Listed 45 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "BULGARIA Country BALKANS" .
APOLLONIA (Ancient city) THRACE AT PONTOS
Apollonia (Apollonia: Eth. Apolloniates, Apolloniates, Apollinas,
-atis, Apolloniensis). (Sizeboli), a town of Thrace, on the Pontus Euxinus, a
little S. of Mesambria, was a colony of the Milesians. It had two large harbours,
and the greater part of the town was situated on a small island. It possessed
a celebrated temple of Apollo, and a colossal statue of this god, 30 cubits in
height, which M. Lucullus carried to Rome and placed in the Capitol. (Herod. iv.
90; Strab. vii. p. 319, xii. p. 541, Plin. xxxiv. 7. s. 18. § 39; Scymnus, 730;
Arrian, Peripl. p. 24, Anon. Peripl. p. 14.) It was subsequently called Sozopolis
(Sozopolis, Anon. Peripl. p. 14). whence its modern name Sizeboli.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
FILIPPOUPOLIS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
Philippopolis (Philippopolis, Ptol. iii. 11. § 12; Polyb. v. 100;
Steph. B. s. v.), a town of Thrace, founded by Philip of Macedon, on the site
of a previously existing town, called Eumolpias or Poneropolis. (Amm. Marc. xxvi.
10. § 4; Plin. iv. 11. s. 18.) From its situation on a hill with three peaks or
summits, it was also called Trimontium. (Plin. l. c.; Ptol. l. c.) It lay on the
SE. side of the Hebrus. The Thracians, however, regained possession of it (Polyb.
l. c.; Liv. xxxix. 53), and it remained in their hands till they were subdued
by the Romans. Its size maybe inferred from the fact of the Goths having slaughtered
100,000 persons in it (Amm. Marc. xxxi. 5. § 17), though doubtless many persons
from the environs had taken refuge there. The assumption that it likewise bore
the name of Hadrianopolis, rests only on an interpolation in Ptolemy. It is still
called Philippopoli, and continues to be one of the most considerable towns of
Thrace. (Tac. Ann. iii. 38; Itin. Ant. p. 136; Hierool. p. 635.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Now Philippopoli; an important town in Thrace, founded by Philip of Macedon, was situated in a large plain, southeast of the Hebrus, on a hill with three summits, whence it was sometimes called Trimontium. Under the Roman Empire it was the capital of the province of Thracia.
ODISSOS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
Now Varna; a Greek town in Thracia (in the later Moesia Inferior), on the Pontus Euxinus. It was founded by the Milesians, and carried on an extensive commerce.
STARA ZAGORA (Region) BULGARIA
NIKOPOLIS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
Nicopolis-ad-Istrum is one of the most thoroughly explored Roman towns
on Bulgarian territory. The City of Victory was founded by Emperor Trayan in hon
our of his victory over the Dacians in 102-106 A.D. It lasted till the end of
the 6th and the beginning of the 17th century - in that period the town was devastated
by the invasions of the Avars and the Slavs.
As a result of the archaeological excavations and studies, which
continued for not less than 100 years, many findings came to the surface: parts
of the fortified system and its gates and towers, the street network of the city,
the water supply and the sewerage systems, a great number of public and residential
buildings. The visitor's route usually begins through the northern gate of the
fortress, then continues along one of the main streets, and goes up the original
stairs of the city square - and meanwhile the richly ornamented architectural
details never cease to arouse their admiration. The building where the City Council
held its sessions is particularly impressive. No one could miss neither the little
musical theatre, nor the open square with the limestone pedestals for the statues
of the emperors, their wives and notable citizens, all of which have been preserved
on their original places. More than hundred mounds of necropolises have been kept
either. A small lapidarium stores exhibits of tombstone architecture.
The most interesting findings today occupy their rightful place in
the Archaeological Museum in Veliko Tarnovo. Nicopolis-ad-Istrum is situated at
about 20 km to the north of Veliko Tarnovo, along the route to Rousse and at 3
km distance from the village of Nikyup; the deviation is after the exit from the
village of Polikraishte, to the left.
