Bargala, s. Gorni Kozjak, stipsko, Republika Makedonija

On a mild slope at the foot of the mountain Plačkovica, near the river Kozjačka and the village of Kozjak, remains have been found of a castrum town dating from the early 4th century. Scientists associate these ruins to the town of Bargala, the existence of which is supported by the plaque from the year 371, with a Latin inscription containing information on the building of the city gate in Bargala by Anthony Alipius, administrator of the province.

Bargala, Gorni Kozjak, archeological site

The remnants indicate existence of a strong rectangular wall with a surface of 280x185x150m (4,7 ha) and of northwest-southeast orientation. The big and hard stone walls of 2,30 m width were fortified by 20 rectangular towers, inside of which there were rooms where the soldiers and horses were accommodated. The main double entrance was situated almost in the middle of the west rampart.

The existence of this military fortification, along with the one 6 kilometers from it, discovered in the village of Krupište, is connected by scientists to the enmities between Constanin I and Licenius. But, after the withdrawal of the troops, the camp was inhabited by civilian population, so towards the end of the 4th century, Bargala was a civil town, an observation confirmed by the inscription on the plaque found in the ruins of the Turkish inn near the village of Karbinci, 10 km northeast of Štip.

The town of Bargala soon expanded into a powerful center in the middle reaches of the river Bregalnica and became an Episcopal center. In its northwest part an Episcopal basilica was discovered, constructed towards the end of the 4th century, and restored, that is, rebuilt and remodeled in the V-VI century. It represents a building built according to the standard type of old Christian construction of the Balkan Peninsula and the Mediterranean. From architectural point of view, it is a three-nave basilica with a semicircular apse from the inside and the outside and with an interior narthex and an exonarthex. Of the interior of the basilica, especially impressive are the floors covered with stone plaques, except for the north one, which was covered with a multicolored mosaic. The most beautiful floor is considered to be the one in the presbytery, which was covered in white and gray plaques in opus sectile.

On a capital of the entrance tribelon in the exonarthex, the following inscription was found: "Christ, help your slave, the episcope Hermia". The latter and the episcopes Philipe and Eustatius, from the two Episcopal basilicas in Stobi, are marked as founders (church-donors) of the basilicas.

The complex of the Episcopal basilica comprehended the Episcopal residence, the town piscina and the housing complex with a wide porch and colonnade.

Near the city walls of Bargala, to the west, an old Christian building dating from the end of the 4th century, was discovered in 1984. It is an extra muros three-nave basilica, with a protruding apse, a narthex and an exonarthex, and a floor covered with stone plaques, which were luxuriously ornamented.

By the south rampart and the southeast tower, out of the limits of this site, there is the medieval church of St. George, in the vicinity of which a necropolis was discovered.

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