There is an element of self-contained pride in Stefan Pop Lazic’s resolute but careful steps as he comes to welcome us in Glac on the outskirts of Sremska Mitrovica.
This is because Pop Lazic, a researcher from the Belgrade Archaeological Institute, and his fellow researchers from the University of Sydney, believe this is a very special place – a place where some 15 centuries ago stood the villa of emperor Maximianus Herculius, who came from a humble background and rose through the ranks to become co-ruler of the Roman Empire with the emperor Diocletian.
The entire town of Sremska Mitrovica, some 55 kilometres to the west of Belgrade, is constructed on the ruins of ancient Roman city of Sirmium, the birthplace of Maximianus and ten other Roman emperors.
Sirmium was one of the four major Roman cities and military camps in the period between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, spreading over some 100 hectares, with an estimated 200,000 inhabitants, and was also known as the ‘Mother of Cities’.
It has been known since the 19th Century that Glac, on the right bank of the Sava River, was a historic site. At first, everything indicated that this was the former camp of Khagan Bayan I, who successfully besieged Roman Sirmium in 582 AD.
In 1915, during World War I, Austro-Hungarian soldiers came upon a mosaic of some 80 square metre in size while digging trenches. When years later, the remains of a building with an apse in white marble were found, together with a sarcophagus and lead water pipes, researchers knew they were onto some significant findings.
Imperial remains
Some preliminary research was done at Glac in 1994, but due to financial problems, years had to pass before the work was restarted. In 2017, the University of Sydney and the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade began their joint Glac Project to discover more about the site.
“What we have found are the remains of several Roman buildings,” said Pop Lazic.
“According to all our physical findings, supported by the results of magnetic and laser scanning of the ground at the Glac locality, what we have here are the remains of the complex of an Imperial Roman villa,” he added.
The Glac Project team’s findings are supported by a written document by Aurelius Victorfrom the 4th century AD, indicating that “Emperor Maximianus erected the palace in proximity to Sirmium, where his parents used to work as day labourers”.
“Our excavation confirmed numerous examples of imperial building in Glac, developed in luxury construction materials coming from all over the Mediterranean, such as red and green porphyry from Egypt and the Peloponnese, and marble from Tunisia, Greece and Italy,” Pop Lazic explained.
“Comparing results of our work here to previous findings in the Sirmium imperial palace, imperial villas in Felix Romuliana [a complex of palaces and temples built by Emperor Galerius near Zajecar in eastern Serbia] and Mediana [Emperor Constantine the Great’s villa near Nis in southern Serbia], we can presume that we are standing at yet another site of imperial Roman construction in Serbia,” he said.
History underfoot
Due to the limitations of the project’s budget, it is the last day of the team’s work for 2018 at Glac, and a recently-discovered mosaic on the northern part of the site is covered with nylon. It will be lifted for our camera before sand is poured over it for protection, until the next season’s work begins.
“This rain is just killing us,” said Pop Lazic, carefully lifting up the covering for us to take photos of the ancient artwork.
A carefully crafted white marble hand was also found here, a part of a statue of a still-unknown Roman god, so it is presumed that this part of the site is a part of a large hall where the emperor would host and impress his guests.
Eventually the Glac Project, in partnership with the Museum of Srem and the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments in Sremska Mitrovica, aims to establish an educational centre.
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninsight
