Novae
NOVAE (Νοοῦα;, Ptol. 3.10.10; called Νοβαί by Procop. de Aedif. 4.11. p. 308, and Hierocl. p. 636; and Novensis Civ. by Marcellin. Chron. ad an. 487), a town of Lower Moesia on the Danube, and according to the Itin. Ant. (p. 221) and the Not. Imp. (100.29), the station of the legio I. Italica. It is identified either with Novograd or Gourabeli. At a later period it obtained the name of Eustesium. (Jornand. Get. 18.)
[T.H.D]At the S extremity of the Danube near Svištov, the station of Legio VIII Augusta from A.D. 46 to 69. Thereafter until the end of the Empire it was the station of Legio I Italica. Beginning as a village, it became an important economic and military center. It was a municipium from the time of Marcus Aurelius on, a rest stop on the Via Danubiana, and port of the Danube fleet. In A.D. 250 the Goths under Kniva fought near there (Iord. Get. 101), and the town is mentioned in connection with the invasion of the Huns in 441. In the reign of the Emperor Zenon it was the residence of the Goths under Theodoric (477-483). The town, well fortified after the 2d c. A.D., was retaken by Justinian (Proc. De aed. 4.11). It was the seat of a bishop in the 5th and 6th c. and an important fort and base of the Byzantine army in its battles against the Slavs and Avars (Theoph. Sim. 7.1.1).
Excavations have cleared large sections of the late antique fortifications as well as basilicas (5th-6th c.) and the foundations of public buildings. Many inscriptions, votive stelai, and sculptural monuments have also been found. The finds are in the museum of Svištov.
BIBLIOGRAPHYPolaschek, RE 17 (1937) col. 1125-29; B. Gerov, Akte des IV intern. Kongr. für Griech. und lat. Epigraphik (1964) 129-33; D. P. Dimitrov et al., Bull. Inst. arch. bulg. 26 (1963) 133ff; 27 (1964) 217ff; 28 (1965) 43ff; 29 (1966) 99ff; 30 (1967) 77ff; 32 (1970); K. Maiewski et al., Klio 39 (1961) 319ff; 51 (1969) 329ff; Archeologia Polona 9 (1966) 149ff; 13 (1972) 279-305.
V. VELKOV