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Hidden gem1st c. BC – 7th c. ADUnknown

Scupi

Colonia Flavia Scupinorum, Скупи

city · City of Skopje, North Macedonia

What it is
Scupi is the Roman city on the north-western edge of Skopje, the only Roman colony on the territory of today's North Macedonia, with the largest ancient theatre in the country.
What you’ll see
The city covered about 43 hectares — twice the size of Stobi, in the archaeologist Ivan Mikulčić's comparison (quoted by MARH).
Worth the trip?
For the history, yes; for things to see, only if you are keen.
Getting there & cost
The site lies about 5 km north-west of central Skopje, near the village of Zlokućani, where the Lepenec flows into the Vardar at the foot of Zajčev Rid (mk.wikipedia).UnknownHours, tickets and parking
A grassy hillside in the foreground looking down on a fenced excavation area with low walls and a few sheds, the tower blocks and houses of Skopje beyond and mountains on the horizon.
The excavated area below Zajčev Rid, with Skopje beyond. · Photo: Dimitar Georgievski · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Excavated stone walls and strips of paving running across a grassy field, a heap of rubble in front, low white buildings and a hill with a mast behind.
Excavated remains across the site. · Photo: Протогер · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Rubble-stone walls of several rooms standing in a shallow excavation pit with grassy banks, a fence, street lamps and trees beyond.
Excavated walls. · Photo: Протогер · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Scupi is the Roman city on the north-western edge of Skopje, the only Roman colony on the territory of today’s North Macedonia, with the largest ancient theatre in the country. The photographs available show an excavation rather than a presented site, and no source says what can be visited today.

What is there today

The city covered about 43 hectares — twice the size of Stobi, in the archaeologist Ivan Mikulčić’s comparison (quoted by MARH). Excavation by the Museum of the City of Skopje, which holds the site, has uncovered all or part of the city walls, the theatre, a civil basilica with a mosaic floor, a private town house, the city baths, the colonnaded main street and a Christian basilica, as well as parts of the cemeteries east and west of the town (mk.wikipedia). The photographs available show a fenced field with low foundations and large stone finds set out on the grass.

The theatre

The theatre was built under Hadrian, in the 2nd century AD, and is the largest of the ancient theatres on the territory of North Macedonia, for about 9,000 spectators; its stage building is 98 m long and was richly decorated in marble (mk.wikipedia). Excavation ran from 2013 to May 2016; the stage building was conserved between March and June 2016, and in October 2016 work began on conserving the seating, with a full reconstruction planned (the heritage office).

The baths

The city baths stood in the centre of the town, east of the main street, with rooms for hot and lukewarm bathing heated from below the floor, a changing room and a cold pool; they date from the 4th and 5th centuries (mk.wikipedia).

Is it worth the trip?

For the history, yes; for things to see, only if you are keen. Scupi became the capital of the Roman province of Dardania (mk.wikipedia) and its theatre is the country’s largest, but no source says what visitors can see of the theatre today, and what the photographs show is low foundations in a fenced field. If you have time for one Roman site near Skopje, the aqueduct, about 2.3 km away, is the more visible; if you have a day, Stobi is the site to see.

Getting there

The site lies about 5 km north-west of central Skopje, near the village of Zlokućani, where the Lepenec flows into the Vardar at the foot of Zajčev Rid (mk.wikipedia). OpenStreetMap maps bus stops about 90 and 105 m from the site at Zlokućani, and one named Skupi about 230 m away.

The Museum of the City of Skopje, which holds the site, publishes no opening hours or fee for it, and no source says whether it is open to visitors.

Visiting details

Tickets
Unknown

Before you go

  • The Museum of the City of Skopje, which holds the site, publishes no opening hours or fee for it; photographs from 2014 show the excavated area fenced.
  • Conservation of the theatre began in 2016 (Cultural Heritage Protection Office); no source says what can be visited today.

History

The Roman city began with the army: legions were stationed here, probably in 13–11 BC, and the town grew after the province of Moesia was formed. Under Domitian, in 84–85, it became a colony, Colonia Flavia Scupiorum, settled with veterans of the Seventh Legion Claudia (mk.wikipedia). A colony was the highest rank a city outside Rome could hold (the heritage office). In the 4th century the city built again and became a bishop’s seat; the emperor Theodosius I stayed in Scupi in 379 and 388 (mk.wikipedia). In 518 an earthquake destroyed the city and it was abandoned (en.wikipedia); mk.wikipedia notes signs of a small Slavic village on the site until the 10th–11th century. The site was first identified by Arthur Evans in 1883, and systematic excavation began in 1966 (mk.wikipedia; the heritage office).

Nearby

  • Low courses of flat stones outlining walls in the grass of a hilltop, with bushes around and a wide plain with a city and mountains in the distance.

    Photo: Македонец · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

    8 km · city · Municipality of Čučer-Sandevo

    Davina Kula

    At the southern, highest end of the hill stands the acropolis: an oval castle of about 185 × 110 m whose towered walls of stone and lime date from the late Roman 4th century and were rebuilt in the 6th, after the earthquake of 518.

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Pleiades 481987CC BY
Wikidata Q149203CC0
OpenStreetMap way/32463336ODbL
Cultural Heritage Protection Office (Управа за заштита на културното наследство) — the theatre at Scupi projectlicence not recorded
Wikipedia (mk) — СкупиCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (en) — ScupiCC BY-SA 4.0
MARH — Римскиот град Скупи (quoting I. Mikulčić, 1985)licence not recorded