The northern Balkans, including the Via Militaris, in Late Antiquity.

Via Militaris or Via Diagonalis was an ancient Roman road, starting from Singidunum (today the Serbian capital Belgrade), passing by Danube coast to Viminacium (near modern Kostolac), through Naissus (modern Niš), Serdica (modern Sofia), Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv), Adrianopolis (modern Edirne in Turkish Thrace), and reaching Constantinople (modern Istanbul). This road was connected with Via Egnatia by other roads: the road along the Axios (or Vardar) River, the road from Serdica to Thessalonica along the Strymon (or Struma) River, and the road from Philippopolis to Philippi.

It was built in the 1st century AD. The length from Singidunum to Constantinople was 924 kilometres.[1]

During the first European conquests of Ottoman Turks orta kol (lit. middle arm) was following the Via Militaris.[2]

In May 2010, while work was done on the Pan-European Corridor X in Serbia, well-preserved remains of the road were excavated in Dimitrovgrad, Serbia. The eight-metre wide road was constructed from large blocks of stone and had two lanes.[3]

Key towns

Combined map of Via Militaris and Via Egnatia with contemporary toponyms and borders.
Ancient name Location
Singidunum Belgrade, Serbia
Gratiana Dobra, Serbia
Viminacium Kostolac, Serbia
Naissus Niš, Serbia
Remesiana Bela Palanka, Serbia
Serdica Sofia, Bulgaria
Philippopolis Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Hadrianopolis Edirne, Turkey
Arcadiopolis Lüleburgaz, Turkey
Byzantium Istanbul, Turkey
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References

  1. ^ A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples, p. 12, at Google Books
  2. ^ Kılıç, Ayşegül; Bir Osmanlı Akın Beyi Gazi Evrenos Bey İthaki Yay. Istanbul 2014, ISBN 978-605-375-345-2 p. 16. (in Turkish)
  3. ^ "Otkriveni ostaci antičkog puta Via militaris na Koridoru 10".


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