Szombathely

Szombathely's Roman predecessor was founded by Claudius Caesar in around AD43 under the name of Colonia Claudia Savarensium (The Claudian Colony of Savarians). This settlement made up of soldiers serving in the 15th Appolinaris Legion, their family members and the traders and craftsmen associated with them came into being in the context of the organisation of the province of Pannonia. Thus along with Emona (Ljubljana-Laibach, Slovenia) and perhaps Scarbantia (Sopron-Ödenburg) it can be counted as the earliest settlement in the province.
This town which came into being next to the Amber Way developed quickly, and so, following the division of Pannonia into two regions in AD 106 - and perhaps earlier too - Savaria became the provincial centre for civil administration and the cult of the emperor.
The provincial assembly had its sessions here, and here the temple of the divinised Roman emperor stood. Following the reorganisation of the Roman Empire at the end of the Third Century AD, Savaria became the capital of Pannonia Prima province. This was the place where the governor sat, and the provincial treasure was kept. Roman emperors themselves often appeared here, a fact witnessed to by the writings of ancient historians and the Imperial edicts given out here