OESCUS
1. （Οἶσκος,Ptol. 3.10.10, 8.11.6), a town of the Triballi in Lower Moesia, seated near the mouth of the river of the same name, and on the road from Viminacium to Nicomedia, 12 miles E. from Valcriana, and 14 miles W. from Utum. ( Itin. Ant. p. 220.) It was the station of the Legio V. Maced. Procopius, who calls the town Ἰσκός, says that it was fortified by Justinian ( de Aed. 4.6). Usually identified with Oreszovitz, though some hold it to be Glava.
2. A river of Lower Moesia, called by Thucydides (Thuc. 2.96) Ὄσκιος, and by Herodotus (Hdt. 4.49) Σκίος.Pliny (Plin. Nat. 3.26. s. 29) places its source in Mount Rhodope; Thucydides (l. c.) in Mount Scomius, which adjoined Rhodope. Its true source, however, is on the W. side of Haemus, whence it pursues its course to the Danube. It is now called the Iskeror Esker. [T. H. I).]