FILIPPOUPOLIS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
Total results on 4/7/2001: 32
FILIPPOUPOLIS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
NIKOPOLIS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
APOLLONIA (Ancient city) THRACE AT PONTOS
On the W coast of the Black Sea, a Milesian colony (Ps. Scym., 730-731;
Strab. C.319), founded ca. 600 B.C. Two large gates and an island are known where
the celebrated Sanctuary of Apollo and the major part of the ancient city were
situated. A Greek inscription records the reconstruction of the ruined city and
of the famous sanctuary by a Thracian tribe. The Imperial coins continue to use
the name Apollonia until the 3d c. A.D., when the name Sozopol appears. During
the Byzantine Empire Sozopol was the seat of a bishop, a rich and prosperous city
that was frequented by the Genoese until it fell under Turkish domination in 1383.
Today it is a modest town. Nothing of the ancient city remains visible above ground.
Early excavations furnished little clarification. It is certainly on the island
of St. Ciriaco where the stele of Anaxandros was found that the Temple of Apollo
must be sought since all the material found in 1904, including a series of terracotta
figurines datable to the 6th c. B.C., is connected with that cult; on the island
of St. George there are traces of Byzantine construction. Both older and more
recent excavations at Kalfata and the port of Giardino brought to light rich Greek
necropoleis containing painted funerary vases dating between the 5th and the 2d
c. B.C. The promontory is called Cape Kolokuntas (pumpkins) because of the great
number of tumuli in the area. They are scattered over the upland and contain dromoi
and funerary chambers, as was the Thracian custom. There are also cultural blendings
as in the tumulus of Mapes, with dromoi and painted sarcophagi, where the Greek
influence dominates.
For the Temple of Apollo, Kalamis made the bronze statue of the god
(ca. 13.2 m tall), which was stolen by Licinius Lucullus in A.D. 73 after the
seizure of Apollonia, and transported to the Campidoglio in Rome. The symbolic
lion of Apollo is found on the coins of Apollonia. There are many inscriptions
and also an important decree. The only notable monument surviving is the stele
of Anaxandros, now in the National Museum of Sofia. It is a masterpiece of Ionic
art from the end of the 6th c. B.C., representing the deceased cloaked, with his
dog. At the Louvre is a fragment of a slab from Apollonia in the archaic Ionic
style.
A. Frova, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
CABYLE (Ancient city) BULGARIA
On the right bank of the river Tonzos (modern Tundza) near the city
of Yambol, a settlement of the Bronze Age (2d millennium B.C.). The Thracian city
was conquered by the Macedonians in 342-341 (Dem. 8.44; 10.15). It was an economic
and trade center of the state of the Thracian king Seuthes III (323-311 B.C.)
(Theopomp. fr. 246; Harp. s.v.; Strab. 7.320; Steph. Byz. 346.1). It was conquered
by Rome in 72 B.C. (Eutr. 6.10), and it became a city in the Roman province of
Thracia. The territory of the city included the middle reaches of the river Tonzos.
In A.D. 378 a battle was fought between the Romans and the West Goths nearby (Amm.
Marc. 31.15.5). It was a rest stop on the road to Adrianopolis (Edirne) and Anchialus
(Pomorie). In the 4th c. it was the seat of a bishop but disappeared in the 6th
c.
In the 3d c. B.C. the city minted its own coins. There was an agora,
a temple of Artemis-Hekate-Phosphorion and a temple of Apollo (IG Bulg. III/2,
n. 1731). In A.D. 145 immigrants from Perinthos erected votive inscriptions to
Herakles Agoraios. Excavations have uncovered a large basilica of late antique
date and parts of the defense wall. The finds from Kabyle are in the Regional
Museum of Yambol.
