursa Major
(Osijek)
A town in Lower Pannonia on the right bank of the river Dravus (Drave), near its junction with the Danube, at the crossing of two important strategic routes. Brought into existence by Hadrian (cAD 133), on or near a legionary fortress site, the settlement was probably a Roman colony.
It was the scene of two important military engagements. About 260, Ingenuus, with help of the legions of Moesia (qv), rose against Gallienus in Pannonia, probably after learning that the emperor's father had been captured by the Persians; but Gallienus and his cavalry commander Aureolus crushed him at Mursa Major. Then, during the following century, after the usurper Vetranio had proclaimed himself emperor at the same city (at this time part of the province of Pannonia Secunda), another pretender to the purple, Magnentius, confronted the emperor Constantius II as the latter moved against him from the east (351). Magnentius, marching from Aquileia, established himself at Mursa Major in the rear of Constantius' army, thus forcing him to give battle; but after a long struggle Magnentius' right wing was routed by the imperial heavy cavalry, and he suffered a total defeat—the first reverse, it is believed, that armored horsemen had ever inflicted on legionaries. Magnentius reportedly lost 24,000 men and the victorious Constantius 30,000; it was the bloodiest battle of the century, and severely weakened the empire's military strength.
During the conflict, the bishop of Mursa Major, Valens, an enthusiastic follower of the Arian interpretation of Christianity (regarding the Son as subordinate to the Father) which was favored by Constantius II, predicted the outcome of the battle and was rewarded by domination of the next Church Council. Subsequently, however, the town was overrun by the Visigoths (380) and then, in the middle of the fifth century, sacked by the Huns (followed later by the Avars and Slavs).
The appearance of Mursa Major can be partly reconstructed from seventeenth-century prints and sketches. The place contained a number of important buildings, and a series of terracotta and bronze workshops; an inscription refers to a street lined by fifty shops and fronted by double colonnades. Cults of Jupiter, Hercules, Silvanus, Mercury, Cybele, Osiris, Isis, Danuvius and Dravus are recorded. Outside the walls there was a stadium and a chapel of the Christian martyrs, alluded to by Zosimus and Sulpicius Severus respectively. There is also a reference to a synagogue. The riverbed still contains fragments of stone that belonged to an ancient bridge.