History of Belgrade

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History of Belgrade
Ancient times
Middle Ages
Modern times
See also: Timeline of Belgrade

The history of Belgrade dates back to at least 7000 BC. One of the largest prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved from the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city, naming it Singidūn.[1] It was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid 2nd century.[2] It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times before it became the capital of King Stephen Dragutin (1282–1316). In 1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of a sanjak.[3] It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. The north of Belgrade remained an Habsburg outpost until 1918, when it was merged into the capital city. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times.[4] Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia (in various forms of governments) from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006.

Etymology

A theory suggests that the ancient name Singidunum (Celtic: *Singidūn, Greek: Σιγγιδών) actually bears its modern meaning — "White Fort (town)".

The first mention of Belgrade, in its current form, is from a letter written on 16 April 878, by Pope John VIII to Boris I Mihail, when the city was held by the Bulgarian Khanate.

Contemporary name of Belgrade derives from the Slavic words "bel" (i.e. "white") and "grad" (i.e. "town"-"city" or "castle"-"fort"). Historically, Slavs name a place of living "grad" or "gorod" only if it has some protective walls – "ograda" in Slavic. And Slavs don't divide between "town" and "city". So the meaning of Belgrade is White City or White Castle.

Serbs write the word Beograd without "l" because they don't pronounce "l" in the word "bel". They write "beo" exactly like they pronounce it.

White City is not so uncommon as a name between Slavic people, for example: Belgorod in Russia, Bilhorod on Dniester in Ukraine, or Biograd na Moru in Croatia.

Prehistory

The Neolithic Starčevo- and Vinča cultures prospered in the Belgrade area and dominated the Balkans (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor) about 7,000 years ago.[1][5][6][7]

Chipped stone tools found at Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these tools belong to the Mousterian industry, which are associated with Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also been discovered there, indicating occupation between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago.[8]

Lady of Vinča (5500 BC)

The first farming peoples to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, which flourished between 6200 and 5200 BC.[9] There are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture (5500–4500 BC), a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements which is also named for a site in the Belgrade region (Vinča-Belo Brdo). The Vinča culture is known for its very large settlements, some of the largest in prehistoric Europe;[10] anthropomorphic figurines such as the Lady of Vinča; the earliest known copper metallurgy in Europe;[11] and the Vinča symbols.

Classical antiquity

Pre-Roman (800 BC-75 BC)

The Paleo-Balkan tribes of Thracians and Dacians were the masters of this area prior to the Roman conquest.[12] Belgrade was inhabited by a Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi,[1] while after the Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci took the city, naming it "Singidūn" (dun, fortress).[1]

Roman era (75 BC-395 AD)

In 34-33BC the Roman army led by Silanus reached Belgrade. It became the romanized Singidunum in the 1st century AD, and by the mid-2nd century, the city was proclaimed a municipium by the Roman authorities, evolving into a full fledged colonia (highest city class) by the end of the century.[2]

Emperor Jovian, born in Singidunum.

The Romans first began to conquer lands surrounding Singidun during the 1st century BC. In 75 BC, Gaius "Quintus" Scribonius Curio, the proconsul of Macedonia, invaded the Balkan interior as far as the Danube, in an effort to drive out the Scordisci, Dardanians, Dacians and other tribes. The Romans had victories during these campaigns, but only stayed briefly, leaving the area outside of Roman control. Thus, very little is known about these operations or when the area was organized into the province of Moesia. It wasn't until the rule of Octavian, when Marcus Licinius Crassus, the grandson of the Caesarian Triumvir and then proconsul of Macedonia, finally stabilized the region with a campaign beginning in 29 BC Moesia was formally organized into a province some time before 6 AD, when the first mention of its governor, Caecina Severus, is made. Singidun was Romanized to Singidunum. It became one of the primary settlements of Moesia, situated between Sirmium (modern Sremska Mitrovica) and Viminacium (modern Kostolac), both of which overshadowed Singidunum in significance, and just across the Sava River from Taurunum (modern Zemun) in Pannonia. Singidunum became an important and strategic position along the Via Militaris, an important Roman road connecting fortresses and settlements along the Danubian limes, or border.

