The continuity of life and the story of Vinkovci as the oldest settlement in Europe began more than 8000 years ago. There is no doubt that people lived in this area as early as during the New Stone Age or Neolithic. Numerous archaeological evidence of the Starčevo and Sopot cultures (at the same time eponyms of the sites) have been found in this area. In the late Roman province of Secunda or Sirmium Pannonia (comprising present-day Syrmia, most of Slavonia, part of southern Posavlje and present-day Baranja), one of the most significant cities was Cibalae. The area covered by the Cibalae trenches corresponds to the central parts of present-day Vinkovci – the main square of Vinkovci and the Main Park lie at the centre of the former Roman Cibalae.
Two Roman emperors, brothers Valentinian and Valens, were born in Cibale. They are also the only Roman emperors born on the territory of present-day Croatia. This information is not unknown, but the details of their life and rule are not widely known – there are many stories intertwined with myths and different versions of events that cannot with certainty be determined. However, precisely these stories, along with the known facts, have formed a solid foundation for the development of a new manifestation – the Roman Days.
In the Middle Ages, the town Vinkovci was not called Vinkovci but St. Elijah, and it was only in the modern age that the present name of the town on the Bosut River prevailed. It was named after the patron saint St. Elijah, the original Hungarian form being Szentillye, and the Croatian version being Ilinci. It is not just that the newer name Vinkovci suppressed and replaced the older, Ilinci, it is actually about two different settlements that had lived side by side for a while, and then the older and more important one was extinguished and the younger and smaller ones gradually strengthened and grew. Nowadays, on the feast of St. Elijah on 20 July, the Town Festival with different entertainment activities is celebrated.
>>>About Vinkovci – What to visit<<<
Photo source: Visit Vinkovci