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By the two
people who represented themselves as Alexander, the second son of Perseius
and the fake Philip in 142 BC, were marked as last tries to destroy the
Roman authority in Macedonia. Macedonia lives as part of the Roman Empire
until the end of the antique. In that long time period geographical-ethnic
name for Macedonia was changing, because of its administrative borders.
That's way Cicerone said that the borders of Macedonia are there where the
Roman weapons is. By the establishment of the province of Macedonia in its
part became the regions, Illyria and Thessaly and Epirus. Many changes
survived the north border, because of the attacks of Barbarian tribes as the
Dardanians, Skordyscius Medy and other... In the defense that took Kras
against them and he defeated them the border changed up to the river Danube.
From the year of
27 BC, when the emperor Augustus made the division of the provinces on
Senate and Tzar, Macedonia as a province became a Senate and from its
territory was deleted the area of Achaia. Achaia got territories from Epirus
and Thessaly. By this division on more territories the territory of
Macedonia got smaller. Between the years of 2 AD and 6 AD, Mezya got
out from the territory of Macedonia, as war base, and in the year of 15 AD
Achaia was united with Macedonia in one imperator province. When more new
territories were conquered beside Danube was separated the province of
Illyric, as imperator. And in 44 BC as province was separated Thrace and in
the middle of the 4th century AD Thessaly again was united to Macedonia. By
the changes made by Dyoclecianus, Macedonia became a region of municipality
of Mezya, and in the period of the ruler Constantine in the prefecture of
Illyric. By the end of the 4th century, Macedonia was divided on two
provinces, Macedonia Prima and in the documents of this period can be
mentioned Macedonia Salutaris. But at the end of the 5th century there was
another division on Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Secunda. Capital of
Macedonia Prima was chosen Thessalonica and for Macedonia Secunda,
Stobi
near Gradsko.
By the changes
of the Macedonian borders the population of Macedonia started changing. This
started even from the period
Alexander
The Great, when the
number of the Macedonians got small. In the period of the migration politic,
spread by the Antigonides, the country got strong Hellenized and in the
Roman period the number of Roman settlements got extremely big. Beside them
in Macedonia lived also Illyrians and Thracians and in the period of the
late antique a lot of Barbarian tribes.
As a Roman
province Macedonia was robbed of many ways. Before all, its natural
treasures, first of all the mines got in the hands of the Romans right after
the battle at Pidna in 167 BC. The population had to pay taxes to the
Romans: tax of the land (tributum soli) and for head (tributum capitis), for
the people without land other works (munera, vectigalia). Macedonia had to
give people to be Roman soldiers in war period, for the Roman "helpful
brigades" (auxilia).
In Roman period
there were a lot of cities in Macedonia, number near 90. Later this number
got smaller. Some of that cities were kept from the early period of the
Macedonia history, such as Ajga (Kutleš), Pella, Beroia and others. Also
some of the time of Philip and the dynasty of Antigonides,
Heraklea
Lynkestis, Philipy,
Thesalonica... Big centers of in the Roman period were the cities Heraklea
Lynkestis (today at Bitola) and Stobi (Gradsko), located on important roads.
Stobi lies on the road between Thessalonica (Solun) -
Heraklea
Lynkestis (Skopje) - Nais (Niš) - Sirmium (Sremska
Mitrovica) and on the road that lead to Serdica (Sophia) to Heraklea
Lynkestis on the road Via Egnatia. The road Via Egnatia (Rome - Drač -
Lychnidos -
Heraklea
Lynkestis -
Thessalonica - Constantinople) was main artery that connected Italy with the
Balkan and Pont.
 There
were three types of cities (civitates) in Macedonia: free, colonies, and
municipalities. The biggest privileging had the free cities (civitates
liberae).
The civil war in
the 1st century BC, made bad the economical condition of Macedonia, because
the main events were done on Macedonian territory (the war between Caesar
and Pompeius, then the war between Brut and Kasius). Also the slave crisis
in the period of 3rd and 4th century manifested in Macedonia: spreading of
the Christianity, the colonnade conditions and the entrance of Barbarian
tribes.
There were
attacks and invasions by the barbarian tribes, such as Kostobocians, at the
end of the 3rd century AD. Robbed by the Visigothes in the 4th
century and by
the Huns in the 5th century. The Slavic moving deeply in the Balkan peninsula
got to degree of an assimilation of the ancient settlements of the Balkan
peninsula especially the region which the Slavs settled (Macedonia, Paionia
and others...). |
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