Ratiaria

Ratiaria was an ancient Roman city on the Danube, lying about 2 km west of the present village of Archar in Vidin Province, north-western Bulgaria, and across the river from southern Romania. It had a gold mine worked by the Thracians and was taken by the Dacians of Burebista before the Romans conquered it and made it a legionary fortress for Legio IV Flavia Felix. After 86 AD it was the capital of Upper Moesia, and in 107 AD it became the colony Colonia Ulpia Traiana Ratiaria under Trajan. It prospered as a trade centre and customs port, and about 285 it became the capital of the province Dacia Ripensis and a metropolitan see. Huns sacked it in 440 or 441 and Avars in 586. Excavation began in 1958, but much of the site has since been dug illegally, and a museum for it has been set up in Dimovo.