Legend of the City of Victory
Look at this monument, dear, and ask who’s the person who built it; O, Hermogenes it was, who was grieving for me and our daughter, Thecla, the curly-haired girl who was taken by Fate with no mercy. Pure she was, for indeed she had never laid with a husband, God, please accept her like this, unblemished by passion or marriage. Now let me tell you the names of the two other people that rest here. It is my brave little boy who was known by the name Demosthenes, Son of Matrona – that’s me, and I live in the city of Nike. Fourth in the grave, by his son, the father and husband was laid down.
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Funerary inscription of the family of Matrona from Nicopolis ad Nestum
Editors: Georgi Mihailov,Repository: Regional History Museum - Blagoevgrad,
Preview: Δέρκεο σῆμα, φέριστε, καὶ εἴρεο τίς κάμε τοῦτο. Ἑρμογένης ποθέων...,
Type: slab,
Material: marble,
A summer afternoon in Augusta Trajana
A summer afternoon in Augusta Trajana. It’s hot and there aren’t many people around; just a few can be spotted hiding from the scorching rays of the July sun behind the columns of the stoa. It is quiet, even in front of the temple. Two boys, not older than sixteen, come out of the gymnasium – they have just finished their classes. They are obviously in no rush at all.
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Honorary inscription for Marcus Ulpius Genialis from Stara Zagora
Editors: Gawril Kazarow, Georgi Mihailov, Nicolay Sharankov,Repository: Stara Zagora Historical Museum,
Preview: Ἀγαθῆι τύχηι. κατὰ τὸ δόγμα τῆς σεμνο τάτης Λακεδαιμονίων πό...,
Type: statue base,
Material: marble,
The starlet of Kamenovo
Maiden of youth that was laid in the grave with her dearest mother; Twelve years old when I was, an illness took over my body. Now in a grave with my mum, I, Secunda, am quietly resting; But Aphrodite has turned me in a glowing and beautiful starlet. Fortune to all! Who wouldn’t be touched by such a grievous inscription? 1800 years ago, a young girl’s family had an altar built in her memory. They probably visited it often, to commemorate her. They would leave food, wine and gifts, same as we do today in Bulgaria, on All Souls’ Day.
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Funerary inscription for Secunda from Kamenovo
Editors: Georgi Mihailov,Repository: National Archaeological Institute with Museum,
Preview: Ἀδμὴς παρθένος εἰμί, φίλῃ δ’ ἅμα μητρὶ τέθαμ μαι ∙...,
Type: altar,
Material: limestone,
The Voice of Prima
To have a sister that was turned into a starlet by Aphrodite, the goddess, sounds like a fabulous perk. While the rest of the family argue who will inherit the orchard, you can simply point to the sky and say: ‘I have a sister among the stars! I need nothing else.’
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Funerary inscription for Secunda from Kamenovo
Editors: Georgi Mihailov,Repository: National Archaeological Institute with Museum,
Preview: Ἀδμὴς παρθένος εἰμί, φίλῃ δ’ ἅμα μητρὶ τέθαμ μαι ∙...,
Type: altar,
Material: limestone,
Versifying sorrow
Do you know what a cento poem is? Have you ever read one or tried to write one? The Latin word cento means “patched cloth,” and the same idea in Ancient Greek was expressed by the word κέντρων. Both terms were also used to describe verses composed of scraps from other authors.
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Funerary inscription for Eugenius from Suvodol
Editors: France Mesesnel, Nikola Vulić, Werner Peek, Anne-Marie Vérilhac, Joachim Ebert, Nicolay Sharankov,Repository: Archaeological Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia,
Preview: κέκλυθι, τέκνον έμόν, καὶ ἀνά στεο σοῖσι γονεῦσιν· τίπτε λιπὼν...,
Type: unknown,
Material: marble,
Stone Witness to Life and Memory
In a secluded spot near Dobri Dol—where branches and grasses stir in the wind, and the land quietly cradles centuries-old memories—a marble stele has been uncovered, standing with silent dignity. Crafted in the early 2nd century AD, its presence pulsed at the heart of Roman Macedonia, highlighting the significance of Scupi as a Roman colony, whose wide domains and villae rusticae extended far beyond the administrative center—once lively with activity.
