VIMINACIUM
(Kostolac) Yugoslavia.
An
important Roman city on the Danubian frontier to the
E of Singidunum (Belgrade). It is on the right bank of
the Mlava river, a subsidiary channel of the Danube,
12 km N of PoŽarevac.
A castrum was built at the site in the early 1st c. and
it served as the headquarters for the emperor Trajan
during the first Dacian war. It became Municipium
Aelium under Hadrian (117-38) and Colonia Viminacium during the reign of Gordian III (238-44). Legio IV Flavia and Legio VII Claudia were stationed at Viminacium and it served as the Danubian fleet base before
Singidunum.
The city minted coins during the 3d c., from 239. It
was destroyed by Attila and the Huns in 441, was restored under Justinian, and was lost to the Slavs in the late 6th c.
Excavations have revealed the walls of the original
castrum, which enclosed a large rectangle (ca. 443 x
386 m). The excavations also revealed sections of paved
streets and part of the drainage system, wells, and the
foundations of various dwellings, including one with a
hypocaust. A necropolis of the 2d to 3d c., including
some chamber tombs, was excavated. Artifacts from the
excavations are in the museum in Požarevac.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. & D. Garašanin,
Arheološka nalazišta u Serbiji (1951); M. Mirković,
Rimski Gradovi na
Dunavu u Gornjoj Mezii (1968); Dj. Orlov,
Viminacium (1970).
J. WISEMAN
