Moesia was a province in Roman Empire. It was located in what is now Bulgaria, Serbia and partly Romania reaching in west till the borders of modern Albania.
It's name has been compared to Mysia people who lived in northwestern region of Anatolia and the existence of this name in Balkans has been used as an argument for the migration of Mushki from there.
Boteva questions the origins of the name Moesia and makes a strong argument that the name Moesia is a Roman Imperial period fabrication. No any known source mentions this term related to that region before the 1st century AD. The name itself is derived from Mysia and is written as Moesia to fit old Latin rules of orthography.
The purpose for which Romans started to use this term for this region is probably ideological and political. Western Moesia was mostly inhabited by Dardani. A tribal name which is important in Roman epics of Trojan origins. In this epic the Roman founding fathers were related to Dardani people. On the other hand when Romans conquered Balkans they started to fight with real Dardani people. Dardani were portrayed as barbarians attacking Romans creating a conflicting narrative where in one case Dardani are good guys while in another evil people
To avoid naming their new enemies as Dardani Roman emperors most probably decided to call their lands with new name giving it the name Musia or Moesia. A name they picked from Anatolia. On this way the name Dardani was obscured and forgotten.
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