Singidunum (, ) is the name for the ancient city in Serbia which became Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It was recorded that a Celtic tribe Scordisci settled the area in the 3rd century BC following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans. The Roman Empire conquered the area in 75 BC and later garrisoned the Roman Legio IV Flavia Felix in 86 AD. It was the birthplace to the Roman Emperor Jovian. Belgrade has arisen from its ashes 38 times.

Prehistoric

The area near the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers has been continuously inhabited since the mid to late Paleolithic period. Skulls of Neanderthals and human remains dating back to the Stone Age have been found in the area. The remains of the Vinča culture, a Neolithic culture that flourished along the Danube River between 6000 and 3000 BC, were discovered in and named after Vinča, a suburb of Belgrade.

Pre-Roman influence

From c. 7th to the 4th centuries BC major tribal movement by the Thracian-Cimmerian tribes, followed by the Scythian tribes, began across the Balkan region, though they never established a permanent residence there.

The first evidence of primitive fortification came later in the 3rd century BC, with the settlement of the Celtic or Thraco-Celtic tribe, the Scordisci, who picked the strategic hilltop at the meeting of the two rivers as the basis for their habitation. It was 279 BC when the name ''Singidun'' was mentioned for the first time. The second part of the word is Celtic, ''dūn(on)'' meaning "lodgement, enclosure, or fortress". This is also preserved in other place names; for instance, as "-don" in the name of London. For ''singi-'' there are several theories, the two most widely circulated being that it is a Celtic word for ''circle'', hence "round fort", or it could be named after the Sings, a Thracian tribe that occupied the area prior to the arrival of the Scordisci.

There is little trace left of this era of the city's history, except for burial sites, a few of which are those of the tribe's warriors and contain valuable artifacts. A residual influence remaining from the tribes that secured the area is the Celtic spiritual influence that was taken up and woven into the Roman classical culture of the city.

The Roman era

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 AD 6, 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.

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.

Byzantines and barbarians

The Roman Empire began to rapidly 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.

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, Gepidaes, 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 Byzantine Empire reclaimed the city after the fall of the Huns in 454

The Sarmatians conquered the city shortly thereafter

The Ostrogoths seize the city around, expelling the Sarmatians, in 470

The Gepidaes invaded the city in 488

The Ostrogoths recapture the city in 504

The Byzantine Empire reclaims the city in 510 according to a peace accord between Constantinople and the barbarian tribes

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 was lost again it 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. The city would re-emerge later, mentioned as ''Beograd'', a Slavic word meaning "white fortress" (due to the color of the stone it was built from), in a letter written on April 16, 878 by Pope John VIII to Bulgarian prince Boris I Mihail. With its new name, Beograd would eventually be restored to the same strategic significance it had held throughout its history, but never again would it be mentioned as Singidunum.

See also

Jovian

Roman Empire

Moesia

Taurunum

Legio IV ''Flavia Felix''

Byzantine Empire

Belgrade

References

Sources

Necropolises of Roman Singidunum

External links

Official Site of Beograd: Ancient Period

Official Site of Beograd: Byzantine Empire

Ancient Worlds: Singidunum

Belgrade Fortress: History

Inscriptions de la Mésie supérieure

Category:History of Belgrade Category:Roman legions' camps in the Balkans Category:Roman towns and cities in Serbia Category:History of Serbia Category:Populated places established in the 3rd century BC Category:Moesia Category:Ancient cities in Serbia

bg:Сингидунум ca:Singidunum de:Singidunum es:Singidunum fr:Singidunum it:Singidunum ro:Singidunum ru:Сингидунум sr:Сингидунум sv:Singidunum uk:Сінгідун

Aleksandar "Leka" Ranković (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар ''Лека'' Ранковић) (1909, Obrenovac - 1983) was a Yugoslav communist politician of Serbian origin considered to be the third most powerful man in Yugoslavia after Josip Broz Tito and Edvard Kardelj.

Ranković was a member of the Politburo from 1940. After he was captured and tortured by the German Gestapo in 1941, he was rescued in a daring raid by Yugoslav Partisans. Ranković served on the Supreme Staff throughout the war. He was named a "People's Hero" for his services during World War II.

After the war, he became minister of the interior and head of the military intelligence OZNA and secret police UDBA. He fell from power in 1966, ostensibly for abusing his authority by bugging the sleeping quarters of President Josip Broz Tito. He was expelled from the Communist Party of Yugoslavia the same year.

His fall from power marked the beginning of the end of a centralized power structure of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia over the country and the social and political separatist and autonomist movements that would culminate in the Croatian Spring and the newly de-centralized Yugoslavia that emerged from the 1971 constitutional reforms and later the 1974 Constitution.

Ranković spent his remaining years in Dubrovnik until his death in 1983. His was buried in Belgrade with thousands present for his funeral, as Ranković had come to symbolize Serbian strength and interests within Yugoslavia.

References

See also

OZNA

UDBA

Category:1909 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Yugoslav partisans Category:Serbian partisans Category:People from Belgrade Category:Serbian people of World War II Category:League of Communists of Serbia politicians

bs:Aleksandar Ranković cs:Aleksandar Ranković de:Aleksandar Ranković (Politiker) el:Αλεξάνταρ Ράνκοβιτς fr:Aleksandar Ranković (homme politique) hr:Aleksandar Ranković it:Aleksandar Ranković hu:Aleksandar Ranković nl:Aleksandar Ranković (politicus) ru:Ранкович, Александр sl:Aleksandar Ranković sr:Александар Ранковић sh:Aleksandar Ranković fi:Aleksandar Ranković