Definition:
Moesia was a Roman province on the lower Danube that was named for a Thracian tribe -- the Moesi. Crassus, of 1st triumvirate fame, defeated the Moesi and the neighboring Triballi, in 29 B.C. They were then attached to the province of Macedonia. Moesia became a separate province at some point, but the date is not known. In 45/46, the Roman command over the Balkans was broken up. From then on the province of Moesia extended from the lower Danube near the River Drinus to the Euxine (or Black) Sea. Control of the area was in the hands of consular ranked, imperial legates. Domitian split the province into a Moesia Superior and a Moesia Inferior, divided at the Ciabrus River in A.D. 85/6.
References:
- Max Cary, John Joseph Wilkes "Moesia" The Oxford Classical Dictionary . Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. © Oxford University Press 2005.
- The Governors of Moesia, by Stout, Selatie Edgar; (1911)
