20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The evolution of the city of Moscopole.Rise and decayTănase Bujduveanu"Carol I st " Commercial College – ConstanţaI. The Geography of the Region and of the TownMoscopole was the fortress and the cultural metropolis of theAromanians in the Balkan Peninsula during the Middle Ages.Moscopole – the town itself, but also the group of small settlementsand villages around it, which were satellites of the town – was consideredone of the greatest towns of the time in the Ottoman Empire.If we look at the map of the region of Moscopole we can notice that itspread from Mount Gramostea in the north – west, 10 kilometres south –west towards the southern area of Lake Ohrida on a plain that gently lowersto the foot of Mount Opari, which the inhabitants used to call “Costi alManduca”, a ramification of Mount Molitomori (Tamor), one of the highestmountains of Albania, and to the north – west. The region was located closeto other regions inhabited by Aromanians.II. The Establishment of MoscopoleDue to their specific activities and the historical conditions(wars and robberies) the Aromanians occupied the high mountainareas. Their vitality and the quality of their Traco-Dacian heredityimposed the Aromanians in front of other peoples who were already in theregion or came later to the Balkan Peninsula. In the 11 th and the 12 th centuries,especially during the reign of Alexis the Comnen there were quite largenumbers of Aromanians in the provinces of Macedonia, Tracia and Moesia.Under the Comen dynasty the Aromanians had a favourable period. Theregime was favourable mainly to the nomad Aromanian shepherds who