Tauresium

Tauresium is an ancient settlement in the western Balkans that is best known as the birthplace of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, who reigned from 527 to 565. The site is traditionally identified with the modern village of Taor (also spelled Tauresium) in present-day North Macedonia, located in the Skopje region and roughly 25 to 30 kilometers southeast of Skopje.

In late antiquity, Tauresium functioned as a small fortified settlement on the frontier zones of the Roman and early Byzantine states. Its exact provincial affiliation is debated, with associations proposed for the Roman provinces of Dardania and Moesia. The settlement’s significance rests largely on its connection to Justinian, rather than on a large archaeological footprint from the period.

Archaeological remains at Tauresium are fragmentary but indicate a fortified core with domestic and possible religious structures, as well as burials that suggest a local community of some continuity into the later Byzantine era. Excavations have been limited, and the site has not been fully excavated or developed into a major museum complex. Today it is protected as an archaeological site under North Macedonian heritage law and is accessible to researchers and visitors subject to site regulations.

The association with Justinian I gives Tauresium a notable place in studies of the emperor’s origins and the broader late antique Balkans. In modern scholarship, Tauresium serves as a reference point for the examination of provincial life in the eastern Balkans during the transition from Roman to Byzantine governance.