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Eastern Road to the Monastery of Treskavec
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During a TIB survey in June 2016 Mihailo St. Popović documented the Eastern road to the Monastery of the Holy Mother of God in Treskavec. In this case he came across substantial remnants of the respective road. The Holy Mother of God in Treskavec (Bogorodica Trěskavska) was widely venerated by emperors, kings, queens, the clergy, noblemen and -women as well as the ordinary people in Byzantine Macedonia as well as in the Southern Balkan Peninsula. Amongst them was also the future Serbian emperor Stefan Uroš V (reigned 1355-1371), who visited the monastery and showed his great reverence to the Mother of God according to the following passage in the third charter of the Serbian King Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (reigned 1331-1355) for the Monastery of Treskavec from 1344/45: “My Majesty spoke with the queen and We sent the dearest son of Our Majesty, king Uroš, in order to venerate the Most Pure Mother of God” (“I zgovori se kraljevьstvo mi sь kralicomь i poslasmo prěvьzljublenaago syna kraljevьstva našego Uroša kralja da se pokloni prěčistoi Bogorodici …”).
There can be no doubt that the medieval road and, thus, the one used by Stefan Uroš V in the middle of the 14th century is the Eastern road. It has substantial remains, which are leading to the monastery and can be dated to the Middle Ages. The fabric of these remnants is very different from and apparently older than the Western road and, moreover, it is following points of worship and spirituality in the landscape (i.e. frescoes on rocks), which are systematically placed in the surrounding area. The pilgrims are virtually accompanied on their way up to the peak of the mountain and, thus, prepared to meet the Mother of God in Treskavec, whilst they pass the fresco of the Archangel Michael in the vicinity of the village of Dabnica and two frescoes of the Mother of God. The reward for a hike with a duration of three hours to the monastery then and now is the sight of a religious and cultural centre, which was endangered and partially destroyed by a blaze in 2013 and in which the main church of the monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God was miraculously spared for the generations to come.
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Least Cost Path Bitola Prilep
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Although a vast variety of secondary literature has been published on the Via Egnatia, some parts of its route still remain obscure, for instance the section between Ohrid, Resen and Bitola. The archaeologist Viktor Lilčikj Adams has argued for a multi-layered approach to this question. Least cost path (LCP) calculations were applied by Markus Breier to replicate/predict the route between Ohrid, Resen, Bitola and Prilep, and, thus, to complement the existing written sources, archaeological evidence and maps. Based on the aforesaid multi-layered approach a LCP model was put into existence, which was published in 2017. LCP are viable models that can help to understand historical transportation networks. Thus, they have the capacity to complement the thorough analysis of the surviving written sources, the archaeological evidence in situ and published as well as unpublished maps. The model of the section between Bitola and Prilep is viable and can be regarded as a good approximation. However, it has to be noted, that the result is an idealised representation, not necessarily the real course of the road. Various uncertainties (e.g. present day data, uncertain locations of historical landmarks) also have to be considered, when the results are interpreted. Nonetheless, computer generated models like LCP can lead to new insights regarding historical landscapes. The integration of social, political and economic factors as well as agent-based methods like view-shed might further enhance the viability of these models. These factors, however, are difficult to formalise, so that they can be used within a GIS.
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Least Cost Path Ohrid Bitola
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Although a vast variety of secondary literature has been published on the Via Egnatia, some parts of its route still remain obscure, for instance the section between Ohrid, Resen and Bitola. The archaeologist Viktor Lilčikj Adams has argued for a multi-layered approach to this question. He distinguishes for the section Ohrid – Resen between a summer and a winter road. The summer road led from Ohrid to Velgošti and via the mountain of Istok (1661 m altitude) and the village of Petrino to Resen, which is the most direct and shortest way between Ohrid and Resen. The winter road offers three variants: The first ran from Ohrid via Kosel, Opejnca, Zavoj, the pass of Bukovo (1207 m altitude) to Resen, which is the longest and safest section. The second variant connected Ohrid, Leskoec, circumvented the elevation of Bigla (1228 m altitude) to the South-East of Opejnca, crossed the pass of Bukovo and reached Resen via Izbište. The third led from Ohrid to Leskoec, Skrebatno, Ilino and Resen.
Least cost path (LCP) calculations were applied by Markus Breier to replicate/predict the route between Ohrid, Resen and Bitola, and, thus, to complement the existing written sources, archaeological evidence and maps. Based on the aforesaid multi-layered approach a LCP model was put into existence, which was published in 2017. LCP are viable models that can help to understand historical transportation networks. Thus, they have the capacity to complement the thorough analysis of the surviving written sources, the archaeological evidence in situ and published as well as unpublished maps. The section of the LCP model between Ohrid and Resen corresponds to the aforesaid third variant of the winter road (namely from Ohrid via Leskoec, Skrebatno and Ilino to Resen). The model presented is viable and can be a good approximation to the road between Ohrid and Bitola. However, it has to be noted, that the result is an idealised representation, not necessarily the real course of the road. Various uncertainties (e.g. present day data, uncertain locations of historical landmarks) also have to be considered, when the results are interpreted. Nonetheless, computer generated models like LCP can lead to new insights regarding historical landscapes. The integration of social, political and economic factors as well as agent-based methods like view-shed might further enhance the viability of these models. These factors, however, are difficult to formalise, so that they can be used within a GIS.
