Emona (early gkm, Ἤμονα)Sozomenos, Ecclesiastical History, §1.6
/ref> or Aemona (short for ) was a Roman castrum, located in the area where the navigable Ljubljanica river came closest to Castle Hill,Exhibition catalogue Emona: myth and reality
; Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana 2010 serving the trade between the city's settlers – colonists from the northern part of

Roman Italy Roman Italy (called in both the Latin and Italian languages referring to the Italian Peninsula) was the homeland of the ancient Romans and of the Roman empire. According to Roman mythology, Italy was the ancestral home promised by Jupiter to A ...

– and the rest of the empire. Emona was the region's easternmost city,Šašel Kos, M. (2002
"The boundary stone between Aquileia and Emona"
Arheološki Vestnik 53, pp. 373–382. although it was assumed formerly that it was part of the

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

or Illyricum, but archaeological findings from 2008 proved otherwise. From the late 4th to the late 6th century, Emona was the seat of a bishopric that had intensive contacts with the ecclesiastical circle of Milan, reflected in the architecture of the early Christian complex along

Erjavec Street Erjavec is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Karl Erjavec (born 1960), Slovenian lawyer and politician *Mladen Erjavec (born 1970), Croatian professional basketball coach and former player *Nataša Erjavec (born 1968), Slovenian ...

in present-day Ljubljana. The Visigoths camped by Emona in the winter of 408/9, the Huns attacked it during their campaign of 452, the Langobards passed through on their way to Italy in 568, and then came incursions by the Avars and Slavs. The ancient cemetery in Dravlje indicates that the original inhabitants and invaders were able to live peacefully side by side for several decades. After the first half of the 6th century, there was no life left in Emona. The 18th-century Ljubljana Renaissance elite shared the interest in Antiquity with the rest of Europe, attributing the founding of Ljubljana to the mythical Jason and the

Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, '' Argo'', ...

. Other ancient Roman towns located in present-day Slovenia include

Nauportus Nauportus ''(Navport, Navportus)'' ( grc, Ναύπορτον), was an ancient Roman town in Pannonia Superior (later 10th Italian region) on the road from Aquileia to Emona with a port at the Nauportus river, now the Ljubljanica River. Strabo wro ...

(now Vrhnika), Celeia (now

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

), Neviodunum (now the village of

Drnovo Drnovo ( or ; german: DernowoPoetovio (now

Ptuj Ptuj (; german: Pettau, ; la, Poetovium/Poetovio) is a town in northeastern Slovenia that is the seat of the Municipality of Ptuj. Ptuj, the oldest recorded city in Slovenia, has been inhabited since the late Stone Age and developed from a Roman ...

History

During the 1st century BC a Roman military stronghold was built on the site of the present Ljubljana, below Castle hill. Construction of the Roman settlement of Emona, fortified with strong walls, followed in AD 14. It had a population of 5,000 to 6,000 people, mostly merchants and craftsmen, and was also an important Early Christian centre with its own goddess, Equrna. Emona’s administrative territory or ''ager'' stretched from Atrans ( Trojane) along the Karawanks mountains towards the north, near Višnja Gora to the east, along the Kolpa River in the south, and bordered to the west with the territory of

Aquileia Aquileia / / / / ;Bilingual name of ''Aquileja – Oglej'' in: vec, Aquiłeja / ; Slovenian: ''Oglej''), group=pron is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river N ...

at the village of

Bevke Bevke () is a village northeast of Vrhnika in the Inner Carniola region of Slovenia. Name Bevke was attested in written records in 1391 as ''zu Bewkch''. The name is likely originally an accusative plural form of a masculine personal name, preserv ...

. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, one of the reasons for the war between the Licinius and the

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

was that the Licinius destroyed the busts and statues of Constantine at Emona. After few months of occupation in 388, the citizens of Emona saluted Emperor Theodosius I entering the liberated city after the victorious

Battle of the Save The Battle of the Save was fought in 388 between the forces of Roman usurper Magnus Maximus and the Eastern Roman Empire. Emperor Theodosius I defeated Magnus Maximus's army in battle. Later Maximus was captured and executed at Aquileia. Backg ...

, where Theodosius I defeated the army of the Roman usurper Magnus Maximus. In 452, Emona was virtually destroyed by the Huns, led by

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

. Its remaining inhabitants fled the city; some of them made it to the coast of

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

, where they founded a "second Emona", Aemonia, now the town of Novigrad (meaning "New City"), in Croatia.

Historical descriptions

According to Herodotus, Emona was founded by Jason, when he travelled through the country with the

, and named by him in honour of his Thessalian homeland. Sozomen wrote that when the Argonauts left from the Aeetes, they returned from a different route, crossed the sea of Scythia, sailed through some of the rivers there, and when they were near the shores of Italy, they built a city in order to stay at the winter, which they called Emona.

Zosimus Zosimus, Zosimos, Zosima or Zosimas may refer to: People * * Rufus and Zosimus (died 107), Christian saints * Zosimus (martyr) (died 110), Christian martyr who was executed in Umbria, Italy * Zosimos of Panopolis, also known as ''Zosimus Alchemi ...

wrote that after they left from the Aeetes, they arrived at the mouth of the Ister river which it discharges itself into the Black Sea and they went up that river against the stream, by the help of oars and convenient gales of wind. After they managed to do it, they built the city of Emona as a memorial of their arrival there. According to the 18th-century historian Johann Gregor Thalnitscher, the original predecessor of Emona was founded c. 1222 BC. (The date, although based on legend and poetic

speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, good (economics), goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline i ...

, actually fits in both with Herodotus' account and the date of the earliest archaeological remains found so far) According to 1938 article by the historian

Balduin Saria Baldwin is an Old Germanic and Anglo-Saxon name. It may either derive from ''Bealdwine'', or the Old German equivalent ''Baldavin'', meaning "brave, bold friend". It is found in many other modern European languages: French Baudoin, Italian Baldovi ...

, Emona was founded in late AD 14 or early AD 15, on the site of the Legio XV Apollinaris, after it left for Carnuntum, by a decree of Emperor Augustus and completed by his successor, Emperor Tiberius. Later archaeological findings have not rejected nor clearly confirmed this hypothesis and it is currently () most widely accepted.

Location and layout

The location of Emona overlaps with the southwest part of the old nucleus of the modern city of Ljubljana. In a rectangle with a central square or forum and a system of rectangular intersecting streets, Emona was laid out as a typical Roman town. According to Roman custom, there were cemeteries along the northern, western, and eastern thoroughfares into the city – from the directions of Celeia, Aquileia, and Neviodunum. The wider area surrounding the town saw the development of typical Roman countryside: villages, hamlets, estates, and brickworks.

Archaeological findings

Emona in the Roman Province of Italy - Map 2

Archaeological findings have been found in every construction project in the center of Ljubljana. Intensive archaeological research on Emona dates back 100 years, although it was the Roman town was portrayed from the 17th century onward. Numerous remains have been excavated there, such as parts of the Roman wall, residential houses, statues, tombstones, several mosaics, and parts of the

early Christian Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...

baptistery, which can be still seen today. Regarding its location within Roman Italy, in 2001 a boundary stone between

and Emona was discovered in the vicinity of

in the bed of the

Ljubljanica River The Ljubljanica (), known in the Middle Ages as the ''Sava'', is a river in the southern part of the Ljubljana Basin in Slovenia. The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, lies on the river. The Ljubljanica rises south of the town of Vrhnika and flow ...

. The stone is made of Aurisina limestone. Because similar stones were only used to demarcate two communities belonging to the same Roman province and because it is not disputed that Aquileia belonged to Roman Italy, this means that both towns belonged to Italy and that Emona was never part of Illyricum (or, later, of the province of Pannonia).

Archaeological parks and preserving of the heritage

The architect Jože Plečnik redesigned the remains of the Roman walls: he cut two new passages to create a link to Snežnik Street ( sl, Snežniška ulica) and Murnik Street ( sl, Murnikova ulica), and behind the walls he arranged a park displaying architectural elements from Antiquity, with a stone monument collection in the Emona city gate. Above the passageway to Murnik Street he set up a pyramid, which he covered with turf. After the Second World War, attempts were made to embed references to Emona grid into modern Ljubljana, with the Roman forum becoming part of the Ferant Park apartment blocks and an echo of the rotunda located along Slovenia Street ( sl, Slovenska cesta).

Bishopric

There was a Christian bishopric named Aemona, whose bishop Maximus participated in the

Council of Aquileia, 381 The Council of Aquileia in 381 AD was a church synod which was part of the struggle between Arian and orthodox ideas in Christianity. It was one of five councils of Aquileia. The council was held in September 381 AD and summoned by Gratian, the ...

, which condemned

Arianism Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...

. After the destruction of Aemona in the 7th century, the bishop's seat was transferred to Novigrad ( it, Cittanova). In Latin the name ''Aemona'' continued to be used for the diocese. Originally a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, in 1272 it was attached instead to the ecclesiastical province and

patriarchate of Grado This is a list of the Patriarchs of Grado (north-eastern Italy).
''

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. In 1828

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII ( it, Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga (; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death ...

abolished the see as a residential diocese with effect from the death of Bishop Teodoro Lauretano Balbi on 23 May 1831. Its territory then passed to the diocese of Trieste-Capodistria. The Second World War brought about a change of political borders and in 1977 what had been the territory of the diocese of Aemona or Cittanova became part of the Croatian diocese of Poreč and Pula. No longer a residential bishopric, Aemona or Cittanova is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Because of the connection of this Aemona with

, some have questioned whether the episcopal see is to be identified with the Emona or Aemona, whose site is now occupied by Ljubljana. It has even been argued that there were in fact three cities called by the same or similar names, the one that Pliny the Elder speaks of as a '' colonia'' in the province of

; another in the province of Noricum; and a third in Istria.

Emona in literary fiction

* Emona is the setting of a 1978 novel ''Tujec v Emoni'' (Stranger in Emona) by

Mira Mihelič Mira Mihelič, also known as Mira Kramer Puc (14 July 1912 – 4 September 1985) was a Yugoslav writer and translator. Biography Mira Mihelič was born in Split (city), Split on 14 July 1912, then Austria-Hungary (now in Croatia) as Mira Kramer. ...

. * Emona is mentioned in Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel ''The Historian''. * The four volumes of the 2014 series ''Rimljani na naših tleh'' (Romans on our soil) by Ivan Sivec describe Emona in various epochs. * Several chapters of the novel series ''Romanike'' are set in Emona.The Romanike Series
, by Codex Regius (2006-2014)

Gallery

File:Emona.png, True to scale 1st century AD Emona vith insulase, wall, gates and towers. Note high level of modern streets and walls still overlapping File:Emona v Ljubljani (6).jpg, South Emona's wall with information panel. This location is one of the spots on a footpath, connecting the locations of ten ancient sites in present-day Ljubljana. Suggested starting point: City Museum of Ljubljana. File:Emona3.JPG, Excavations at the building site of the planned new National and University Library of Slovenia. One of the discoveries was the ancient Roman public bath house.Bernarda Županek (2010
"Emona, Legacy of a Roman City"

Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

, Ljubljana. File:Argonauts building Emona Valvasor XIII 9.jpg, A depiction of the Argonauts building Emona, published in the ''

Glory of the Duchy of Carniola ''The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola'' (german: Die Ehre deß Hertzogthums Crain, sl, Slava vojvodine Kranjske) is an encyclopedia published in Nuremberg in 1689 by the polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor. It is the most important work on his ...

'' (1689) by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor File:ZgodnjekrscanskiCenter-Ljubljana.JPG, Early Christian centre in Emona

References

External links

{{commons category
Bernarda Županek: Emona: mesto v imperiju/Emona: A City of the Empire (Slovene, English)

Interactive archaeological map of Emona on top of map of Ljubljana
Geopedia.si.

3D images. Burger.si.
Panoramic virtual tour of the ancient wall of Emona
* Culture.si articles about the city
Roman EmonaEmona, Legacy of a Roman City

A day in Emona
short movie about life in Roman settlement Roman towns and cities in Slovenia Coloniae (Roman) History of Ljubljana Aemona Ancient Greek geography Argonautica Roman fortifications in Slovenia