Niš, a city in Serbia's Nišava District, is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans and Europe, and has from ancient times been considered a gateway between the East and the West. The Paleo-Balkan Thracians inhabited the area in the Iron Age, and Triballians dwelled here prior to the Celtic invasion in 279 BC which established the Scordisci as masters of the region. Naissus was among the cities taken in the Roman conquest in 75 BC. The Romans built the Via Militaris in the 1st century, with Naissus being one of the key towns. Niš is also notable as the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman Emperor and the founder of Constantinople, as well as Constantius III. It is home to one of Serbia's oldest Christian churches dating to the 4th century in the suburb of Mediana.
Etymology Niš (, ) was built on the ruins of Roman Naissus. The Late antiquity town was known as Naissus, Νάϊσσος, Ναϊσσός (Naissos), Naessus, urbs Naisitana, Navissus, Navissum, Ναϊσσούπολις (Naissoupolis). It originated as a hydronym (the Nišava river), either of Celtic or Paleo-Balkan linguistical origin. Niš evolved from the toponym attested in Ancient Greek as ΝΑΙΣΣΟΣ (Naissos), which achieved its present form via phonetic changes in Proto-Albanian and thereafter the placename entered Slavic.. According to Katičić (1976), Nish is an Albanian and Slavic toponym that developed from Ancient Greek, which presupposes Albanian language mediation. In other words, based on the strict rules of sound change the only way the Greek City Ναισσός (Naeisu) could have the phonetic outcome Nish (niš) is via the sound changes which Albanian underwent. It was then borrowed from Albanian into Slavic. This means that when the Slavs arrived in Nish (seventh century) there would have already been a historic (proto)-Albanian presence."; p. 568. ". R. Katičić, ‘Ancient Languages of the Balkans’, State of the Art Reports 4, in W. Winter (ed.), Trends in Linguistics (The Hague: Mouton, 1976), p.186." "Toponymic evidence suggests that Albanian likely was spoken in Metohia and Kosovo before the Serbs' settlement there, as Albanian historical phonology helps explain several place names in the area, such as Prizren and Prishtina, as well as Nish < Naisssus somewhat to the northeast (Chabej 1961, Stanishich 1995: 10). Its common antique name in historiography is Latin Naissus. In Old Serbian, the town was known as Niš (written and ).
The development of Nish < Naiss- may also represent a regional development in late antiquity Balkans which while related may not be identical with Albanian. Attempts have been made to explain the place name in various ways as "a purely Slavic development", such as by Serbian linguist Aleksandar Loma, and Austrian linguist Joachim Matzinger, who maintains the Albanian transmission of Naiss > Niš, states that "a discussion with historical South Slavic linguistics is an urgent desideratum".Matzinger, Joachim (2016). "Die albanische Autochthoniehypothese aus der Sicht der Sprachwissenschaft": "Es wird versucht, den Ortsnamen auf verschiedene Weise auch als rein slawische Entwicklung zu erklären, siehe Aleksandar LOMA [...] Das letzte Wort ist hier noch nicht gesprochen, eine Diskussion mit der historischen südslawischen Linguistik ist ein dringendes Desiderat!", p. 14
Prehistory
Neolithic sites in the Niš area include "Čardak" in Donja Vrežina, "Velika česma" in Vrtište, "Kovanluk" in Malča, "Ciganski ključ" in Trupale, "Bubanj" in Niš, "Čivlak" in Gornja Toponica, and others. The Vinča culture which flourished in the 5th–4th millennia BC included over 18 sites in the Niš area. 31 sites in the Nišava basin are dated to the Eneolithic (3200–2000 BC). Several migrations from the Black Sea steppes into the Balkans change the ethnic picture; natives and immigrants mix and result in the formation of the first Indo-Europeans in the Balkans. The Bubanj–Hum culture is found in its early phase in Pomoravlje, but not in the Niš area, until bearers of Bubanj–Hum II connected to the late phase of the Baden culture arrive into the Nišava basin.
Antiquity The Niš area was inhabited by the Triballi, a tribe described as a specific people by ancient writers. Their ethnic affiliation is unknown, as linguistical research is inconclusive, while it is known that their territory was recognized in antiquity as Thracian, their relation to Thracians were older and stronger than that to Illyrians, and that they through history mixed with both Thracian and Illyrian elements. Scarce archaeological finds and onomastics indicate the presence of Thracian, Illyrian, Celtic and Dacian populations members in the Niš area in antiquity.
The Triballi inhabited the Great Morava valley in the 5th century BC. In 279 BC, during the Gallic invasion of the Balkans, the Scordisci tribe defeated the Triballi and settled their lands. At the time of the conquest of the Balkans by Rome in 168-75 BC, the Niš area was used as a base for operations. Naissus was first mentioned in Roman documents near the beginning of the 2nd century CE, and was considered a place worthy of note in the Geography of Ptolemy of Alexandria.
The Roman era
In the early Roman period, Naissos (as Naissus) was viewed of as Dardanian territory, while onomastics show that the population was predominantly Thracian.
The Romans occupied the town in the period of the "Dardanian War" (75-73 BC), and set up a legionary camp. The city (called refugia and vici in pre-Roman relation), because of its strategic position (Thracians were based to the south) developed as an important garrison and market town of the province of Moesia Superior.
