Happy cattlemen

We headed west from Zaječar, towards Gamzigrad. We passed through the settlement of Zvezdan. An unusually beautiful name. I read somewhere that the settlement on the banks of the Black Timok was founded during the migrations under Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević in 1690. Legend has it that the settlers from Kosovo arrived at this place in pitch darkness, but that there was an incredible swarm of stars in the sky. So the rest named the settlement Zvezdan.

This morning, only one star shines from the sky – the brilliant disk of the sun promises a flawless day for visiting another Roman imperial city. Felix Romuliana is a few kilometers away.

There is an empty bus in the parking lot in front of the archaeological complex. The ticket office is closed, so the lady selling souvenirs in her little house tells us that tickets are sold inside the walls, and to hurry up, because we might be able to hear the expert tour guide explain the history of this place.

ENTRY INTO THE ROMAN WORLD

I must admit that the Roman walls with the gate surprised me with their size. We enter a world from the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century. In it, high school students run after a ball while the teacher tries to keep them together.

Why was this particular place in a vast empire that stretched from the British Isles to Mesopotamia blessed with the privilege of becoming an imperial palace and mausoleum? What makes it so special? The answer is simple. The Roman emperor Galerius was born and buried in this area.

The fortified complex itself was built in honor of the emperor's mother, Romula. The palace seems never to have been completed, and the emperors of the 4th century gave the magnificent estate to the church. The borders of the empire were insecure in the 5th century, and barbarian incursions brought destruction to the Gamzigrad palace as well. In the last great restoration of the Empire under Justinian, the complex was transformed into a fortress. Then waves of Slavic warriors arrived, the Romans left.

The once luxurious palace with 20 fortified towers, two pagan temples, and later three Christian churches, with granaries and a series of auxiliary buildings, has fallen into disrepair.

After paying the entrance fee, we looked at the model of the fortified palace. Its construction here, near Gamzigrad, must have seemed unreal to the local population.

Who were the people who lived here more than 1,600 years ago? One could say – the Romanized Dacians. And who were the Dacians? They were Thracian tribes. Under Roman rule, the Dacians were resettled in the province of Dacia Ripenzis – Coastal Dacia, south of the Danube. The Timok region was also in that province.

A descendant of the common people from that province, Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, bore a nickname throughout his life that reminded him of the social class from which he came: Armentarii (in Latin Cattleman), which means "cattle herder". He got this nickname because his father raised cattle, and he spent his childhood herding cattle on the Timok River. A childhood game comes to mind: "Emperor, Emperor, Cattle Herder, What Time Is It?"

When he became a soldier, demonstrating his intelligence, courage and loyalty, and later, when he became emperor, Galerius Armentarius did not forget his homeland. This is evidenced by the mighty remains of his palace.

DIOCLETIAN'S SON-IN-LAW

Historians interpret the emergence of Galerius at the head of the Roman Empire as a strategic move by the powerful Diocletian. Since Diocletian himself came to the throne by the will of a rebellious army, he, as Sorbonne expert on Roman history William Siston says, “lived in constant fear of usurpers.” So, potential usurpers from within and waves of barbarians that swept across the borders of the Roman Empire from without represented an equation that the Roman emperor had to solve.

Diocletian first appointed his most loyal follower, Maximian, as Augustus – his official successor. He entrusted him with suppressing the rebellion in Britain. When he realized that Maximian would not succeed in this, and that he would additionally have to defend the Rhine border from the increasingly aggressive Alemanni, he decided to first strengthen his forces in the Balkans. He chose the experienced Pannonian Constantius I Chlorus, and three months later the Dacian Galerius. “Their military talent and their reliability were decisive,” concludes Siston. This was the moment when the tetrarchy – the four-power system – was born.

Rome remained the nominal capital of the empire, but the emperors were seated in cities closer to the borders. The four new capitals of the tetrarchy were actually the main headquarters for the defense of the empire against foreign invaders. Nicomedia, modern-day Izmit in Turkey in the east, Sirmium on the Danube border, Mediolanum – modern-day Milan, near the Alps, Augusta Treverorum – modern-day Trier – along the Rhine border.

By dividing up responsibilities, Diocletian achieved several things – the vast empire could once again be managed, the Senate became insignificant, the two Caesars as “assistant emperors” and official heirs only had to wait their turn to become Augustus, so it was not worthwhile for them to plot or undermine imperial power. And the army, which knew how to kill an emperor in order to enthrone a military leader, could no longer count on the removal of one head to solve everything, because there were four of them.

Galerius was initially unsuccessful. Diocletian sent him to expel Persian forces from the Empire in the east. The Persians defeated him at the Euphrates in 296.

