Macedonia Nitamuca

• 1.
  • SCUPI
  • THE HISTORY OF THE CITY
  • The history of Scupi speaks little and insufficient, more information can be acquired only from the archeological
  • researches, for which certain hints already exist. The archeological excavations have confirmed that the Roman city of
  • Scupi was erected on the southern and western slopes, mostly in the foothill and the valley under Zlokucani Fortress hill,
  • on whose top was an old acropolis. The city had a very good location and to a large extent fulfilled the conditions for
  • erecting an Antique city, which in that time were set by the renowned architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. At its peak,
  • covered approximately 45 hectares of area.
  • The first significant date in the history of Scupi was the year 168 B.C. when Romans came to rule this territory, the Scupi
  • became a colony where deserving veterans were settled, mostly veterans of the 7 thlegion of Claudius. From the
  • tombstones we know that the territory of Scupi was settled by veterans of other legions, as well: V Macedonica, III
  • Italica, IV Macedonica ala Flavia, XIII Gemina, IV Scythica. The veterans of the Roman legions came from the different
  • parts of the Roman Empire, from northern Italy, Spain, Syria, Dalmatia, Istria, Asia Minor etc. The colony was founded in
  • the time of the Flavius dynasty; according to the inscription with the abbreviations Col(oniae) F(laviae) F(elix)
  • D(omitiana), it was assumed that it was the time of the Emperor Domitian (84 -85 A.D.).
  • We must also point out that we know very little about Scupi before its becoming a colony, although this beginning raises
  • the question of camp, but this question has not been precisely answered because it depends on researches of wider
  • scope. One of the possible hints is the shape of the city ramparts, which certainly date from the early period. Today we
  • assume that the city had been built by a plan ever since it became a colony in the time of the Flavius. The answering of
  • the question of the city scopes and borders was followed by the discovering of the objects and by determining their plan
  • and arrangement inside the interior urbanity structure. According to the geographic position, the orientation of the city is in the
  • direction northeast-southwest. The Romans located the town by important antic roads that connected the Aegean Sea with
  • central Europe, Thrace with Adriatic coast.

2.

• During the II century, Scupi was particularly representative in shape, with the monumental theatre as a focal point.

• During the III century troubles started, In the year of 286-296, the powerful Gothic and Herullian forces crossed this area.

• After the catastrophe caused by Goths, the destruction, the fires and the large scale ruination of the city, by the end of

• the 3 rd and beginning of 4 thcentury came a short period of peace and calm. It was the time of the rule of the

• Constantine I, the time of great reconstruction and intense building of important objects of high quality, mainly of public

• character. This construction falls in the time immediately after the Tetrarchy. In that period the most representative

• building, Civil Basilica was built. It was a public building, a courthouse, located in the southern part of the town (only the

• 28 meters long eastern section has been excavated). The section once was a large room with wide apses on its northern

• end. Its floor was covered by mosaic with geometrical motifs. The preserved wall ornaments include portion of marble

• beams, bases and colons, as well as one Corinthian capital.

• To the fourth, or the last construction period of Roman Scupi belongs the construction of the objects erected by the

• highest level. The objects of this construction period are dated from the period of the late Antique; it is the period Scupi

• became an episcopacy seat. This age was marked with a rapid fall of the economic power, which by analogy, affected the

• quality of the architecture and the contents of the accompanying material. The objects were built in techniques that do

• not show the particular care, which speaks of restless and uncertain times. Buildings dated from this period are the

• Christian Basilica, the object with an apse oriented towards the east and the two walls that partition the area to the

• north of the baths. The basilica was presumably restored at the end of the V century, nevertheless it certainly did not

• survive the notorious earthquake of 518 A.D. that devastated the town of Scupi and which was mentioned by Comes

• Marcellinus, who wrote that the citizens had escaped before the Barbarians came into the demolished city. After that

• numerous objects were rebuilt, but in primitive technique where the bonding material was mud instead of mortar. The

• floors were made of firmly packed earth, and the fireplaces were also built very primitively. And finally, these objects

• were ignored as well, by digging pits in certain rooms which contained Mediaeval Finds and by building stone walls and

• floors appropriate to them, at the top level, and also by graves that by the construction, indicate to be Medieval.

3.

• THE EXCAVATION

• The archeological excavations of the Antique site of Scupi started in the period between the two world wars. The work

• was concentrated on discovering more spectacular objects, but without particular concept or plan. The objects that were

• separated in such way from the urbanity structure, could not give any significant results considering the urbanity issues,

• the communication and the history of the city.

• Appreciating the significance of Scupi for the study of Antique history and culture, in 1966 the Museum of the City of

• Skopje started, for the first time, a planned and systematic research of this city, and with some breaks, it is still going on.

• So far, researches were carried out over the territory of the city and in the necropolises. The first expert leading the

• systematic researches and a long time explorer of Scupi was professor Milutin Garasanin, who was also the first to

• propose a long-term and perspective working plan and set the main directions of the system of field works, which are

• still being applied.