V. Velkoy, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
FILIPPOUPOLIS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
A city on the right bank of the Maritza river in the great lagoon
between the Balkan and Rhodopian mountains at the junction of the Belgrade-Istanbul
and Danube-Aegean roads. The city was founded in 342 B.C. by Philip II of Macedon
over a prior Thracian center (Pulpudava). Conquered again by the Thracians after
the fall of the Macedonians, the city remained under Thracian control until it
was conquered by the Romans, who made it the capital of the province of Thrace,
the metropolis and seat of the provincial assembly; in 248 it became a colony.
It was provided with a circuit wall by Marcus Aurelius. Captured temporarily and
sacked by the Goths in 251, it became an episcopal seat in the 4th c. It was occupied
by the Huns and restored during the reign of Justinian.
Traces remain of the Thracian-Macedonian (4th c. B.C.) polygonal circuit
wall. It encircled the three hills (a prehistoric site) with an irregular and
triangular surface area of ca. 80,000 m and was restored in the late Roman and
Byzantine period in opus mixtum and rubble core. Only one gate of the original
four has been preserved. The second and larger circuit wall (ca. 430,000 sq. m),
in the shape of an irregular pentagon, was constructed during the reign of Marcus
Aurelius as a defense against the Marcomanni (mentioned in fragmentary inscriptions).
Very little of it has been preserved.
Of the ancient buildings, only the stadium, to the W and at the front
of the hill between the second circuit wall in the central section of the modern
city, remains. There are ruins of a temple of Aesculapius to the E, a large bath
building with massive vaults on pilasters in the E section, aqueducts, and many
architectural fragments belonging to various buildings that have since disappeared.
The theater is supposed to have been in the S section of the city S of Taxim-tepe.
It is quite probable that the city had a stadium (3d c. B.C. on the evidence of
the architectural and decorative elements and according to the ancient sources).
The length of the track is a little more than a stade--ca. 180 m--and the width
was probably 25 to 30 m, with a capacity possibly of ca. 30,000. The orientation
of the stadium was NW to SE. The W side occupied the slopes of Sahat-tepe, taking
full advantage of the natural rock and slope of the land; the E side was for the
most part artificially elevated with buttressing walls of brick and stone. Inscriptions
document the existence of reserved seats for officials and organizers of the games.
The monumental entrance to the track, set on a slightly curved line, was built
of five large vaulted chambers. This monumental entrance, which must have been
on three levels, was probably decorated in the three architectural orders. Herodian
mentions the restoration of the Pythian games in the cities of Thrace at the behest
of Caracalla in honor and memory of Alexander the Great. Coins minted by Caracalla
and later by Elagabalus at Philippopolis commemorate this restoration by the provincial
assembly of the Thracians. The coins represent fights, gladiators, a diskobolos,
gymnasts exercising, and prizes. The games mentioned are the Pythian in honor
of Apollo Pythius, the Alexandria in honor of Alexander the Great, and the Kendreiseia,
local games of Thrace in honor of the Thracian deity Kendrizos. At the time of
the Gothic invasions, the sources remark that the stadium was within the city.
The Byzantine chronicler Anna Comnena, who visited Philippopolis at
the beginning of the 12th c., mentions a hippodrome without remarking on the stadium.
That the stadium no longer existed in her time is proved by the stratigraphy of
the excavations where the Byzantine coins are at a level higher than that of the
stadium. Inscriptions give evidence of the participation of famous athletes at
the games and of the commemoration of statues to them.
The modern city preserves traces of the old topography along with
the separation of the ethnic sections and the irregular, winding course of the
streets (characteristically, the houses are wood, the markets are covered, and
the baths are Turkish). There is a typical lack of a real urban center.
The National Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv, second only in size
to the one at Sofia, conserves the prehistoric, Thracian, Roman, and mediaeval
antiquities. Particularly important are the religious reliefs, and the coin collection
is noteworthy.
A. Frova, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
NIKOPOLIS (Ancient city) BULGARIA
A city 20 km from Tarnovo beside the river Rossitza which empties
into the Jantra, a tributary of the Danube, at the foot of Mt. Haemus. The city
was founded by Trajan at the junction of the roads to Danubium and to Philippopolis.
