The name Veles

The settlement on the crossroads of the ways Via Egnatia and Via Militaris attracted the Slavonic population, which penetrated in the Balkans in VI century. By the end of the VI century, the first sclavines have been established on the territory of Macedonia, which have stretched in the fertile areas along the rivers Vardar, Topolka and Babuna. In that period of time, the central fortification on the flow of the Topolka River into the Vardar River was called Veles – according to some, it comes from the Slavonic еxpression ’veles‘ – ’in the wood‘, and according to the others, it was called upon Veles, the Slavonic god of the flocks and underground world.