Remains of the Roman castrum.

Singidunum reached its height with the arrival of Legio IV Flavia Felix in 86 AD. The legion set up as a square-shaped castrum (fort), which occupied Upper Town of today's Kalemegdan. At first, the fortress was set up as earthen bulwarks, but soon after, it was fortified with stone, the remains of which can be seen today near the northeastern corner of the acropolis. The legion also constructed a bridge over the Sava, connecting Singidunum with Taurunum. The 6,000-strong legion became a major military asset against the continuous threat of the Dacians just across the Danube. Another step the Romans took to help strengthen Singidunum was the settlement of its legion veterans next to the fortress. In time, a large settlement grew out from around the castrum. The town took on a rectlinear construction, with its streets meeting at right angles. The grid structure can be seen in today's Belgrade with the orientation of the streets Uzun Mirkova, Dušanova, and Kralja Petra I. Studentski Trg (Students' Square) was a Roman forum, bordered by thermae (a public bath complex whose remains were discovered during the 1970s) and also preserves the orientation the Romans gave Singidunum. Other remnants of Roman material culture such as tombs, monuments, sculptures, ceramics, and coins have been found villages and towns surrounding Belgrade. Hadrian granted Singidunum the rights of municipium during the mid 2nd century. Singidunum later outgrew this status and became a full-fledged colony. The Roman Emperor Jovian who reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire was born in Singidunum in 332. Singidunum and Moesia experienced a peaceful period, but that was not to last, due to the growing turmoil not only from outside the Roman Empire, but also from within.

The Roman Empire began to decline at the end 3rd century. The province of Dacia, established by several successful and lengthy campaigns by Trajan, began to collapse under pressure from the invading Goths in 256. By 270, Aurelian, faced with the sudden loss of many provinces and major damage done by invading tribes, abandoned Dacia altogether. Singidunum found itself once again on the limes of the fading Empire, one of the last major strongholds to survive mounting danger from the invading barbarian tribes.

Middle Ages

Byzantine (395-626)

Prince Michael Street in Belgrade follows the original grid layout of Singidunum

In 395, upon the death of Theodosius I, the Roman Empire was split into two, with Singidunum lying on the northwestern border of the Eastern Roman Empire (later to become the Byzantine Empire). Moesia and Illyricum suffered devastating raids by the successive invasions of the Huns, Ostrogoths, Gepids, Sarmatians, Avars, and Slavs. Singidunum fell to the Huns in 441, who razed the city and fortress, selling its Roman inhabitants into indentured servitude. Over the next two hundred years, the city passed hands several times: the Romans reclaimed the city after the fall of the Hun confederation in 454, but the Sarmatians conquered the city shortly thereafter. In 470 the Ostrogoths seized the city around, expelling the Sarmatians. The city was later invaded by Gepids (488), but the Ostrogoths recaptured it in 504. Six years later the Eastern Roman Empire reclaimed the city according to a peace treaty.

Byzantine emperor Justinian I rebuilt Singidunum in 535, restoring the fortress and city to its former military importance. The city saw a brief peaceful period of about fifty years, but was then sacked with the arrival of the Avars in 584. During Maurice's Balkan campaigns, Singidunum served as a base of operations, but it was lost again in the early half of the 7th century when the Avars sacked and burned Singidunum to the ground. Around 630, the Slavs settled in the area and in Singidunum, coordinated by a Roman fortress commander. By this time, however, the city had lost its importance as a border fortification and was largely ignored by the Slavs, who dominated the area.

Names through history

Europa regina map from Münster (1570). Belgrad is one of only 3 cities designated on the map

Belgrade has had many different names throughout history, and in nearly all languages the name translates as "the white city". Serbian name Beograd is a compound of beo ("white, light") and grad ("town, city"), and etymologically corresponds to several other city names spread throughout the Slavdom: Belgorod, Białogard, Biograd etc.

