Tauresium (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

; mk, Тауресиум), today as Gradište ( mk, Градиште), is an archaeological site in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

, approximately southeast of the capital

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

. Tauresium is the birthplace of Byzantine Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

(ca. 482) and King

Theodahad Theodahad, also known as Thiudahad ( la, Flavius Theodahatus , Theodahadus, Theodatus; 480 – December 536) was king of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536. Early life Born at in Tauresium, Theodahad was a nephew of Theodoric the Great through ...

of the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...

(480).

Location and general characteristics

Tauresium is located in

Zelenikovo Municipality Zelenikovo Municipality ( mk, ) is a municipality in the central part of North Macedonia. The municipal seat is located in the village Zelenikovo. The municipality is located in the Skopje Statistical Region. Geography The municipality borders ...

, near the village

Taor Taor ( Macedonian: ''Таор'') is a village in North Macedonia. Administratively, Taor is in Zelenikovo Municipality and it is located some 20 km south-east of Skopje. Taor is on the left bank of the Vardar River. Etymology The etymology ...

, some southeast of Skopje. The site was discovered by British archaeologist

Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on t ...

in the late 19th century. According to

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

's biographer

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gener ...

, the Emperor was born in Tauresium in 482, more precisely in the castle of Baderiana, which is near the modern village

Bader Bader is a German occupational surname derived from the German word "Bad" meaning "bath". It originally referred to the owners or attendants of bathhouses, who subsequently took on other tasks including cutting hair and dentistry. List of people wi ...

. In the book ''

De aedificiis Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gene ...

'' by

he states: The similarity in the names of Taoresium and Barderia as Taor – and Bader – was brought to attention by

Antun Mihanović Antun Mihanović (10 June 1796 – 14 November 1861) was a Croatian poet and lyricist, most famous for writing the national anthem of Croatia, which was put to music by Josif Runjanin and adopted in 1891. Klanjec, his birthplace, holds a monumen ...

, the First Austrian Konzul 1836–1858 and proposed to the writer Hun, who stopped on his journey to investigate the location, which is noted in the book . The stories from the local peasants and badly damaged Cyrillic script were not sufficient to prove the theory initially, but later in the Monastery of St.John in Veles, Cyrillic writings were presented to him after which he concluded that this the same Byzantine City of Tauresium, birthplace of

who laid the foundation for The First Golden Age of The Byzantine Empire. Tauresium and the castle Baderiana were destroyed in an earthquake in 518 and the epicentre of the earthquake was in the nearby city of

Skupi Scupi (''Σκούποι'' in ancient greek) is an archaeological site located between Zajčev Rid (''Зајчев Рид'' 'Rabbit Hill') and the Vardar River, several kilometers from the center of Skopje in North Macedonia. A Roman military camp w ...

. As a gesture of gratitude to his birthplace, Justinian I rebuilt the city. According to the excavations that have been done so far, it is estimated that the oldest parts of Tauresium date from the 4th century and this oldest part is a castle with four towers known as ''Tetrapirgia''. Regarding Baderiana, Procopius states that it "is a settled castle with oddments from the IV-VI century". ''Baderiana'' or the modern Bader is located 6 km east of Tauresium and Taor.

References

External links

tauresium.info
- web page dedicated to Tauresium. {{Skopje Archaeological sites in North Macedonia Former populated places in the Balkans Justinian I Zelenikovo Municipality