Coordinates: 46°2′51.7″N 14°30′3.
32″E
Emona
Emona or Aemona (short for Colonia Iulia Aemona) was a Roman castrum,
Colonia Iulia Aemona
located in the area where the navigable Ljubljanica river came closest to Castle
Hill,[1] serving the trade between the city's settlers - colonists from the northern
part of Roman Italy - and the rest of the empire. Emona was the region's
easternmost city,[2] although it was assumed formerly that it was part of the
Pannonia or Illyricum, but archaeological findings from 2008 proved otherwise.
From the late 4th to the late 6th century, Emona was the seat of a bishopric that
had intensive contacts with the ecclesiastical circle of Milan, reflected in the
architecture of the early Christian complex along Erjavec Street in present-day
Ljubljana.
The Visigoths camped by Emona in the winter of 408/9, the Huns attacked it
during their campaign of 452, the Langobards passed through on their way to
Italy in 568, and then came incursions by the Avars and Slavs. The ancient
cemetery in Dravlje indicates that the original inhabitants and invaders were Location of Emona in modern Ljubljana
able to live peacefully side by side for several decades. After the first half of the
6th century, there was no life left in Emona.[1] The 18th-century Ljubljana
Renaissance elite shared the interest in Antiquity with the rest of Europe,
attributing the founding of Ljubljana to the mythical Jason and the Argonauts.[1]
Other ancient Roman towns located in present-day Slovenia include Nauportus
(now Vrhnika), Celeia (now Celje), Neviodunum (now the village of Drnovo)
and Poetovio (now Ptuj).
Contents Location within Slovenia
Alternative Emona, Aemona
History
name(s)
Historical descriptions
Type Castrum, Colonia
Location and layout
(after 43 AD)
Archaeological findings
Archaeological parks and preserving of the heritage Place in the Roman world
Bishopric Province Italia
Emona in literary fiction Administrative Venetia et Histria
Gallery unit
References Limes Claustra Alpium
Further reading Iuliarum
External links Directly Poetovio · Siscia ·
connected to Aquileia (via
Nauportus)
History Structure
During the 1st century BC a Roman military stronghold was built on the site of — Stone structure —
the present Ljubljana, below Castle hill. Construction of the Roman settlement
Built during Second Triumvirate,
of Emona, fortified with strong walls, followed in AD 14. It had a population of
the reign of Gaius Calvisius
5,000 to 6,000 people, mostly merchants and craftsmen, and was also an
important Early Christian Sabinus, Lucius
centre with its own Marcius Censorinus
goddess, Equrna. Built 35 BC
Emona’s administrative
Size and area 540 m × 430 m (23.2
territory or ager stretched
ha)
from Atrans (Trojane)
Reconstructed inscription (presumably along the Karawanks Shape Rectangular
talking about building town walls), dated in mountains towards the Stationed military units
time between autumn AD 14 and spring of
north, near Višnja Gora to — Legions —
AD 15. The inscription has the names of
emperors Augustus and Tiberius. The grey the east, along the Kolpa
part was discovered in 1887, and the rest River in the south, and XIII Gemina (35 BC - AD 14)
is a reconstruction. Presumably, this bordered to the west with XV Apollinaris (AD 14 – 43)
artifact was built into the wall above one of the territory of Aquileia
the town gates. From the collection of the Events 35 BC - AD 43,
at the village of Bevke.
National Museum of Sloveniain Colonia AD 43 - 452
Ljubljana.[3] Location
Coordinates 46°2′51.7″N
After few months of occupation in 388, the citizens of Emona saluted Emperor 14°30′3.32″E
Theodosius I entering the liberated city after the victorious Battle of the Save,
Place name Ljubljana
where Theodosius I defeated the army of theRoman usurper Magnus Maximus.
Town Ljubljana
In 452, Emona was virtually destroyed by the Huns, led by Attila. Its remaining County City Municipality of
inhabitants fled the city; some of them made it to the coast of Istria, where they Ljubljana
founded a "second Emona", Aemonia, now the town of Novigrad (meaning
Country Slovenia
"New City"), in Croatia.
Site notes
Condition Ruined
Historical descriptions
Exhibitions City Museum of
According to Herodotus, Emona was founded by Jason, when he travelled
Ljubljana
through the country with the Argonauts, and named by him in honour of his
Website www.mgml.si/en/city-
Thessalian homeland.
museum-of-ljubljana-
According to the 18th-century historian Johann Gregor Thalnitscher, the 377/archaeological-
original predecessor of Emona was founded c. 1222 BC. (The date, although park-emona/
based on legend and poetic speculation, actually fits in both with Herodotus'
account and the date of the earliest archaeological remains found so far)
According to 1938 article by the historian Balduin Saria, Emona was founded in late AD 14 or early AD 15, on the site of the Legio
XV Apollinaris, after it left for Carnuntum, by a decree of Emperor Augustus and completed by his successor, Emperor Tiberius.
