GREEK Black Sea Area: Apollonia
Pontika -
Silver 9mm (0.8 grams) Struck 450-400 B.C.
Anchor.
Gorgoneion.
A colony of Miletos, the city boasted
a fine temple of Apollo with a statue by the sculptor
Kalamis.
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In
Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion (Γοργόνειον)
was originally a horror-creating
apotropaic
amulet showing the
Gorgon's head.[1]
It was associated with the deities
Zeus and
Athena; both are said to have worn it as a
pendant.[1]
It was also popular as a royal
aegis, as shown, for instance, on the
Alexander Mosaic and the
Gonzaga Cameo.
Sozopol (Bulgarian:
Созопол) is an
ancient town and seaside resort located 35
km south of
Burgas on the southern
Black Sea Coast of
Bulgaria. Today the town is mostly a seaside resort
known for the Apollonia art and film festival
(which takes place in early September) and is named
after one of Sozopol's ancient names.
The busiest times of the year are the summer months,
ranging from May to September as tourists from around
the world come to enjoy the weather, sandy beaches,
history and culture, fusion cuisine (Bulgarian, Greek,
Turkish), and atmosphere of the colourful resort. The
increasing popularity of the town has led to it being
dubbed the Bulgarian
St. Tropez, seeing stars like
Ralph Fiennes,
Brad Pitt,
Angelina Jolie and
Goldfrapp exploring its beauty and charm.[1]
Part of
Burgas Province, as of September 2005[update]
Sozopol has a population of 4,641. The town is located
at
42°25′N
27°42′E
/ 42.417°N
27.7°E /
42.417; 27.7
and the mayor is Panaiot Reyzi. One of the most active
and popular mayors had been
Nikola Kaloyanov, who initiated numerous
infrastructure changes to modernize the town in the 70s.
History
Sozopol is one of the oldest towns on
Bulgarian Thrace's
Black Sea coast. The first settlement on the site
dates back to the
Bronze Age. Undersea explorations in the region of
the port reveal relics of dwellings, ceramic pottery,
stone and bone tools from that era. Many anchors from
the second and first millennium BC have been discovered
in the town's bay, a proof of active shipping since
ancient times.
The town, at first called Antheia, was
colonized in Thrace on the shore of the Pontus Euxinus,
principally on a little island, by
Anaximander (born 610-609 BC) at the head of
Milesian colonists. The name was soon changed to
Apollonia, on account of a temple dedicated to
Apollo in the town, containing a famous colossal
statue of the god Apollo by
Calamis, 30 cubits high, transported later to Rome
by
Lucullus and placed in the
Capitol. At various times, Apollonia was known as
Apollonia Pontica (that is, Apollonia on the
Black Sea, the ancient Pontus Euxinus) and
Apollonia Magna (Great Apollonia).
The coins, which begin in the fourth century BC, bear
the name Apollonia and the image of Apollo; the imperial
coins, which continue to the first half of the third
century AD, and the
Tabula Peutinger also contain the name Apollonia;
but the "Periplus
Ponti Euxini", 85, and the
Notitiæ episcopatuum have only the new name
Sozopolis. In 1328 Cantacuzene (ed. Bonn, I, 326) speaks
of it as a large and populous town. The islet on which
it stood is now connected with the mainland by a narrow
tongue of land. Sozopolis, in Greek Sozòpolis (Σωζωπολις,
meaning the "preserve" city), in Turkish Sizebolu,
in Bulgarian Sozopol, is in Burgas Province,
Bulgaria. Its inhabitants, in the past mostly Greeks,
lived by fishing and agriculture.
The town established itself as a trade and naval
centre in the following centuries. It kept strong
political and trade relations with the cities of
Ancient Greece –
Miletus,
Athens,
Corinth,
Heraclea Pontica and the islands
Rhodes,
Chios,
Lesbos, etc. Its trade influence in the
Thracian territories was based on a treaty with the
rulers of the
Odrysian kingdom dating from the fifth century BC.
The symbol of the town – the anchor, present on all
coins minted by Apollonia since the sixth century BC, is
proof of the importance of its maritime trade. The rich
town soon became an important cultural centre. At these
times it was called Apollonia Magna.
Ruled in turn by the
Byzantine,
Bulgarian and
Ottoman Empires, Sozopol was assigned to the newly
independent Bulgaria in the 19th century. Almost all of
its
Greek population
was exchanged with Bulgarians from
Eastern Thrace in the aftermath of the
Balkan Wars.
Ecclesiastical
history
Sozopol was Christianized early. Bishops are recorded
as resident there from at least 431. At least eight
bishops are known (Le
Quien, Oriens christianus, I, 1181):
Athanasius (431), Peter (680), Euthymius (787) and
Ignatius (869); Theodosius (1357), Joannicius, who
became
Patriarch of Constantinople (1524), Philotheus
(1564) and Joasaph (1721).
From being
suffragan to the
archbishopric of Adrianopolis, it became in the
fourteenth century a
metropolis without suffragan sees; it disappeared
perhaps temporarily with the Turkish conquest, but
reappeared later; in 1808 it was united to the See of
Agathopolis. The titular resided at
Agathopolis, in Ottoman days called Akhtébolou, in
the
vilayet of
Adrianopolis (Edirne, in European Turkey).
Eubel (Hierarchia catholica medii ævi, I,
194) mentions four Latin bishops of the fourteenth
century.
The city remains a
titular see of the Roman Catholic Church, that of
Sozopolis in Haemimonto, suffragan of Adrianopolis.
The seat has stood vacant since the death of the last
titular bishop in 2000.[2]
Art flourished in the Christian era. The ancient
icons and magnificent woodcarving in the
iconostases are a remarkable accomplishment of the
craftsmanship of these times. The architecture of the
houses in the old town from the
Renaissance period makes it a unique place to visit
today.
Names
The original name of the city is attested as
Antheia.[3]
Coins were minted in the town bearing the inscription
Apollonia, which date from the sixth century BC to the
first half of the third century AD. During this period,
appellations such as Apollonia Pontica (Apollonia
on the Black Sea) and Apollonia Magna (Great
Apollonia) have been recorded. By the first century
AD, the name Sozopolis began to appear in written
records (e.g., in the
Periplus Ponti Euxini). After the town became
part of the Ottoman Empire, the name was Turkified to
Sizeboli, Sizebolu or Sizebolou. After
Bulgaria took possession of the town, it was Slavicized
to Sozopol.
Sozopol Gap on
Livingston Island in the
South Shetland Islands,
Antarctica is named after Sozopol.
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