Name Notes
Singidūn(o)- Named by the Celtic tribe of the Scordisci; dūn(o)- means 'lodgment, enclosure, fort', and for word 'singi' there are 2 theories—one being that it is a Celtic word for circle, hence "round fort", and the other that the name is Paleo-Balkan and originated from the Singi, a Thracian tribe that occupied the area prior to the arrival of the Scordisci.[13] Another theory suggests that the Celtic name actually bears its modern meaning—the White Fort (town).
Singidūnum Romans conquered the city and Romanized the Celtic name of Singidūn (in turn derived from Paleo-Balkan languages of earlier rulers). Rendered Singidonon (Σιγγιδόνον) in Greek, along with the direct transliteration from Celtic Σιγγιδών.[14]
Beograd, Београд Slavic name first recorded in 878 as Beligrad in a letter of Pope John VIII to Boris of Bulgaria which translates to "White city/fortress".[15]
Alba Graeca "Alba" is Latin for "White" and "Graeca" is the possessive "Greek"
Alba Bulgarica Latin name during the period of Bulgarian rule over the city[15]
Griechisch-Weißenburg German translation for "Greek White city". Modern German is Belgrad.[15]
Castelbianco Italian translation for "White castle". Modern Italian is Belgrado.[15]
Nandoralba, Nándorfehérvár, Lándorfejérvár In medieval Hungary. "Fehérvár" means white castle Hungarian – like the Beograd in Serbian. Modern Hungarian is Belgrád.[15]
Velegradhon/Βελέγραδον or Velegradha/Βελέγραδα Byzantine name.[14] Modern Greek is Veligradhi (Βελιγράδι).
Dar Al Jihad Arabic name during Ottoman empire meaning "House of War".
Prinz-Eugenstadt Planned German name of the city after World War II, had it remained a part of the Third Reich. The city was to be named after Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Austrian military commander who conquered the city from the Turks in 1717.[16]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belgrade.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Discover Belgrade". City of Belgrade. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rich, John (1992). The City in Late Antiquity. CRC Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-203-13016-2. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  3. ↑ "The History of Belgrade". BelgradeNet Travel Guide. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  4. ↑ Robert Nurden (22 March 2009). "Belgrade has risen from the ashes to become the Balkans' party city". London: Independent. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  5. ↑ Tasic N, Srejovic D, Stojanovic B (1990). Vinca, Centre of the Neolithic culture of the Danubian region. Project Rastko. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  6. ↑ Nikola Tasić; Dragoslav Srejović; Bratislav Stojanović (1990). "Vinča and its Culture". In Vladislav Popović. Vinča: Centre of the Neolithic culture of the Danubian region. Smiljka Kjurin (translator). Belgrade. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
  7. ↑ "History (Ancient Period)". Official website. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  8. ↑ Saric, J. (2008). "Paleolithic and mesolithic finds from profile of the Zemun loess". Starinar (58): 9–9. doi:10.2298/STA0858009S.
  9. ↑ Chapman, John (2000). Fragmentation in Archaeology: People, Places, and Broken Objects. London: Routledge. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-415-15803-9.
  10. ↑ Chapman, John (1981). The Vinča culture of south-east Europe: Studies in chronology, economy and society (2 vols). BAR International Series 117. Oxford: BAR. ISBN 0-86054-139-8.
  11. ↑ Radivojević, M.; Rehren, T.; Pernicka, E.; Šljivar, D. A.; Brauns, M.; Borić, D. A. (2010). "On the origins of extractive metallurgy: New evidence from Europe". Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (11): 2775. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.012.
  12. ↑ "Belgrade Fortress history". Public Enterprise "Belgrade Fortress". Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  13. ↑ "Ancient Period". Official website. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Singidunum". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p. 1904. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 "History (Byzantine Empire)". Official website. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  16. ↑ "Opasno neznanje ili nešto više". Danas. Retrieved 29 December 2008.

Further reading