RITAM SRBIJE / RHYTHM OF SERBIA
aqueduct, city villas and fortresses provide visitors with the opportu- nity to experience the atmosphere of one of the four capitals of the Ro- man Empire that thrived on the ter- ritory of today’s Sremska Mitrovi- ca until the year 582, when is was forced to surrender under the on- slaught of the Avars. Viminacium When parts of Roman baths dat- ing back almost 20 centuries were excavated from fields near the ther- mal power stations in Kostolac at the end of the last millennium, locals and archaeologists certainly didn’t “invent hot water”. But they did un- cover the Roman city of Viminaci- um, which had covered an area of more than 500 hectares from the first to the fifth centuries AD and was home to around 35,000 inhab- itants, complete with thermal baths, an amphitheatre, villas, a necropo- lis, military barracks etc. And both those who know and those who don’t know why it is said in jest today “you invented hot wa- ter” should come to Viminacium, which is one of the ten largest ar- chaeological sites from the Roman period anywhere in the world and is located just around a hundred kilo- metres from Belgrade. The former military camp still preserves an aq- ueduct and sarcophagi that tell the story of the courage of Romans and the special status that this city en- joyed during that era. Gaining the status of a colony in the 3 rd centu- ry enabled the city to issue its own money, and tourists who visit its ru- ins gain an insight into the unique Roman technique of minting coins. Viminacium was repeatedly se- lected as a place to concentrate the army and as the point of embarka- tion for numerous wars. The city’s position on the plains, in the last spacious area ahead of the Đerdap ‘Iron Gates’ Gorge, was ideal for the grouping of major military forces. An amphitheatre, monumental build- ings and traces of developed infra- structure have been uncovered in and around the city. The fact that no modern settlement exists on the site
Viminacijum Kada su krajem prošlog mi- lenijuma iz njiva kod termoelek- trana u Kostolcu iskopali delove rimskih termi starih gotovo 20 vekova, meštani i arheolozi sva- kako nisu „izmislili toplu vodu“. Ali jesu otkrili rimski grad Vimi- nacijum, koji se od 1. do 5. veka prostirao na više od 500 hektara sa oko 35.000 stanovnika i imao je terme, amfiteatar, vile, nekro- polu, vojnu kasarnu... I ko zna i ko ne zna zašto se danas podrugljivo kaže „izmislio si toplu vodu“ – trebalo bi da dođe na jedno od deset najvećih arheo- loških nalazišta iz rimskog perio- da na svetu Viminacijum, udalje- no svega stotinak kilometara od Beograda. Nekadašnji vojni logor i dalje čuva akvadukt i sarkofage koji pričaju priču o hrabrosti Ri-
Neizmeran doprinos nalazištu je
mljana i posebnom statusu ko- ji je ovaj grad uživao u to doba. Status kolonije, dobijen u 3. ve- ku, omogućio je gradu da izdaje sopstveni novac, a turistima ko- ji posete njegove ostatke uvid u jedinstvenu rimsku tehniku ko- vanja novca. Viminacijum je više puta bi- ran za mesto okupljanja vojske i polaznu tačku u mnogobrojnim ratovima. Položaj grada u ravni- ci, poslednjem širokom prostoru pred Đerdapsku klisuru, bio je ide- alan za grupisanje velikih vojnih snaga. Unutar i oko grada otkri- veni su amfiteatar, monumental- ne zgrade i tragovi razvijene in- frastrukture. Činjenica da se na lokalitetu ne nalazi savremeno na- selje nad rimskim ostacima pruža jedinstvenu priliku za upoznava- nje svih aspekata života u antici.
2009. godine iskopani ženski mamut, mnogo stariji od Viminacijuma, čiji je skelet izložen u centralnom delu Mamut parka Providing an immeasurable contribution to the site was the 2009 excavation of a female mammoth that’s much older than Viminacium, the skeleton of which is on display in the central Mammoth Park
94 | Antika » Antiquity
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