Mœsia

Mœsia, an ancient Roman province, divided by the river Cibus (Zibritza) into two parts, the eastern corresponding to the present Bulgaria, and the western (Mœsia Superior) to Servia. Its original inhabitants were mostly of Thracian race. In 75 B.C. the Romans first came into conflict with the Gaulish or Celtic invaders of the land, who had settled in Western Mœsia two hundred years previously; but they did not conquer Western or Upper Mœsia until 29 B.C. and Eastern or Lower Mœsia until 15 B.C. To protect these provinces from the Dacians and Sarmatians beyond the river, a wall was built and fortified posts erected along the Danube. The Emperor Valens permitted the Visigoths to settle in Mœsia in 375 A.D. From the 5th to the 7th century Western Mœsia was colonised by the Slav races who still occupy it, and Eastern Mœsia by the Bulgarians.