IMPERIUM ROMANUM

Provinces · The later eastern provinces

LE-04 Epirus Vetus

The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri…
The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri, Thessaly, Macedonia, Achaia, and the Thracian districts illustrate the replacement of large commands by smaller jurisdictions. The river network helps relate frontier districts to the Adriatic, Aegean, and imperial straits.

Nicopolis retained the legacy of Augustus’s victory foundation while becoming an important Christian city. Its coastal connections linked the province to Italy, the Ionian world, and inland routes. Farming, livestock, local exchange, and the relationship between towns and uplands structured everyday life.

Late authority depended on access through difficult country and the ability to preserve communications with other imperial centres. Coastal and fortified communities could remain connected to the eastern empire when inland conditions changed. The province’s older name should not imply identical borders with a pre-Roman kingdom or a continuous constitutional history from the earliest Epirote rulers.