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Grave monument of Publius Aelius Posidonianus from Scupi
Editors: Dušanka Vučković-Todorović, Borka Dragojević–Josifovska, Ana Šašel, Jaroslav Šašel, Marjeta Šašel-Kos,Repository: Archaeological Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia,
Preview: Publius Aelius Publi filius Posido nianus v ix it an...,
Type: stele,
Material: marble,
Uncovering the Heritage: The Jewish Community in Stobi
In the northern part of ancient Macedonia, at the confluence of the Crna and Vardar rivers, once stood the city of Stobi. The Roman historian Titus Livius already mentioned Stobi in his historical writings as an old city. Thanks to its strategic position at the crossroads of important trade routes, Stobi developed into a significant economic and cultural center, and during the Roman Empire, it held the status of a municipium. Among the many communities that lived in this cosmopolitan city, the Jewish community left a profound mark on its history.
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Donation by Polycharmos from Stobi
Editors: Nikola Vulić, Jozo Petrović, David Noy, Alexander Panayotov, Hanswulf Bloedhorn, John S. Kloppenborg, Richard S. Ascough, Slavica Babamova, Veselinka Ninković,Repository: National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade,
Preview: Κλαύδιος Τιβέριος Πολύ χαρμος ὁ καὶ Ἀχύρι ος ὁ πατὴρ...,
Type: column,
Material: marble,
Anthestia Fusca and Her Family in Styberra
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, curious scholars began visiting the villages of Macedonia. In the area of the village of Čepigovo, near Prilep, they started noticing finely crafted marble pieces lying on the surface of the land, and several others built in as spolia in the local village church. In this way, they learned that a city once stood there, called Styberra, exactly as the ancient historiographers Strabo and Stephanus of Byzantium had written many centuries earlier. Around the site, fragments of statues of men and women of over-life size also began to appear.
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Testament of Anthestia Fusca from Stuberra
Editors: Dušanka Vučković–Todorović, Fanula Papazoglu, Marijana Ricl, Vesna Kalpakovska, Slavica Babamova,Repository: not applicable,
Preview: θεὰν Τύχην τῇ πόλει καὶ τὸν ναὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐν...,
Type: statue base,
Material: marble,
The Renowned Virtuous Citizen of Lychnidos
Lychnidos, the city known today as Ohrid, reached its greatest flourishing during the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial periods. In those ancient times, when Rome ruled the world, over Lychnidos reigned the Pax Romana — a peace that was not silence, but rather the very breath of life. Its people lived freely, a libera gens. Although distant from the echoing march of the legions, Lychnidos was situated along the Via Egnatia, the great artery linking East and West. Along that road passed merchants bearing silk, sages carrying books, and poets with their verses — each leaving behind a word, a thought, a glimmer of light.
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Statue base in honor of Aurelius Krates son of Ptolemaios from Lychnidos
Editors: Vera Bitrakova–Grozdanova, Fanula Papazoglu, Milena Milin,Repository: NI Institute for protection of monuments of culture and museum – Ohrid,
Preview: ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ· Δασσαρήτιοι Αὐρήλιον Κρά τητα Πτολεμαίου τὸν ἐν δοξότατον...,
Type: statue base,
Material: limestone,
On the eigth day of the month of Taureon
This is my home – a city shoved away on the coast of the Euxine Pont, with white marble temples and streets and walls made of stone which absorb the warmth of the summer sun. I’ve lived here long and there isn’t a cobble left that I haven’t set my foot on. The stones have shell embedded in them, and their mother-of-pearl makes our city sparkle in the sun.
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Dedication to the Mother of Gods by her priestess Zouke
Editors: Nicolay Sharankov,Repository: Historical Museum - Balchik,
Preview: Ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ. Μητρὶ θεῶν Ποντίᾳ ἐπηκόωι Ζουκη Ἡρακλείδου θυγάτηρ, γυνὴ...,
Type: pediment stele,
Material: marble,