Moesia

Ancient district in eastern Europe, corresponding roughly to modern Serbia and Bulgaria. The inhabitants were subdued by the Romans in 29 BC and it was formally organized as a Roman province shortly before the death of Augustus in AD 14.

Moesia was bounded on the south by Thrace and Macedonia, on the west by Illyricum and Pannonia, on the north by the River Danube, and on the east by the Black Sea. The inhabitants were a Thracian people who were finally subdued by Roman forces under Marcus Licinius Crassus, grandson of Crassus the triumvir. The emperor Domitian (ruled AD 81–96) divided it into Moesia Superior (in the west) and Moesia Inferior (in the east), divided by the River Cebrus (modern River Maritsa).

Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior were invaded by the Goths in 250 AD, and when the emperor Aurelian surrendered the Roman province Dacia to the Goths and moved its inhabitants south of the Danube, the central region of Moesia was called Dacia Aureliani.