The Monastery of Soumela
The Monastery of Soumela is a Greek Orthodox monastery which was dedicated to Theotokos. The monastic complex is located at Karadag (Black Mountain, Sou Mela) which is a part of Pontic Mountains and today in Maçka, Trabzon. Soumela is nestled in a steep cliff at an altitude of about 1200 meters, facing the Altindere Valley. […]
The Monastery of Mor Augin
The monastic complex of Mor Augin lies high above the Plain of Nusaybin among the steep cliffs of Mount Izlo, part of the historical region of the Ṭūr ‘Abdīn and currently located in the Turkish Province of Mardin. According to the local tradition, this is the most ancient monastery in the area, founded in the […]
The Monastery of Mor Abrohom and Mor Hobel
The Monastery of Mor Abrohom and Mor Hobel lies on a hill about one kilometre East of the city of Midyat. The monastic establishment is enclosed by tough modern walls and it includes three churches, two of which dates before the Arab conquest. According to the local tradition, it was founded in the fifth century […]
Serdica
The birth of Serdica refers to the mid 1st century AD. It is likely that its foundation was connected with the annexation of the Thracian Kingdom of Rhoimetalkes III in 45 AD. The newly formed Roman province was named Thrace and submitted to the rule of a procurator. The archaeological evidence shows that the original […]
Novae Archaeological Site
Novae is located next to the present-day town of Svishtov, on the banks of the Danube River. The archaeological research there began in the 1960s under the leadership of a Bulgarian-Polish team. It was originally organized as a military camp for the defense of the Limes along the Lower Danube. The Legio VIII Augusta was […]
National Architectural and Archaeological Reserve Durostorum
For the protection of the Lower Danube territories against the continuous raids of the Barbarians from the North, after the victory over the Dacians in 106 AD, one of the most capable military units of the Roman Empire was stationed there by order of Emperor Trajan (97 – 117) – Legio XI Claudia. According to […]
Archaeological site of Zaldapa
Zaldapa is the largest fortified Roman-Byzantine town in the interior of the Roman province of Scythia (Dobrudzha). The name Zaldapa itself (Zaldapa, Zeldepa, Zeldipas, Zardapa, Zelpa) is believed to be of a Thracian or Daco-Moesian origin and can literally be translated as «yellow (golden) cold (?) water / river (?)». Indeed, at the foot of […]
Marcianopolis
In 1829, the Russian archaeologist I. F. Blaramberg (1772–1831) identified the ruins near the springs of Reka Devnya village as Marcianopolis, a town well known from the ancient written sources. Later on, Hungarian ethnographer Felix Kanitz (1882), Czech historian Konstantin Jireček (1888) and Austrian epigrapher Ernst Kalinka (1906) also wrote about the town. The initial […]
Odessos
Odessos was established as an apoikia on the western coast of the Pontos Axeinos (the Black Sea). The founders of the polis arrived from Miletus as a result of the ancient Hellenic migratory activity. The town has been known under the same name from the second quarter of the 6th c. BC to the first […]
Nicopolis ad Nestum
Nicopolis ad Nestum is a Roman town located in southwestern Bulgaria. The “Town of victory on the Nestos River” was founded in early 2nd c. by the Roman Emperor Trajan, in honour of his victory over the Dacians. Its position was strategic along the road connecting the Aegean coast with the main military road Via […]