Mediana Roman Settlement

Mediana is an important archaeological excavation site from the late Roman epoch in Serbia. The excavation site is located in an eastern suburb of Niš, ancient Naissus in Moesia superior. Mediana was an imperial residence, at the center of which was a late antique villa, a peristyle, and the thermal baths from the time of Emperor Constantine the Great. Mediana served exclusively the emperor and his family as a residence in Naissus. Constantine the Great was born and grew up in Naissus. The construction of the residence in Mediana dates back to him, where, according to historical sources, he also stayed in the years 315, 319, 324, and 334. After his death in 337, the residence in Mediana was used by various other emperors. Constantine's sons Constantius II and Constans were in Naissus in the winter of 340. Later, Constans used the villa as a temporary residence. After Vetranio, commander of the Danube army, was proclaimed emperor in Sirmium, he handed over the imperial insignia to Constantius II in Naissus in 350. Emperor Julian unexpectedly stayed in Naissus for some time at the end of 361 during his campaign against Constantius II. During the two months, he wrote from Naissus to the Roman Senate, to Athens and Corinth, to secure support. Valentinian I stayed in Naissus in 364, which is evident from various imperial edicts. Naissus was the hometown of another Roman emperor, Constantius III (425), husband of Galla Placidia, father of Valentinian III. The residence was abandoned after the invasions of the Huns under Attila in 442, but Justinian I had new walls built again in the 6th century, as Procopius reports. Mediana is located on the holiday route "Road of Roman Emperors", which connects all important Roman and late antique excavation cities in Serbia.