Flavia Solva

It was situated on the western banks of the Mur river, close to the modern cities of Wagna and Leibnitz in the southern parts of the Austrian province of Styria.

The construction activity that followed resulted in an almost entirely new city of stone buildings, with a layout that approximated the ideal of a Roman provincial municipium: rectangular insulae (sized about 60 by 70 meters) within a grid of broad (ca.

At this time the Marcomanni breached the Danube limes between the fortifications of Vindobona (modern Vienna) and Carnuntum, penetrated northwestern Pannonia and eastern Noricum using the Roman road system tracing the ancient Amber Road along the eastern fringe of the Alps, and could be stopped by emperor Marcus Aurelius's hastily assembled militia only shortly before reaching Aquileia.

The city was destroyed again in 405 (most probably during the Germanic invasion of Italy by Radagaisus), but some isolated finds referring to emperor Marcian suggest that a residual settlement must have remained at least until the 450s.

The ruins of Flavia Solva were still a landmark during the Middle Ages although its origins were long forgotten, and they served the population as convenient quarries for construction material.

However, it was not until 1845 that Richard Knabl, a local parish priest and amateur historian, identified the site near the modern city of Leibnitz as the remains of Flavia Solva.

Flavia Solva has been a major focus for Austrian archaeology since the early 20th century; unfortunately (but typically) because construction activity constantly precipitated emergency digs.