It was raised to the status of a municipium by Hadrian, coined its own money from
the reign of Antoninus to that of Gordian III, flourished particularly under Septimius
Severus, was captured by the Goths, reconstructed by Justinian, and finally abandoned.
The city was Greek in tongue and in its constitution, with many foreign settlers
and a large number of religious cults.
The city was formed on a regular grid plan of which some axis streets
have been brought to light. It was encircled by walls and round towers with an
appendage, also walled, in the form of an irregular pentagon, on broken ground--much
like a defensive castellum. The gates and towers are represented on coins.
The central area has been excavated, including the forum (55 x 42
m) surrounded on three sides by a colonnade of Ionic columns. On the W side of
the forum are the bouleuterion and other structures (perhaps the praetorium) and
a colonnaded peristyle opening on one side onto the forum portico. On the other
side it opened onto the great propylaea, which presented a facade of four columns
supporting a frieze that contained a dedicatory inscription to Trajan. Beside
the grandiose peristyle is a small Corinthian-style theater or perhaps an odeion.
It had a perfectly semicircular orchestra (9.3 m in diam.). The cavea (21.8 m
in diam.), was raised on brick vaults. The theater was inscribed in a rectangle
which comprised a series of rooms, rectangular and square (tabernae ?), which
opened on the decumanus behind the cavea. Many statue bases have been found, as
well as altars, honorary inscriptions (one in honor of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius
Verus mentions games given by a high priest and by his daughter), facades with
shields and lances, and friezes. An aqueduct, canals, cisterns, and paved roads
have been brought to light.
In the architecture of Nicopolis, Hellenistic elements from Asia
Minor predominate. Many architectural pieces are fragmentary. Among the sculptures,
a statue of Eros is most noteworthy. It is a Roman copy of the 2d c. A.D. of the
Eros of Praxiteles at Paros. There are many religious reliefs (the relief of the
gods which is a unique provincial work), a beautiful bronze head of Gordian III
(now in the National Museum of Sophia), and many small bronzes.
A. Frova, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Sep 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SOFIA (Town) BULGARIA
An ancient Thracian center, today the national capital, situated in
a valley surrounded by mountains at the juncture of the road from Belgrade to
Istanbul and the natural waterway of the Danube to the Aegean. It was occupied
by the Romans, conquered by Licinius Crassus (29 B.C.), raised to the status of
a colony by Trajan, and coined its own money from the reign of Marcus Aurelius
to that of Gallienus. The city was the seat of the council that condemned the
Arian heresy (343). It was destroyed by the Huns in the 5th c., was reconstructed
by Justinian, under whom Santa Sophia was built. Originally, the Romans had probably
established a garrison in the village and area of the Thracian market, giving
the city a praetorium and a castellum. The city did not gain great military importance
but in the 4th c. when it became the capital of the frontier province, Dacia Mediterranea,
it was surrounded by walls (brick and rubble core on a stone base) with round
towers. One walled area within the city with the remains of large structures is
thought to have been the praesidium. The plan of the city is rectangular, covering
an area of ca. 84 ha. The remains of the buildings belong to two distinct periods:
2d and 3d c. stone architecture, and 3d c. and 4th c. brick architecture. Except
for some traces of the walls, round towers, and triangular abutments, only the
foundations of some buildings are known: a temple of Serapis and its pediment;
a brick calidarium of a 3d c. Roman bath, transformed into the church of St. George
in the 5th c. Probably the 6th c. a basilica of Santa Sophia was built. It had
three aisles and an apse which was close to the ancient necropolis where there
are remains of two small ancient churches (with mosaics) and many chambered tombs.
The tombs were painted between the 4th and 5th c. with floral motifs, birds, and
candelabra, and one with the busts of arch-angels. In all these tombs we may recognize
Hellenistic-Oriental and Roman elements. On the coins of Serdica various buildings
are represented. Funeral stelai, religious inscriptions, architectural fragments,
and inscriptions are collected in the National Museum and displayed in the great
nine-domed mosque. The Museum houses antiquities not only from the city but from
all over Bulgaria.
A. Frova, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
