POETOVIO
(Ptuj) Yugoslavia.
The city developed at a point where the Drau was crossed by a prehistoric trade route. It stands where a projection of the Slovenske Gorice hills approach the Drau on its left bank,
and on the right bank the higher terraces come quite
close to the river. The Drau has torn away considerable
sections of the ancient city in the course of the centuries,
and along with them the ancient legionary camp (VIII
Augusta, XIII Gemina) whose presence is known with
certainty from the water supply system. The position of
the stone bridge built under Hadrian is known from the
discovery of parts of it in the bed of the river. Poetovio
was one of the Augustan occupation fortresses which kept
the character of a military agglomeration throughout the
whole of the 1st c. A.D.
The legionary legates of Illyricum, met in Poetovio in
69 and decided to support Vespasian's claim to the
principate. The legions were immediately sent to N Italy
and at Bedriacum played a decisive part in the struggle.
Trajan sent the garrison to Vindobona and gave the
agglomeration the status of a colonia.
Near the fortress on the S side of the Drau a canabae
settlement formed around the head of the bridge. The
road leading W from the fortress to the Norican border
was flanked by the military necropolis. To the S of it
was the Vicus Fortunae, known from inscriptions and in
part from archaeological discoveries. It was probably a
settlement for crafts and industries, and had its own
forum with appropriate buildings as well as horrea and,
from the 4th c., a Christian cult center. In this area along
the road to Aquileia, the statio publici portorii Illyrici
was established in the 2d c. It is well documented because
those in charge of it were fanatical Mithraists. More to
the S in this suburb was a sacred center for oriental gods
(Nutrices Augustae, two Mithraea, sacrarium of Vulcan-Venus, sanctuary of Iuppiter Ammon with Fons perennis;
preserved). In the fertile ager to the S, which was systematically parceled out under Trajan (literary and epigraphic sources mention a missio agraria for soldiers), were found villae rusticae.
The N bank of the Drau is narrow because of two
strategically important hills which lie close together: the
citadel hill on the E, the Panorama on the W. Between
them runs the local road to Flavia Solva. At the foot of
Panorama (and under the present-day city district called
Viçava) a section of the Roman city was uncovered with
military buildings from the 1st c. In the course of time
it extended on terraces up the S side to the top and
spread over onto the E and N sides. Along with sumptuous public buildings were found sanctuaries for oriental
cults as well as a late antique necropolis with Christian
monuments at the foot of the N slope in the valley of
the stream called the Grajena. Poetovio had its own bishop; and here in the time of Diocletian, Bishop Victorinus was martyred.
A Bronze Age and Hallstatt settlement was discovered
on the neighboring citadel hill, as well as sporadic Iron
Age finds and a Roman fortification (preserved). There
was probably a Roman cult center there. The late antique
buildings and an Early Christian church were in good
condition. The road to Mursa runs E along the S foot of
the citadel hill and near the port district. The road was
flanked by a long necropolis which extended into the
Early Christian graveyard. It is possible that the remains
of the funerary basilica will one day be discovered. In
this part of the city the artisans were grouped (potters,
etc.).
M. Valerius Maximinus, who fought decisively in the
wars of Marcus Aurelius and was named senator for his
bravery, came from Poetovio. From that time on the
city was never without a garrison, particularly during the
3d c. when Pannonia was an area of usurpers, barbarian
raids, and ceaseless fighting. In the struggle between Magnentius and Constantius II for Italy and Illyricum (352)
and between Theodosius and Maximus (388) decisive
battles were fought before the walls of Poetovio. The
period of consolidation which followed was interrupted
in the 5th c. by Atilla. This was the time of the last
Roman emperor, Romulus called Augustulus, son of a
woman from Poetovio who was the daughter of Count
Romulus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Abramić,
Poetovio (1925)
MPI; B.
Saria,
Archaeologische Karte von Jugoslavien, Blatt Ptuj
(1936)
MP; id.,
RE 21 (1951); W. Schmid, “Izkopavanja
v Ptuju,”
Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje 31
(1936)
PI; V. Hoffiller & B. Saria,
Antike Inschriften aus
Jugoslavien (1938)
I; J. Klemenc,
Ptujski grad v kasni
antiki (1951); id., 21; Z. Šubic, “Le complexe de fours à briques romains,”
Arheološki vestnik, 19 (1968)
PI; E.
Will, “Les fidèles de Mithra à Poetovio,”
Adriatica praehistorica et antiqua (1970); J. & I. Curk,
Ptuj (1970)
PI.
J. SASEL
