City
Hadrianopoli
Edirne
Listen to the story
At Hadrianopolis in AD 378 the emperor Valens was defeated by the Goths, a disaster the Roman historian Ammianus already judged a turning point of his age. The name means 'city of Hadrian', for that emperor refounded an older Thracian settlement called Uscudama, probably 'water fortress', since it stood where rivers meet. Today it is Edirne in Turkey. The map marks it with a pair of towers, fitting for the capital of a late Roman province and a centre of weapons production, and draws the river Hebrus, navigable from here onwards, just below.