Later archaeological findings have not rejected nor clearly confirmed this hypothesis and it is currently (as of 2014) most widely
accepted.[6]
Location and layout
The location of Emona overlaps with the southwest part of the old nucleus of the modern city of Ljubljana. In a rectangle with a
central square or forum and a system of rectangular intersecting streets, Emona was laid out as a typical Roman town. According to
Roman custom, there were cemeteries along the northern, western, and eastern thoroughfares into the city – from the directions of
Celeia, Aquileia, and Neviodunum. The wider area surrounding the town saw the development of typical Roman countryside:
villages, hamlets, estates, and brickworks.[1]
Archaeological findings
Location within Roman Italy.
Archaeological findings have been found in every construction project in the center
Roman cup of multicolored glass, of Ljubljana. Intensive archaeological research on Emona dates back 100 years,
made with the millefiori technique. It although it was the Roman town was portrayed from the 17th century onward.
was discovered in one of the graves
Numerous remains have been excavated there, such as parts of the Roman wall,
of Emona.
residential houses, statues, tombstones, several mosaics, and parts of the early
Christian baptistery, which can be still seen today.[6]
Regarding its location within Roman Italy, in 2001 a boundary stone between Aquileia and Emona was discovered in the vicinity of
Bevke in the bed of the Ljubljanica River. The stone is made of Aurisina limestone. Because similar stones were only used to
demarcate two communities belonging to the same Roman province and because it is not disputed that Aquileia belonged to Roman
Italy, this means that both towns belonged to Italy and that Emona was never part of Illyricum (or, later, of the province of
Pannonia).[2]
Archaeological parks and preserving of the heritage
The architect Jože Plečnik redesigned the remains of the Roman walls: he cut two new passages to create a link to Snežnik Street
(Slovene: Snežniška ulica) and Murnik Street (Slovene: Murnikova ulica), and behind the walls he arranged a park displaying
architectural elements from Antiquity, with a stone monument collection in the Emona city gate. Above the passageway to Murnik
Street he set up a pyramid, which he covered with turf. After the Second World War, attempts were made to embed references to
Emona grid into modern Ljubljana, with the Roman forum becoming part of the Ferant Park apartment blocks and an echo of the
( lovene: Slovenska cesta).[1]
rotunda located along Slovenia Street S
Bishopric
There was a Christian bishopric named Aemona, whose bishop Maximus participated in the Council of Aquileia, 381, which
condemned Arianism. After the destruction of Aemona in the 7th century, the bishop's seat was transferred to Novigrad (Italian:
Cittanova). In Latin the name Aemona continued to be used for the diocese. Originally a suffragan of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, in
1272 it was attached instead to the ecclesiastical province and patriarchate of Grado, a patriarchate that in 1451 passed to Venice. In
1828 Pope Leo XII abolished the see as a residential diocese with effect from the death of Bishop Teodoro Lauretano Balbi on 23
May 1831. Its territory then passed to the diocese of Trieste-Capodistria. The Second World War brought about a change of political
borders and in 1977 what had been the territory of the diocese of Aemona or Cittanova became part of the Croatian diocese of Poreč
and Pula.[8][9][10]
Catholic Church as a titular see.[11]
No longer a residential bishopric, Aemona or Cittanova is today listed by the
Because of the connection of this Aemona with Istria, some have questioned whether the episcopal see is to be identified with the
Emona or Aemona, whose site is now occupied by Ljubljana. It has even been argued that there were in fact three cities called by the
same or similar names, the one that Pliny the Elder speaks of as a colonia in the province of Pannonia;[12] another in the province of
Noricum;[13] and a third in Istria.[14]
Emona in literary fiction
Emona is the setting of a 1978 novelTujec v Emoni (Stranger in Emona) byMira Mihelič.
Emona is mentioned in Elizabeth Kostova's debut novelThe Historian.
The four volumes of the 2014 seriesRimljani na naših tleh (Romans on our soil) byIvan Sivec describe Emona in
various epochs.
Several chapters of the novel seriesRomanike are set in Emona.[15]
Gallery
South Emona's wall with information Excavations at the building site of A depiction of the Argonauts
panel. This location is one of the spots the planned new National and building Emona, published in the
on a 2 km (1 mi) footpath, connecting University Library of Slovenia. One Glory of the Duchy of Carniola
the locations of ten ancient sites in of the discoveries was the ancient (1689) by Johann Weikhard von
present-day Ljubljana. Suggested Roman public bath house.[16] Valvasor
starting point: City Museum of
Ljubljana.