• In the past period of 30 years, the scope of the explored location is pretty modest. We must point out that the main

• reason for that was always due to financial problems, since there was never enough money to carry out the planed

• works thoroughly. These delayed excavations caused serious difficulties in solving many problems, like when carrying out

• preservation and protection measures. Yet, it is important that the excavations have provided, so far, a solid basis for

• further researches which can be carried out on a larger scope; this will give results that could provide the solution and a

• detailed analysis of the most important questions.

• CIVIL BASILICA

• It is situated at the city forum. According to its plan it is a three-nave basilica with a double apse facing the west. Its whole

• northern part, which is 2 meters wide, and a part of its central nave are discovered, as well as a part of the apse, where only half

• of the arch is unearthed, because the other part of the central and the southern nave are under the irrigation trench, which runs

• parallel to the basilica. Because of this parts of the central and the southern nave, as well as the narthex, have never been

• unearthed. The entrance to the building was probably located at its eastern side and it went under the electrical transformer

4.

• station.

• The walls of the basilica are rather massive and built in the opus quadratum technique. The basis of the outer northern wall is

• 1,70 meters. In this part of the apse, three flying buttress were discovered, which were built of stone in their basis, while the

• upper part was built with bricks. Average dimensions: length of about 0,90 meters and width of 0,90 m. On the inner wall with a

• base of 1,90 meters, which is the wall between the central and the northern nave, there are half-columns (pilaster) built of brick

• and mortar. On the average they are 1,20 meters long and 60 cm wide.

• The floor of the northern nave was not preserved, while the floor of the central nave is covered with a mosaic of a high artistic

• value. The mosaic was made in two versions of a geometric style created by combining black and white tiles.

• In the area which closes the inner apse, the mosaic has a pattern of unfinished semicircles, or to be more precise, they

• are somewhat smaller and divided into two halves, which were built in two different combinations, i.e. light and dark,

• which interchange, which gives an impression that the surface is a relief.

• In fact, a larger part of the mosaic in the central nave is created with other forms of geometric combinations, such as

• circles filled with spherical rhombs. That is, a dark rhomb is positioned into the large white circle, while in its center

• there is a small dark rhomb. The borderline is created by stripes, first there are two thin stripes, a white and a dark one,

• and it ends with one wide white stripe.

• Its closest analogy can be seen in the mosaic in the large storage in the harbor of Tomi (Constanca), which is dated to be

• from the 4 thcentury. There are also some analogies with a mosaic of one building in Apolonia, which has been dated by

• M. Korkuti in the 2 nd- 3 rdcentury. There is also an analogy with the mosaic in one Villa Rustica in Diklo near Zadar, dated

• somewhere between the 1 stcentury and the end of the antic period.

• In this part of the building a number of fragments from a wall mosaic were discovered facing the floor, which could

• suggest the interpretation that they probably decorated the walls of this monumental building. The wall mosaic was

• made of a large number of small squares varying in dimension and color, but unfortunately their composition could not

• be interpreted.

• It is important to point out that some larger parts of decorative and architectural plastic were discovered in the building,

• such as: beams with cogged decoration, column bases and shafts, etc. Among them, there is one exceptionally well

• preserved Corinthian capital, a rare representative of this type!

5.

• All of this suggest the conclusion that the basilica had a remarkable construction of its walls and very rich and luscious

• internal decoration, and based on these qualities it could be numbered as one of the most representative localities in

• the Roman Skupi.

• Its stratigraphical situation can be deducted from its basic elements. Its eastern part is erected over some buildings from

• an older date, probably originating from the Roman Period or the earliest known construction period. The remaining

• larger part of the basilica is situated over the ruins of walls from the 2 ndand the 3 rdcentury, and over fire debris. This is

• further verified by the discovered movable archaeological finds. It was possible to explore the building only 28 meters in

• its length and 10 meters in its width. Unfortunately, all the wishes and attempts to continue the works on this location

• were unsuccessful.

• The building is positioned in the direction east to west, with a slight deviation, and it belongs in the period of the early

• 4 thcentury (T. 5).

• Professor M. Grasanin, who discovered and studied the complex of the civil basilica says: "It can certainly be assumed

• that it was located at the forum. If we accept that the luxurious buildings, which were reviled when the canal was dug in

• 1971, were connected to the forum, and having in mind the direction of the street, then the forum should lie between

• these buildings and the civil basilica".

• The list of existing literature:

• Dusanka Koracevic Scupi, city territory; The Museum of the city of Skopje 2002

• Borka Dragojevic Josifovska: Inscriptions de la Mesie superieure vol. VI, Scupi et la region de Kumanovo 1982, 14 f.,nota 12

• N.Vulic Roman theater near Skopje; Belgrade, 1961, 4 23

• B. Alemsova Scupi Archeological survey, 1959, 116

• G.Spasovska Tombstone inscription by M.Valerius marinus decurio of colonia Scupi , Skopje 1973, 273-276

• I. Mikulcic Life antique XXI, The territory of Scupi, 1971,436 - 468

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