PREHISTORICAL TOPOGRAPHY OF SREMSKA MITROVICA

Kalvarija today

The modern town of Sremska Mitrovica occupies the area formerly inhabited by various pre historical peoples and cultures whose origin goes back to the first occurrences of the organized human life in the region of Srem. The archaeological research work, carried out through several years, allowed us to fix clearly the continuity of life from the later part of the Stone Age (Neolithic), through the Copper Age (eneolithic), the Bronze Age, the early period of the Iron Age (Hallstatt) and the late period of the Iron Age (La Tene) to the arrival of Romans, when Sremska Mitrovica enters the historical epoch, i.e. the period of antiquity. If we analyze the conditions which had determined the settlement of pre historical populations in this territory, we should mention, in the first place, the river Sava, along which are situated pre historical localities of Kalvarija, Mala Strana and Leget. The river offered the pre historical man the possibility supply himself with food, by fishing; he used it, in addition, as a line of communication – waterway – in order to achieve a direct contact with his neighbors and to extend his horizons and his knowledge. It is also to be remembered that the narrower and the wider hinterlands of Sremska Mitrovica are formed of flat open country, very appropriate to the cereal growing and to the development of other forms of agriculture.  In observing the movable archaeological materials from the first appearance of earthen (ceramic) vases and iron axes, further of weapons, tools and ornaments of copper, gold, bronze and iron to the appearance of coins, we can follow the evolution of an environment which, from the first semi-organized forms of community, reached a degree of civilization approximating the forms of State. The ethnical protagonists of pre historical cultures of Sremska Mitrovica are unknown, except for the late Iron Age, whose representatives were the Celts who established the fortified place – oppidum – in the locality of Kalvarija which developed later, when the Romans arrived, into the ancient Sirmium. Dragan POPOVIĆ

Ceramic Vessel - Neolith

ANCIENT SIRMIUM

Sirmium entered the history in the course of the last decades of the old era, with the arrival of Roman legions, but the founders of the town (civitas) were the Pannonian Amantins and Celts, as inhabitants of the pre historical Sirmium. As a Roman settlement, Sirmium developed very rapidly and in the period of the Flavian dynasty (69 – 96 of our era) the town was granted the status of a colony. The important military needs at the susceptible Danubian frontier have contributed to the importance of Sirmium where there were frequently seats of headquarters of Roman troops.  Several rulers, such as Traian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Maximinus and Gallienus visited Sirmium. The first rate importance of the town was confirmed by the events the middle of the III century, when the »Illyrian caesars«, born in Sirmium or in its surroundings (Decius Traian, Aurelian, Probus, Maximian Herculius), came to the throne of the Roman empire. The great Diocletian's reform made Sirmium, in 294, one of the capitals of the Empire. In the course of the rapid evolution, the town changed several times its town planning physiognomy and a military fortress in the beginning, Sirmium was transformed into an opulent and luxurious imperial residence, with the institutions accompanying the Roman administrative apparatus as well as the economical, religious and cultural life. Numerous monuments of Sirmium point out a multinational population, composed of Romanized Illyrians and Celts and of immigrants from Italy, Greece, Gaul, Germany, Syria and Africa. In Sirmium there were large workshops in which weapons, glass, ornaments and metallic dishes and plates were manufactured. The Mint, founded by Constantine the Great. developed an important activity, it struck the famous gold bars with the figure of Fortuna, patron goddess of the town of Sirmium. The archaeological excavations brought to light the rests of the great Imperial palace, emperor Licinius's thermae, municipal granary, fragments of monumental town walls and dozen of other edifices and constructive details which corroborated the words of the ancient historian Amianus, Marcellinus, who qualified Sirmium as »glorious and populous Mother of towns." Dr Petar MILOŠEVIĆ

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Sundial I century AD

Surgical Instruments  I century AD

Jupiter Sanctuary III century AD

Golden Rods Casted at 19. January 379.

Constantine the Great’s  Gold Coins - IV century AD

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