Heraclea Sintica, Heracleia Sintica, Хераклея Синтика in Bulgarian or Herakleia Sintike ( grc, Ἡράκλεια Σιντική), or Heraclea ex Sintiis, also known as Heraclea Strymonus or Herakleia Strymonos (Ἡράκλεια Στρυμόνος, 'Heraclea on the Strymon river'), was a

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

, conquered by

Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...

. It was located in Thracian lands of the Ancient kingdom of Macedon, in the region of

Sintice Sintice or Sintike (Greek: Σιντική) was an ancient region and later district of the kingdom of Macedon. It was located north of Bisaltia and Odomantike up to Messapio mount and west of Crestonia and South Paeonia to Strymon river and O ...

, on the right bank of the Strymon river. It was connected with

Philippi Philippi (; grc-gre, Φίλιπποι, ''Philippoi'') was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides ( grc-gre, Κρηνῖδες, ''Krenides'' "Fountains") after its establishment by Thasian colon ...

by the

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

that passed round the north side of the lake, at a distance of 55 M.P., and by that which passed on the south side, at a distance of 52 M.P. The general Asclepiodotus of Heraclea was a native.

Demetrius Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumit ...

, son of

Philip V of Macedon Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king ( Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon ag ...

, was slain at Heraclea Sintica. Coins minted here in antiquity have survived. Its site is near the modern village of

Rupite Rupite ( bg, Рупите, ) is a village which includes a small mountainous protected area in the southeastern part of Blagoevgrad Province, Bulgaria, 10-12 kilometres northeast of Petrich, inside Petrich Municipality, on the right bank of the S ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. The polis was identified by Assoc. Prof.

Georgi Mitrev Georgi may refer to: * Georgi (given name) * Georgi (surname) See also *Georgy (disambiguation) *Georgii (disambiguation) Georgii may refer to: ;Given name * Georgii Zantaraia (born 1987), Ukrainian judoka of Georgian origin * Georgii Karpechenko ...

(

University of Plovdiv A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

) after the accidental discovery of a large Latin inscription in 2002. In essence, this is letter of Emperor

Galerius Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus (; 258 – May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sasanian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the D ...

and Caesar

Maximinus II Galerius Valerius Maximinus, born as Daza (20 November 270 – July 313), was Roman emperor from 310 to 313 CE. He became embroiled in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated ...

from 308 AD in which the rulers are turning to Herakleians in response to their request to reclaim the lost city rights. Before 2005 Assoc. Prof.

published another inscription, which mentions Guy Lucius Skotussaios and Harakleios. It proves conclusively that this is precisely Heraclea Sintica, not another Herculaneum or Heraclea, as this name is very popular in the ancient world. Since 2007 archaeological excavations have been taking place at Heraclea Sintica, led by Assoc. Prof. Lyudmil Vagalinski, of the National Institute with Museum of Archaeology in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. They noticed strange structures above it: tunnels and an arch. Later on, after geosonar examination by Russian specialists, a large studio for producing ceramic masks for an unknown and as yet unrevealed ancient theatre was discovered.

References

Bibliography

Claude Lepelley Claude Lepelley (8 February 1934 – 31 January 2015
on DRACONTIUS) was a 20th-21st-century Fr ...

: ''Une inscription ďHeraclea Sintica (Macédoine) récemment découverte, révélant un rescrit de ľempereur Galère restituant ses droits à la cite''. in: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 146 (2004), 221–231. * Georgi Mitrev: ''Civitas Heracleotarum. Heracleia Sintica or the Ancient City at the Village of Rupite (Bulgaria)''. in: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 145 (2003), 263–272. * Georgi Mitrev: ''On Skotoussa and „Scotusaei liberi” from the valley of the Strymon River''. in: Arheologia Bulgarica, XII (2008), 2, 47–58. *Konrat Ziegler und Walter Sontheimer (Hrsg.): Der Kleine Pauly'' Bd. 2 (1975), Sp. 1034–1035. *Emil Nankov: “In Search of a Founder and the Early Years of Heraclea Sintica,” In: Vagalinski, L. and Nankov, E. (eds.) Heraclea Sintica: from Hellenistic polis to Roman civitas (4th c. BC-6th c. AD), Proceedings from a conference at Petrich, September 19–21, 2013, Papers of the American Research Center in Sofia, vol. 2, 7-35. Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Bulgaria Populated places in ancient Macedonia Populated places in ancient Thrace Argead colonies History of Blagoevgrad Province Former populated places in Bulgaria {{Blagoevgrad-geo-stub