Oescus

Coordinates: 43°42′N 24°29′E / 43.700°N 24.483°E / 43.700; 24.483

Oescus, or Palatiolon Palatiolum, (Bulgarian: Улпия Ескус, pronounced [ul.ˈpi.a ˈɛs.kus]) was an ancient town along the Danube river, in Moesia, northwest of the modern Bulgarian city of Pleven, near the village of Gigen. It is a Daco-Moesian toponym. Ptolemy calls it a Triballian town, but it later became Roman. For a short time, it was linked by a bridge with the ancient city of Sucidava (modern day Corabia - Romania). The city seems to have at one point reached a size of 280,000 m² and a population of 100,000.

Ancient sources

Ptolemy's Geographia

The Greco-Egyptian geographer Claudius Ptolemy (ca. 90-168 AD) described Ulpia Oescus as a city of the Triballi, an independent Ancient Thracian tribe which inhabited today’s Northwest Bulgaria.

Etymology

The name of the Roman town comes from the river Oescus (today Iskar). It probably meant "water" in the local Thracian dialect.

History

Roman times

Under Roman rule, Oescus was important as a Roman settlement and military post, as it protected the Danube Limes road to Philippopolis (Trimontiumto, the modern-day Plovdiv). The city was connected to the rest of the Roman empire by three roads: