Pannonia Superior, lit. Upper Pannonia, was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. Its capital was Carnuntum. It was one on the border provinces on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pannonia into two parts: Pannonia Superior and

Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Inferior, lit. Lower Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sirmium. It was one of the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pannonia ...

. The province included parts of present-day states of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

History

It was as governor of the province that Septimius Severus made his bid for the Roman Imperial throne in April 193 CE. In 308 Emperor Diocletian chaired a historic meeting with his co-emperors Maximian and Galerius in Carnuntum, to solve the rising tensions within the Tetrarchy. Diocletian and Maximian were both present on 11 November 308, to see Galerius appoint Licinius to be

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

in place of Valerius Severus, who had died at the hands of Maxentius. Galerius ordered Maximian, who had attempted to return to power after his own retirement, to step down permanently. At Carnuntum people begged Diocletian to return to the throne, to resolve the conflicts that had arisen through Constantine the Great's rise to power and Maxentius' usurpation. Diocletian's reply: "If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn't dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed."

Cities

Some of the important cities in Upper Pannonia were: * Vindobona (today

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in Austria) * Siscia (today Sisak in Croatia) * Iovia Botivo (today Ludbreg in Croatia) * Aquae Balissae (today

Daruvar Daruvar ( cz, Daruvar, german: Daruwar, hu, Daruvár, sr, Дарувар, la, Aquae Balissae) is a spa town and municipality in Slavonia, northeastern Croatia with a population of 8,567. The area including the surrounding villages (Dar. Vino ...

in Croatia) * Andautonia (today Ščitarjevo in Croatia) * Savaria (today

Szombathely Szombathely (; german: Steinamanger, ; see also other alternative names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by t ...

in Hungary) * Scarbantia (today

Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...

in Hungary) * Arrabona (today

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of ...

in Hungary) * Poetovio (today Ptuj in Slovenia)

Later usage

The northern part of the 8th-century

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

March of Pannonia The March of Pannonia or Eastern March ( la, marcha orientalis) was a frontier march of the Carolingian Empire, named after the former Roman province of ''Pannonia'' and carved out of the preceding and larger Avar march. It was referred to in s ...

was also called Upper Pannonia. The name can be found even much later in a similar, but wider, meaning. E.g.

Otto von Freising Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...

(Chron. 6, 15) uses it to refer to

(i.e. Austria proper) in the 12th century.

List of Roman governors

* Publius Metilius Nepos 106-107/8 * Lucius Minicius Natalis 113/114-117/118 * Lucius Cornelius Latinianus c. 126 * Cornelius Proculus 130/131-133/134 * Lucius Aelius Caesar 136-137 * Titus Haterius Nepos 137-c. 141Unless otherwise noted, governors from 137 to 179 are taken from Géza Alföldy, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen'' (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977), pp. 235-238 * Marcus Pontius Laelianus Larcius Sabinus c. 145-c. 150 * Claudius Maximus c. 150-c. 155 * Marcus Nonius Macrinus c. 159-c. 162 * Lucius Dasumius Tullius Tuscus c. 162-c. 166 * Marcus Iallus Bassus Fabius Valerianus c. 166-c. 169 * Gaius Julius Commodus Orfitianus c. 169-c. 172 * Sextus Quintilius Maximus c. 175-c. 179 * Septimius Severus c. 191

References

Sources

* '' Epitome de Caesaribus''
translation
''ca''. 395. * Barnes, Timothy D., ''Constantine and Eusebius''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1981. *Lenski, Noel. "The Reign of Constantine." In ''The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine'', edited by Noel Lenski, 59–90. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Hardcover Paperback *Odahl, Charles Matson. ''Constantine and the Christian Empire''. New York: Routledge, 2004. Hardcover Paperback

External links

Unrv.com: Roman Empire — PannoniaGeocities.com: Map of Pannonia Superior
{{Authority control Superior Provinces of the Roman Empire Austria in the Roman era Croatia in the Roman era Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Roman era Hungary in the Roman era Slovenia in the Roman era Slovakia in the Roman era History of Carniola States and territories established in the 100s States and territories disestablished in the 3rd century 100s establishments in the Roman Empire 290s disestablishments in the Roman Empire