I have more interesting research trivia to share with you today. I’ve been digging into ancient Roman history for my historical fantasy The Foreign King, a sequel to The Exiled Queen, and I discovered something I had never known before.
Searching for the name of the capital of the Roman province Moesia Superior, where Emperor Trajan garrisoned his troops during the Dacian Wars, I learned about Viminacium, an ancient city on the Roman road Via Militaris. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.
Except that Viminacium has been preserved as it was in the fifth century CE, when it was abandoned!
Let’s back up a little… First, I must confess that it took me two days to memorize that name because it doesn’t sound familiar in any way. Then, where is Viminacium? Moesia Superior, sure, but where on the map?
Viminacium was rediscovered in Serbia in the late 19th century, and it’s only being excavated now, mostly in the last few decades, and only about 5% of it so far. Its nickname is “Serbia’s Pompeii,” and it’s the only Roman provincial capital never built over and erased by history. Rome, London, Cordoba, Split, and other capitals have been continuously inhabited and built over. Not Viminacium, which was abandoned in the fifth century CE (after it was devastated by the Huns) and covered by dirt and vegetation until someone found it again in an arable field more than a thousand years later.
How cool is that? A gigantic time capsule from a millennium ago!
Here is what it looks like today, as it lies mostly underground, mapped with ground-penetrating scanning tools.
Exciting and intriguing facts about Viminacium:
- It used to be a port to the Danube River, but then the river shifted away.
- Mammoth bones were excavated here.
- An ancient river ship was recovered.
- Fresco-painted tombs with human skeletons, clothing, coins, and jewelry tell a rich story about the locals.
- The tomb of the Roman emperor Hostilian was discovered here.
- A triumphal arch was recovered as recently as December 2023.
- A reconstructed Roman villa is now the visitors’ Welcome Center.
I watched a few documentaries about Viminacium, and I can’t believe my luck to have this wonderful site to work with for my novel. For one, not many people know about it, which is exhilarating for me as a storyteller. I get to entertain and inform my readers. Also, scores of archaeologists and anthropologists have been hard at work reconstructing the city with models, replicas, and AI, so we can imagine ourselves walking the streets and entering houses and temples. Wait until I turn those vivid images into exciting settings for my novel’s scenes!
I hope this story made you curious to find out more about this amazing archaeological discovery.
