Open Archaeology (Aug 2018)

A Note on the Name of Nicopolis ad Istrum

  • Topalilov Ivo Simeonov

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2018-0021
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 340 – 349

Abstract

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This paper deals with the hypothesis of why Nicopolis ad Haemum, a town established to glorify the victory of Trajan over the Dacians and their Sarmatian allies south of the Danube, was renamed at the beginning of Hadrian’s rule as Nicopolis ad Istrum. The author believes the change happened in 118/119 AD after a victory of the emperor near the Danube over either Roxolani or Iazyges, with a preference for the latter. This, along with the unfortunate fate of the main person responsible, Q. Marcius Turbo, predetermined the confusion in later historical narratives and the connection of this battle to the Trajanic Dacian Wars, although no such victory is ever attested.

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