Justinian’s Lost City: Why Justiniana Prima Vanished in Just 80 Years

Justinian’s Lost City: Why Justiniana Prima Vanished in Just 80 Years #VanishedMeridian #JustinianaPrima #ByzantineEmpire #LostCities #Archaeology ============================= Why did Emperor Justinian build an entire imperial city in the remote Balkan hills—and why did it disappear less than a century later? In this episode of Vanished Meridian, we investigate the extraordinary story of Justiniana Prima, a sixth-century Byzantine city created during the reign of Emperor Justinian I. Built with massive fortifications, churches, baths, colonnaded streets, markets, an aqueduct and an archbishop’s palace, Justiniana Prima was designed to become one of the most important administrative and religious centers in the Balkans. Yet by around 615 CE, meaningful occupation had ended. Archaeologists at Caričin Grad in southern Serbia have uncovered a remarkable planned city whose architecture closely matches the description written by the sixth-century historian Procopius. But one mystery remains: despite more than a century of archaeological investigation, no inscription discovered at the site clearly states the name Justiniana Prima. Was this really Justinian’s lost imperial city? And if it was, why did a city built by one of Byzantium’s greatest emperors survive for only about eighty years? Discover the rise, decline and unresolved identity of one of the most fascinating lost cities of the Byzantine world. Subscribe to Vanished Meridian for cinematic documentaries exploring lost cities, vanished civilizations, forgotten kingdoms, archaeological mysteries and the places history left behind. ------------------------------------- Justiniana Prima, Justiniana Prima documentary, Justinian lost city, Emperor Justinian, Justinian I, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine history, lost Byzantine city, lost cities, ancient lost cities, Caričin Grad, Caricin Grad Serbia, Byzantine archaeology, archaeology documentary, ancient Serbia, Balkan history, Byzantine Balkans, sixth century Byzantine Empire, Procopius, Justinian city, abandoned ancient cities, forgotten cities, archaeological mysteries, ancient history documentary, historical mystery, vanished civilizations, lost civilizations, Emperor Justinian documentary, Byzantine documentary, Vanished Meridian