Lebane (Serbian Cyrillic: Лебане) is a town and municipality located in the Jablanica District of southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the town has a population of 8,025 inhabitants, while the municipality has 18,119 inhabitants.
Lebane (Serbian Cyrillic: Лебане) is a town and municipality located in the Jablanica District of southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the town has a population of 8,025 inhabitants, while the municipality has 18,119 inhabitants.
The territory of the modern state of Serbia was part of the Roman Empire and later the Eastern Roman Empire. In particular, the region of Central Serbia was under Roman rule for about 800 years (with interruptions), starting from the 1st century BC, interrupted by the arrival of the Slavs into the Balkans during the 6th century, but continued after fall of the First Bulgarian Empire in the early 11th century and permanently ended with the rise of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the late 12th century. The territories were administratively divided into the provinces of Moesia (later Moesia Superior), Pannonia (later Pannonia Inferior) and Dardania. Moesia Superior roughly corresponds to modern Serbia proper; Pannonia Inferior included the eastern part of Serbia proper; Dardania included the western part of Serbia proper. After its reconquest from the Bulgarians by Emperor Basil II in 1018, it was reorganized into the Theme of Bulgaria.
The Danube River influenced the extension of the Roman Empire; its confluents, such as Sava and Morava, affected the growth of frontier fortresses and towns. Many authors and explorers wrote about traces of the Roman Empire on the Danube coast. One of the localities, Felix Romuliana, was ranked on the list of cultural heritage of UNESCO in July 2007.
Justiniana Prima (Latin: Iustiniana Prima; Greek: Ιουστινιανή Πρώτη; Serbian: Јустинијана Прима, romanized: Justinijana Prima) was an Eastern Roman city that existed from 535 to 615 CE, near modern Lebane in the Leskovac region, Serbia. It is currently an archaeological site. Founded by Emperor Justinian I (527-565), it was the metropolitan seat of the newly founded Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima, which became the main church administrative body of the central Dardania with jurisdiction from Praevalitana to Dacia Ripensis. Justinian Prima was originally designed to become the capital of the prefecture of Illyricum, but for reasons likely related with its status near the Roman frontiers of the 6th century CE, Thessaloniki was preferred. It was abandoned less than 100 years after its foundation.
In 1979, the archaeological site of Justiniana Prima, identified with Caričin Grad, was added to the Archaeological Sites of Exceptional Importance-list under official protected status by the Republic of Serbia.