NOVIODU´NUM
NOVIODU´NUM (
Νοουΐοδουνον).
1.
A place in Pannonia Superior, on the great road leading from Aemona to Siscia, on the southern bank of the Savus. (
Ptol. 2.15.4;
Itin. Ant. p. 259: Geogr. Rav. 4.19, where it is called Novindum.) Its modern name is
Novigrad.
2.
A town and fortress in Lower Moesia, a little above the point where the Danube divides itself into several arms. (
Ptol. 3.10.11.) Near this town the emperor Valens constructed a bridge over the Danube for his expedition against the Greuthungi. (Ami-m. Marc. 27.1.) Some writers have supposed, without any good reason, that Noviodunum is the point at which Darius ordered a bridge to be built when he set out on his expedition against the Scythians.
The town, as its name indicates, was of Celtic origin.
According to the Antonine Itinerary (p. 226) Noviodunum was the station of the legio it. Herculea, while according to the “Notitia Imperii” it had the legio I. Jovia for its garrison. During the later period of the Western Empire, the fortifications of the place had been destroyed, but they were restored by Justinian (Procop.
de Aed. 4.11; comp. Hieroel. p. 637; and Constant. Porph.
de Them. ii. l, where the place is called
Ναβιόδουνος and
Ναβιόδουνον. The Civitas Nova in Jornandes (
Get. 5) is probably the same as Noviodunum; and it is generally believed that its site is occupied by the modern
Isaczi. [
L.S]