The Romans built the Via Militaris in the early 1st century AD, with Naissus being one of the key towns. Five roads met at Naissus, from Lissus, Serdica, Singidunum, Ratiaria and Thessalonica (through Scupi). A tombstone of a Cretan soldier under either Claudius (41-54) or Nero (54-68) stands in Naissus, indicating that auxiliary units were stationed here at that time. Cohort I Aurelia Dardanorum was based in the city. Legio IV Scythica and VII Claudia may have briefly been stationed here. An auxiliary fort was based to the north, at present-day Ravna, called Timacum Minus. Marcus Aurelius (161–180) promoted the city to municipia status. Overall, several family tombstones indicate that this was an important military region and by the 3rd century a social class of peasants and soldiers emerged.
At the latest, a praetorium (road-station) was established under Septimius Severus (193-211) for Imperial officials business travelling, administered by stratores of Upper Moesia.
In 268, during the "Crisis of the third century" when the Empire almost collapsed, the greatest Gothic invasion seen to date came pouring into the Balkans. The Goths' seaborne allies, the Heruli, supplied a fleet, carrying vast armies down the coast of the Black Sea where they ravaged coastal territories in Thrace and Macedonia. Other huge forces crossed the Danube in Moesia. An invasion of Goths into the province of Pannonia led to disaster. In 268, the Emperor Gallienus won some important initial victories on land and at sea, but it was his successor Claudius II who finally defeated the invaders at the Battle of Naissus in 268, one of the bloodiest battles of the 3rd century. The invaders allegedly left thirty to fifty thousand dead on the field.
Four years later in 272, the son of a military commander Constantius Chlorus and an innkeeper's daughter called Flavia Iulia Helena was born in Naissus who was destined to rule as Emperor Constantine the Great. Constantine created the Dacia mediterranea province of which Naissus was capital, which also had Naissus and Remesiana of the Via militaris and the towns of Pautalia and Germania. He lived at Naissus in short periods from 316 to 322.
The Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate (360-363) resided in Naissus briefly in 361, prior to becoming the sole Augustus. A fabricae that produced ingots (Gold bars) was active in Naissus at the time of Theodosius I (378-395) as findings with the marking of NAISI made on the order of the Emperor have been found in Romania, dating to 379.
The 4th-century Imperial villa at Mediana is an important archaeological site located close to Niš. Mosaic floors and other traces of luxury are preserved in the archaeological museum on the site. Other aristocratic suburban villas are clustered nearby. Historians think that city of Naissus could have had 150,000 citizens. Here in Mediana, in 364, emperors Valentinian and Valens divided the Roman empire and ruled as co-emperors.
When we arrived at Naissus we found the city deserted, as though it had been sacked; only a few sick persons lay in the churches. We halted at a short distance from the river, in an open space, for all the ground adjacent to the bank was full of the bones of men slain in war. --Priscus on Naissus in 448 A.D.
Though the emperor Julian strengthened the walls, the very prosperity of Naissus made it a target and it was destroyed by Attila in 443. Attila the Hun conquered Naissus by using battering rams and mobile siege towers—military sophistication that was new in the Hun repertory. After the Huns captured the city of Naissus they massacred the inhabitants of the city. Years later, river banks outside the city were still covered with human bones as a reminder of the devastation the Huns had inflicted. Priscus said "When we arrived at Naissus we found the city deserted, as though it had been sacked; only a few sick persons lay in the churches. We halted at a short distance from the river, in an open space, for all the ground adjacent to the bank was full of the bones of men slain in war." The founder of the Justinian Dynasty, Justin I, was born in Naissus in 450, and his nephew Justinian I did his best to restore the city, but Naissus never recovered its 4th century urbanity. The Roman fort at Balajnac with a well-preserved cistern produced coins for Justinian I.
Justinian established the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima which the town and its bishopric became part of, Procopius mentioned it as Naissopolis.
Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The latter half of the 6th century AD saw the first major migrations of Slavs and Avars. During the 6th and 7th century, Slavic tribes made eight attempts to take Niš. In 551, the Slavs crossed Niš initially headed for Thessalonica, but ended up in Dalmatia.BG III 40 By the 580s the Slavs had conquered Serbia to much of northern Greece.The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 500-c. 700, p. 539 During the final attack in 615 the invaders took the city, and most of the Roman and Romanized Daco-Thracian population fled, perished, or became assimilated.
The Slavs in the Sclaviniae remain independent for some while; in 785, Macedonia was reconquered by the Byzantine Empire under Constantine VI. In 805, the town and its surroundings were taken by Bulgarian ruler Krum and became part of the Bulgarian Empire.
High Middle Ages In 1018, the Theme of Bulgaria was established by Emperor Basil II, who had conquered Bulgaria and Serbia. Niš was one of its main cities.Alexandru Madgearu, Byzantine Military Organization on the Danube, 10th-12th Centuries, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450; BRILL, 2013, , p. 99 Prince Constantine Bodin was crowned Emperor of Bulgaria in 1072, amid a Bulgarian revolt against the Byzantine Empire. Bodin conquered Niš, but was later captured.Byzantium's Balkan frontier, p. 142 During the People's Crusade, on July 3, 1096, Peter the Hermit clashed with Byzantine forces at Niš, losing a quarter of his men, but managed to march on to Constantinople.