Požarevac
city in Serbia
Požarevac (Serbian Cyrillic: Пожаревац, pronounced [pǒʒarevats]) is a city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čačalica (208m). As of 2022, the city has a population of 42,530 while the city administrative area has 68,648 inhabitants.
Name
In Serbian, the city is known as Požarevac (Пожаревац), in Romanian as Pojarevăț or Podu Lung, in Turkish as Pasarofça, in German as Passarowitz, and in Hungarian as Pozsarevác.
The name means "fire-town" in Serbian (In this case, the word "fire" is used in the sense of a disaster).
History
Ancient times
In ancient times, the area was inhabited by Thracians, Dacians, and Celts. There was a city at this locality known as Margus in Latin after the Roman conquest in the first century BC.
In 435, the city of Margus, under the Eastern Roman Empire, was the site of a treaty between the Romans and the Hun leaders Attila and Bleda.
One pretext for the Hun invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire in 442 was that the Bishop of Margus had crossed the Danube to ransack and desecrate the royal Hun graves on the north bank of the Danube. When the Romans discussed handing over the Bishop, he slipped away and betrayed the city to the Huns, who then sacked the city and went on to invade as far as the gates of Constantinople itself.
After the fall of the Hunnic Empire, the area was again controlled by the Eastern Roman Empire.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Požarevac” is city in Serbia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Požarevac, city and Serbia, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “city in Serbia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q199942. VIAF identifies the subject as 124419419. The Library of Congress control number is n86091990. Authority coordinates are 44.620, 21.190. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Požarevac”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Požarevac primary sources, Požarevac archive and Požarevac research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Požarevac”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Požarevac” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.