At a public ceremony in Antioch, Diocletian placed all responsibility for the defeat on Galerius. The defeated Caesar – Diocletian's son-in-law – was forced to walk in the imperial purple at the front of the imperial procession.

What was the Timok herdsman thinking as he walked humiliatingly in front of his soldiers and courtiers? We will never know, but whatever he decided then was good for him. He reinforced his troops with the units he knew best – soldiers from the Danube garrisons. In the spring of 298, he began his vengeful campaign against the Persian power, which would end in a complete triumph for Rome and a disastrous defeat for the Sassanid ruler Narses. In a series of victories, Roman forces captured Narses’ camp, treasury, and harem with the emperor’s wives. Galerius entered his capital, Ctesiphon. Roman territory was expanded by six provinces, and Armenia was once again under Roman control.

After this defeat, Narses retired from power and died a year later. Galerius gained immortal fame, which erased his former humiliation.

I remember here in Gamzigrad that I stood in front of the Arch of Galerius in Thessaloniki, where, like in a triumphal comic strip, this story of victorious glory was told. After Diocletian's withdrawal from power in 305 and Galerius' elevation to the rank of tetrarchy emperor, Thessaloniki was one of his capitals. Until then, he ruled mainly from today's Sremska Mitrovica - Sirmium.

Galerius largely adopted Diocletian's style of government. He spared no expense, summoning the best craftsmen of the Roman Empire to build a retirement residence in his homeland, like Diocletian in Split. Galerius also continued the cruel persecution of Christians. The irony of history destined his burial place and unfinished palace to become church property. For only 13 years after his death, the four powers ceased to exist and the sole ruler of the empire was Constantine the Great, the emperor who would open the doors wide to Christianity.

However, I understand that this part of the world was once an important part of the great Roman story. Other places I have been to testify to this – Caričin grad or Sremska Mitrovica. But the Gamzigrad archaeological site perhaps offers the most. It seems to me that not everything has been done by far. The wonders will be excavated by at least two more generations.

One of the most beautiful things I saw in Romuliana was a floor mosaic. It reminded me of similar, masterfully crafted floors in Ephesus.

The centuries that raised and destroyed empires and kingdoms did not care about beauty. The remaining ruins became overgrown with weeds. In 1835, the German mineralogist and geologist August von Herder described the Gamzigrad artifacts. This record interested the Austrian archaeologist Felix Philipp Kanitz, who visited Gamzigrad in 1860 and noted that it was one of the largest and best-preserved Roman buildings in Europe.

Serbian scholars in the young state began to write about it. But the world wars imposed other priorities. It was not until 1953 that real excavations began.

HAPPY ROMULIAN

In 1984, a fragment of a building was found on which was written Felix Romuliana – Happy Romuliana. This finally refutes the speculation that Romuliana is in some other location. From then on, it is clear that Gamzigrad is the place where Galerius' palace was built. In addition, his mother Romula was born there. By all accounts, Galerius was also born on his father's country estate - rustic villa – near present-day Gamzigrad. By inertia, many texts still cite Serdika, present-day Sofia, as his birthplace.

This is certainly not true, Galerius died there. He was transferred to Gamzigrad and buried on the Magura hill, which is located within the imperial palace complex. Although he built the Rotunda in Thessaloniki as a future mausoleum, he died far from the sea. His mother's tomb was much closer. His funeral was accompanied by an apotheosis - elevation to divinity - which was the last such ceremony in the history of the Roman Empire.

Sextus Aurelius Victor, author of the work About emperors about this ruler he says: "Galerius was somewhat rude, but basically just and praiseworthy; he had a beautiful figure and was an excellent and successful warrior." Lactantius, the teacher of Constantine's son and a tireless critic of paganism, saw him, in accordance with his Christian conviction, somewhat differently: "He was imposing, corpulent, terribly overweight and bloated. By his words, actions and terrifying gaze, he instilled fear in everyone. Even his father-in-law was very afraid of him..." And in Valesius's extract, another Christian source, it is recorded: "He was such a drunkard that, in his intoxicated state, he ordered others to do things that were not supposed to be done. Therefore, on the advice of the prefect, he ordered that no one should carry out his orders after meals..."

Above the ruins of his life's work are two protrusions on the hill. These are the mounds of Romulus and Galerius. The memorial complex of their mausoleums, damaged by time, robbery and neglect, has turned into two striking protrusions. Under one of them is buried the boy from Crni Timok, a Dacian warrior for the Roman Empire, Caesar, Augustus and drunkard Galerius the Cattleman. And under the other his happy mother.