Lake Balaton, “managed” by the Roman emperor Galerius

The Balaton is also mentioned in the medieval charter of Tihany (1055), but written records date back to antiquity, when the Romans called the Hungarian Sea Lacus Pelso, i.e. the shallow lake. The area around the lake, which dates back 15,000 years, has been inhabited and popular throughout the ages. Let’s see what you should know about the time when even emperors bathed in Lake Balaton!

In Hévíz, a statue was erected in honour of the Roman emperor Theodosius, who lived in the 4th century, and in Badacsony, one of the most beautiful streets is called Roman Road. This is no coincidence. Just as during the Great War, the springs of Lake Balaton and the surrounding area were endowed with healing powers some 2,000 years earlier.

Pannonia Valeria was a province of the Roman Empire, located in what is now Hungary and Croatia. The province was named after the wife of the Roman emperor Galerius Maximianus. Its capital was Sopianae, or Pécs, around 296. Valeria, after the death of her husband after a long illness, is said to have settled in the Tihany area. Her sick mother used to come here, and after bathing in the waters of the springs in Füred, she is said to have recovered. Valeria had a church built in gratitude, but there is no trace of this church in Tihany today. And another relevant myth goes like this: the emperor Theodosius, who lived in the 4th century BC, suffered from polio when he was young. His nanny prayed for him until Virgin Mary drew him a spring. The spring was in what is now Hévíz. When little Theodosius bathed in the water, he was cured. Although there is no evidence of this, in Hévíz, there is a statue of him and his nanny. And is there a real basis for all this? Galerius must have visited Lake Balaton in the former Pannonia, according to several sources. He was responsible for the first regulatory works around the lake, and Roman sites can still be found around Lake Balaton (Fenékpuszta).

Interestingly, in Roman times, the water level of Lake Balaton was much lower than it is now. But the area covered by water was more extensive and wider. Lake Kis-Balaton, the Tapolca Basin and Nagy-Berek south of Fonyód were also under water. Thus, if we imagine the map of the period, the bays and bends of the coastline do not correspond to today’s. There was much more forest cover, and the settlements were not located where they are today. Some of the sites left over from the villa farms now fall into the Balaton basin because the water level has risen.

The south-facing hillsides, the proximity of the lake and the microclimate of Lake Balaton all favoured viticulture. For a long time, the southern shore lagged behind the wine regions of the Balaton highlands, with larger vineyards on the hills above Balatonlelle and on the Fonyód hill on the manor estate.

The military road linking Aquincum with Aquileia in northern Italy followed two parallel routes in the area. One on the present Veszprém-Kapolcs-Tapolca line, the other on the northern shore of Lake Balaton. The latter stretched along the side of the Badacsony, then turned north, where it bypassed the marshy Tapolca basin. The trails were flanked by Roman villas and are now marked by the sites that have been found. This road passed through the Fenékpuszta military camp at the western end of Lake Balaton. Today’s Roman Road in Badacsony has indeed Roman foundations, although the pavement itself is newer, so it is not the original road.

Although the meaning of Lake Balaton is “swampy, muddy lake”, the written sources that have come down to us show that the beneficial effects of Lake Balaton have been exploited and used in every age.