Mesembria

Coordinates: 42°39′31″N 27°43′51″E / 42.658743°N 27.730787°E / 42.658743; 27.730787
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Mesembria (disambiguation).
For the modern town, see Nesebar.
Diobol
from Mesembria, ca. 450–350 BCE
Revers of the coin, M-E-T-A among spokes.

Mesembria (

Peutinger Table.[8] The Dorian colonisation is dated to the beginning of the 6th century BCE, and evidence shows that it was an important trading centre from then on and a rival of Apollonia (Sozopol). It remained the only Dorian colony along the Black Sea coast, as the rest were typical Ionian colonies. At 425/4 BCE the town joined the Delian League, under the leadership of Athens.[9]

Archaeology

Fortifications at the entrance of Nesebar

Bulgarian archaeologist Lyuba Ognenova-Marinova led six underwater archaeological expeditions for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) between 1961 and 1972[10][11] in the waters along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Her work led to the identification of five chronological periods of urbanization on the peninsula surrounding Nesebar through the end of the second millennium BCE, which included the Thracian protopolis, the Greek colony Mesambria, a Roman-ruled village to the Early Christian Era, the Medieval settlement and a Renaissance era town, known as Mesemvria or Nessebar.[10]

Remains date mostly from the

Hellenistic period and include the acropolis, a temple of Apollo and an agora. A wall which formed part of the Thracian fortifications can still be seen on the north side of the peninsula
.

Bronze and silver coins were minted in the city since the 5th century BCE and gold coins since the 3rd century BCE. The town fell under Roman rule in 71 BCE, yet continued to enjoy privileges such as the right to mint its own coinage.[12]

Famous Landmarks

  • Basilica of St. Sofia
  • Basilica of Holy Mother of God Eleusa
  • Late Antique Baths
  • Church of St. Demetrios
  • Church of St. Stephen
  • Church of the Archangels
  • Church of St. John the Baptist
  • Church of St. Theodore
  • Church of Christ Pantokrator
  • Church of St. Paraskeva
  • Church of St. John Aliturgetos
  • Nesebar Archaeological Museum [13]

References

  1. ^ Scymn. Ch.
  2. ^ a b Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 3.10.8.
  3. ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. vii. p.319. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  4. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
  5. ^ Herodotus. Histories. Vol. 6.33.
  6. ^ Pomponius Mela. De situ orbis. Vol. 2.2.
  7. ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia. Vol. 4.11.18.
  8. Tab. Peut.
  9. ^ Petropoulos, Ilias. "Mesembria (Antiquity)". Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Εύξεινος Πόντος. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
  10. ^
    ISBN 954-775-531-5. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 22 July 2012.
  11. ^ Огненова-Маринова, Люба (30 October 2009). "Как Започнаха Подводните Археологически Проучвания В Несебър" [What started underwater archaeological research in Nessebar]. Morski Vestnik (in Bulgarian). Varna, Bulgaria: Morski Svyat Publishing House. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Blog". conservation environment. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Famous landmarks - information and photos".

Further reading

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Mesembria". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.

42°39′31″N 27°43′51″E / 42.658743°N 27.730787°E / 42.658743; 27.730787

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