Tauresium

Tauresium (Latin; Тауресиум), today known as Gradište (Градиште), is an archaeological site in North Macedonia, approximately 20 km southeast of the capital Skopje. Tauresium is the birthplace of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (ca. 482) and King Theodahad of the Ostrogoths (480). Accordig to the most recent studies, Tauresium is located also near the modern city of Niš.

Location and general characteristics


Tauresium is located in Zelenikovo Municipality, near the village Taor, some 20 km southeast of Skopje. The site was discovered by British archaeologist Arthur Evans in the late 19th century. According to Justinian's biographer Procopius, the Emperor was born in Tauresium in 482, more precisely in the castle of Bederiana, which is near the modern city of Niš, Serbia).

In the book De aedificiis, Procopius states:

""...Among the Dardanians of Europe who live beyond the boundaries of the Epidamnians, close to the fortress which is called Bederiana, there was a hamlet named Taurisium, whence sprang the Emperor Justinian, the founder of the civilised world. He therefore built a wall of small compass about this place in the form of a square, placing a tower at each corner, and caused it to be called, as it actually is, Tetrapyrgia. And close by this place he built a very notable city which he named Justiniana Prima (this means "first" in the Latin tongue), thus paying a debt of gratitude to the home that fostered him...""

The similarity in the names of Tauresium and Barderia as Taor (Таор) and Bader (Бадер) was brought to attention by Antun Mihanović, the First Austrian Konzul 1836–1858 and proposed to the writer Hun, who stopped on his journey to investigate the location, which is noted in the book Stara Srbija i Makedonija – Spiridion Gopčević. The stories from the local peasants and badly damaged Cyrillic script were not sufficient to prove the theory initially, but later in the Monastery of St. John in Veles, Cyrillic writings were presented to him after which he concluded that this was the same Byzantine City of Tauresium, birthplace of Justinian I, who laid the foundation for The First Golden Age of The Byzantine Empire.

Tauresium and the castle Baderiana were destroyed in an earthquake in 518; the epicenter of the earthquake was in the nearby city of Skupi. As a gesture of gratitude to his birthplace, Justinian I rebuilt the city. According to the excavations that have been done so far, it is estimated that the oldest parts of Tauresium date from the 4th century, and this oldest part is a castle with four towers known as Tetrapirgia. Regarding Baderiana, Procopius states that it "is a settled castle with oddments from the 4th to 6th century". Baderiana or the modern Bader is located 6 km east of Tauresium and Taor.