MCESIA, me'shi-a (Lat.. from Gk. Mocata, Moisiu). An ancient Roman province, bounded by the Danube, and for a short distance by the Savus (Save), on the north. the Black Sea on the east, the mountain chains of Ilamms Bal kan) and Orbelus on the south, and by the range of Seardus and the river Drinus (Drina) on the west. The river Cibrus (Tzibritza) divided it into two parts, the eastern (Mcesia Inferior) corre sponding approximal4dy to the present Bulgaria. and the western (iNbusia Superior) to Servia. Its original inhabitants were mostly of Thracian race. Ganlish or Celtic invaders settled in Western i‘liesia about 11.o. 277, under the name of Scor disei. The Romans first. came in contact with (lie tribes of Mcesia after the conquest of Macedonia. In B.C. 75 C. S?TilMnills Curio forced his way as far north its the Danube. and gained a victory over the Miesians, but the country was not completely subjugated till n.c. 29. It was made
a Roman province in the reign of Augustus, and flourished for more than two centuries; hut as a frontier province it was much exposed to hostile invasions, and required a line of fortresses and stations all along the south bank of the Danube. The chief Roman towns were N'iminaeimn in Alo.sia Superior, and Istros, Marcianopolis. and Nieopolis in INIo.sia Inferior. In A.D. 250 the Goths made an irruption into the country. and defeated and slew the Roman Emperor Decius in the following year. and about the end of the fourth century it was given up to them by the Emperor Theodosius I. Slavic tribes settled in Nliesia in the sixth and seventh cen turies, and toward the close of the seventh een tury the 1111g:trial's established their kingdom in the eastern part.