MOESIA, a district inhabited by a Thracian people, bounded on the south by the mountain ranges of Haemus and Scardus, on the west by the Drinus, on the north by the Danube and on the east by the Euxine. Some, however, place the boundary much farther west. Each was governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator. It corresponded in the main to modern Serbia and Bulgaria. In 75 B.C., C. Scribonius Curio, proconsul of Mace donia, penetrated as far as the Danube, and gained a victory over the inhabitants, who were finally subdued by M. Licinius Crassus, grandson of the triumvir and also proconsul of Macedonia, dur ing the reign of Augustus c. 29 B.C. ; the country, however, was not organized as a province until the last years of the reign. Originally one province, under an imperial legate (who probably also had control of Achaea and Macedonia), it was divided by Domitian into Upper and Lower Moesia, the western and eastern portions respectively, divided from each other by the river Cebrus.
As a frontier province, Moesia was strengthened by stations and fortresses erected along the southern bank of the Danube, and a wall was built from Axiopolis to Tomi as a protection against Scythian and Sarmatian inroads. After the abandonment of Dacia (q.v.) to the barbarians by Aurelian (27o-275) and the transfer ence of its inhabitants to the south of the Danube, the central portion of Moesia took the name of Dacia Aureliani. The Goths, who had already invaded Moesia in 25o, hard pressed by the Huns, again crossed the Danube during the reign of Valens (376), and with his permission settled in Moesia. But quarrels soon took place, and the Goths under Fritigern defeated Valens in a great battle near Adrianople (378). These Goths are known as Moeso Goths, for whom Ulfilas made the Gothic translation of the Bible. In the 7th century Slays and Bulgarians entered the country and founded the modern kingdoms of Serbia and Bulgaria.