Mursa
Μοῦρσα
Mursa or MURSIA (Μοῦρσα, Μουρσία), also called Mursa Major, to distinguish it from Mursella (Mersella) or Mursa Minor, was an important Roman colony, founded by Hadrian in Lower Pannonia, and had the surname Aelia. It was the residence of the governor of the country, on the Dravus, and there the roads met leading from Aquincum, Celeia, and Poetovio. In its neighbourhood, Gallienus gained a victory over Ingebus; and Constantine the Great made the town the seat of a bishop, A.D. 338. Its modern name is Essek, the capital of Slavonia. (Ptol. 2.16.8, 8.7.6; Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 33; Zosim. 2.43; Steph. B. sub voce Μοῦρσα; Geogr. Rav. 4.19; It. Ant. pp. 243, 265, 267, 331; It. Hieros. p. 562; Orelli, Inscript. Nos. 3066, 3281.)
The Lesser Mursa (Mursa Minor or Mursella) was likewise situated in Lower Pannonia, ten miles to the west of Mursa Major, on the road from this latter place to Poetovio, near the modern village of Petrowicz, on the right bank of the Danube. (Ptol. 2.16.7; Geogr. Rav. 4.19; It. Hieros. p. 562; Tab. Peut.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.