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Road between Brailovo and Desovo
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During a TIB survey in September 2008 Mihailo St. Popović found remnants of an old road, which connected the villages of Brailovo and Desovo. A dating could not be undertaken due to the lack of archaeological evidence in situ.
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Road between Podmol and Bonče
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During a TIB survey in June 2016 Mihailo St. Popović found remnants of an old road, which connected the villages of Podmol and Bonče. A dating could not be undertaken due to the lack of archaeological evidence in situ.
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Road of Pletvar
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The road over the pass of Pletvar cannot be found in the Serbian charters for the Monastery of the Holy Mother of God in Treskavec from the years 1334/35, 1343/44 und 1344/45. It connects the valley of the river Vardar (from Gradsko) with the plain of Pelagonia and must have already existed in the Middle Ages. Boban Petrovski surmises that Timurtaş, the Beylerbey of Rumelia, left the town of Serres in the spring of 1385, marched with his army via Dojran to Demir Kapija and then traversed the pass of Pletvar in order to conquer Prilep and Bitola. After that he led his army on the Via Egnatia to Ohrid, which he also captured.
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Road of Prisad
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The prisadьsky putь (the "Road of Prisad") is attested in all three Serbian charters for the Monastery of the Holy Mother of God in Treskavec from the years 1334/35, 1343/44 und 1344/45 and runs over the pass of Prisad to the North-East of Prilep. Most fascinating and puzzling is the fact that the roads, which are attested in the charters of the Serbian King Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (reigned 1331-1355) for the monastery cannot be found in situ, i.e. the respective landscape, today. The only exception is the prisadьsky putь, which is named after the pass of Prisad and which connects the valley of the river Vardar (i.e. Veles) as well as of the river Babuna (via the place Izvor) with the plain of Pelagonia (i.e. Prilep). This road is not only attested in the medieval charters, but also in travel accounts or reports of the 19th and 20th centuries. During the Balkan Wars 1912/13 the Serbian army used this road in order to advance against Ottoman-held Prilep. In the First World War (1914-1918) the German army reconstructed and upgraded this road in order to supply its troops on the Salonica Front. During a TIB survey in June 2016 Mihailo St. Popović documented remarkable sections of the German road, which is surprisingly well preserved and which is still used by the indigenous population as a local road in order to transport wood and timber. Thus, the prisadьsky putь has a continuity at least from the Middle Ages until our time.
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Road to the Monastery of Zrze
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During a TIB survey in September 2008 Mihailo St. Popović found remnants of an old road, which connected the village of Kostinci to the Monastery of Zrze running in East-West direction. A dating could not be undertaken due to the lack of archaeological evidence in situ.
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Via Egnatia
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Gavro Škrivanić outlines in his study on the roads in medieval Serbia that the Via Egnatia connected Rome and Constantinople via Macedonia. Although a vast variety of secondary literature has been published on the Via Egnatia, some parts of its route still remain obscure, for instance the section between Ohrid and Resen. The archaeologist Viktor Lilčikj Adams has argued for a multi-layered approach to this question and stated rightly that: "[…] a serious scholarly reconstruction requires new detailed field and cabinet archaeological research with modern research methodologies and adequate sophisticated field and office equipment." The same scholar distinguishes for the section Ohrid – Resen between a summer and a winter road. The summer road led from Ohrid to Velgošti and via the mountain of Istok (1661 m altitude) and the village of Petrino to Resen, which is the most direct and shortest way between Ohrid and Resen. The winter road offers three variants: The first ran from Ohrid via Kosel, Opejnca, Zavoj, the pass of Bukovo (1207 m altitude) to Resen, which is the longest and safest section. The second variant connected Ohrid, Leskoec, circumvented the elevation of Bigla (1228 m altitude) to the South-East of Opejnca, crossed the pass of Bukovo and reached Resen via Izbište. The third led from Ohrid to Leskoec, Skrebatno, Ilino and Resen. In our case we have emphasised and embedded the summer road.
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Western Road to the Monastery of Treskavec
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During a TIB survey in September 2008 Mihailo St. Popović documented the Western road to the Monastery of the Holy Mother of God in Treskavec. In this case he came across substantial remnants of the respective road, which could not be dated due to the lack of archaeological excavations and finds. Nevertheless, the Western road seemed to date to the Early Modern period and was covered by a tarmac road between 2008 and 2016.
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