Early Christian centre in Emona
References
1. Exhibition catalogue Emona: myth and reality(http://www.mgml.si/media/katalog_9_5.pdf); Museum and Galleries of
Ljubljana 2010
2. Šašel Kos, M. (2002) "The boundary stone between Aquileia and Emona"(http://av.zrc-sazu.si/En/53/SaselKos53.ht
ml), Arheološki Vestnik 53, pp. 373–382.
3. Template:Navedi splet
4. "Roman Emona" (http://www.culture.si/en/Roman_Emona). Culture.si. Ministry of culture of the republic of Slovenia
.
Retrieved 15 October 2012.
5. "Emona, Legacy of a Roman City"(http://www.culture.si/en/Emona,_Legacy_of_a_Roman_City). Culture.si. Ministry
of culture of the republic of Slovenia. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
6. Šašel Kos, Marjeta (September 2012)."2000 let Emone? Kaj bomo praznovali?"(https://www.webcitation.org/6HsSV
ueeU?url=http://www.ljubljana.si/file/1174311/gl_2012_07_internet.pdf)[2000 Years of Emona? What Will We
Celebrate?] (PDF). Ljubljana: glasilo Mestne občine Ljubljana [Ljubljana: Bulletin of the City Municipality of Ljubljana]
(in Slovenian). 17 (7): 28–29. ISSN 1318-797X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1318-797X). Archived from the original
(http://www.ljubljana.si/file/1174311/gl_2012_07_internet.pdf) (PDF) on 2013-07-05.
7. "Emonski vodovod" (http://www.dedi.si/dediscina/445-emonski-vodovod). DEDI. Ministry of higher education, science
and technology of the republic of Slovenia. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
8. Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 1 (http://sul-derivatives.stanford.edu/derivative?CSNID=0000271
6&mediaType=application/pdf), p. 74; vol. 2 (http://sul-derivatives.stanford.edu/derivative?CSNID=00002717&media
Type=application/pdf), pp. XII, 81; vol. 3 (http://sul-derivatives.stanford.edu/derivative?CSNID=00002718&mediaT yp
e=application/pdf), p. 96; vol. 4 (http://sul-derivatives.stanford.edu/derivative?CSNID=00002719&mediaT ype=applica
tion/pdf), p. 70; vol. 5 (https://archive.org/stream/hierarchiacathol05eubeuoft#page/70/mode/1up) , pp. 70-71; vol. 6
(https://archive.org/stream/hierarchiacathol06eubeuoft#page/68/mode/1up) , p. 68
9. Pius Bonifacius Gams,Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae(http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65
154&dirids=1), Leipzig 1931, p. 770-771
10. La Diffusione del Cristianesimo e le diocesi inIstria (http://www.istrianet.org/istria/religion/history/christians-ita.htm)
11. Annuario Pontificio 2013(Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 838
12. "Ad septemtriones Pannonia vergit: finitur inde Danubio, In ea coloniae, Aemona, Sisca"Natural
( History Book III,
chapter 25 (28) (https://books.google.ie/books?id=Slh2bLEec00C&pg=RA1-P A101&lpg=RA1-PA101&dq=%22Rhaeti
s+iunguntur+Norici%22&source=bl&ots=7uhRAj3OZY&sig=CmQYhH3COoQIi8PZlz8FphJOhEM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=
Mi0PVPHLBu7o7Aaj7YDYDA&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Rhaetis%20iunguntur%20Norici%22&f=fal
se)
13. In accordance with one reading of the preceding chapter of Pliny
14. Stankovic, Delle tre Emone (Venice 1835) (https://books.google.com/books?id=D-5V
AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover
&dq=Pietro+Stankovic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2DEPVMWcOerG7AaN6YDoCw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Pietro%20St
ankovic&f=falsePietro)
15. The Romanike Series (http://www.corpus-sacrum.de) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160806015742/http://
corpus-sacrum.de/) 2016-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, by Codex Regius (2006-2014)
16. Bernarda Županek (2010)"Emona, Legacy of a Roman City"(http://www.culture.si/en/Emona,_Legacy_of_a_Roman
_City), Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, Ljubljana.
Further reading
Ljudmila Plesničar Gec. Urbanizem Emone / The Urbanism of Emona. City Museum of Ljubljana; The Research
Institute of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Ljubljana, 1999.
MS Kos. Emona was in Italy not Pannonia. 2003
External links
Bernarda Županek: Emona: mesto v imperiju/Emona: A City of the Empire (Slovene, English)
Interactive archaeological map of Emona on top of map of Ljubljana
. Geopedia.si.
Early Christian Centre of Emona. 3D images. Burger.si.
Panoramic virtual tour of the ancient wall of Emona
Culture.si articles about the city:Roman Emona, Emona, Legacy of a Roman City
A day in Emona, short movie about life in Roman settlement
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