Ratiaria

The northern Balkans, including Ratiaria in Dacia Ripensis, in the 6th century

43°49′01″N 22°54′28″E / 43.81694°N 22.90778°E / 43.81694; 22.90778

A grave stone with the inscription about Tettius Rufus, a Decurion and Pontiff of the Roman colony Ratiaria;[1] currently kept at the National Archaeological Institute and Museum, Sofia. The Latin inscription reads: D (is) M (Anibus) / L (uci) Tetti / Rufi dec (urionis) / Pontif (ICIS) / col (onia) Council (Iaria) / Fonteia / nus frat (s)

Ratiaria[2] (or: Ratsaria, Raetiaria, Retiaria, Reciaria, Razaria; Bulgarian: Рациария; Greek: Ραζαρία μητρόπολις;) was a city founded by the Moesians, a Daco-Thracian tribe, in the 4th century BC,[citation needed] along the river Danube. In Roman times it was named Colonia Ulpia Traiana Ratiaria.

It is located 2 km west of the present village of Archar in Vidin Province, northwestern Bulgaria and 3 km east of the present Balta Neagră Natural Reserve in southern Romania. The closest modern cities are Vidin (27 km to the north west), Lom (28 km to the east) in Bulgaria and Calafat (41 km to the north) in Romania.

An archaeological museum for the site has recently been established in Dimovo.[3]

  1. ^ AE 1911, 214; AE 1919, 81.
  2. ^ Ratiaria Web Site: http://www.ratiaria.archbg.net/excavations_en.html Archived 18 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)