PautaliaPautalia is one of the great ancient cities of Thrace, now located in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. It was a settlement of the Dentheletae, a Thracian tribe, and had been occupied since at least the Iron Age. It is noted for its temple of Asclepius on the hill of Hissarlaka (Hisarlaka). The name is Thracian and means "spring city", referring to the hot springs there.
KyustendilKyustendil (Bulgarian: Кюстендил) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the , near the borders of Serbia and North Macedonia; 90 km southwest of Sofia, 130 km northeast of Skopje and 243 km north of Thessaloniki. The population is 37 799, with a Bulgarian majority and a Roma minority.ThraciansIndo-European people in ancient southeast EuropeBronze head of Seuthes III from his tombThe Thracians () were an Indo-European–speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history. Thracians resided mainly in Southeast Europe in modern-dayBulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, northern Greece and European Turkey, but also in north-western Anatolia (Asia Minor) in Turkey.
Greek languageGreek (Modern Greek: ελληνικά, romanized: elliniká; Ancient Greek: ἑλληνική, romanized: hellēnikḗ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to the territories that have had populations of Greeks since antiquity: Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, Caucasus, the Black Sea coast, and the .
Struma (river)The Struma or Strymonas (Bulgarian: Струма, romanized: Struma, pronounced; Greek: Στρυμόνας, romanized: Strymónas, pronounced) is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. Its ancient name was Strymon (Greek: Στρυμών, romanized: Strymṓn, pronounced). Its drainage area is 17,330 km (6,690 sq mi), of which 8,670 km (3,350 sq mi) in Bulgaria, 6,295 km (2,431 sq mi) in Greece and the remaining 2,365 km (913 sq mi) in North Macedonia and Serbia.
Thracian languageThracian ( ) is an extinct and poorly attested language, spoken in ancient times in Southeast Europe by the Thracians. The linguistic affinities of the Thracian language are poorly understood, but it is generally agreed that it was an Indo-European language. The modern understanding of Thracian is built on a massive corpus of personal names (onomastics), place names, and a few deeply obscure inscriptions that have defied clear interpretation.
Sapareva BanyaSapareva Banya (Bulgarian: Сапарева баня, transliteratedSapareva banya) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Kyustendil Province. As Ancient Germanеia (in Dacia), a former bishopric, it is a Latin Catholic titular see. It is located at the north foot of the Rila mountains, 15 kilometers east of Dupnitsa. The town is known for its hot mineral (103 °C (217 °F)) and clear mountain water, as well as the geyser in the town centre that sprang forth in 1957.
Cassius DioLucius Cassius Dio (c. 165 – c. 235), also known as Dio Cassius (Ancient Greek: Δίων ΚάσσιοςDion Kassios), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy.DupnitsaDupnitsa, or Dupnica (Bulgarian: Дупница (previously Дубница), pronounced), is a town in Western Bulgaria. It is at the foot of the highest mountains in the Balkan Peninsula – the Rila Mountains, and about 50 km (31 mi) south of the capital Sofia. Dupnitsa is the second largest town in Kyustendil Province. HistoryThe town has existed since ancient times. The German traveller Arnold von Harff visited Dupnitsa in 1499 and described it as a "beautiful town".
PolybiusPolybius (; Ancient Greek: Πολύβιος, Polýbios; c. 200 – c. 118 BC) was an ancient Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his Histories, a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the in the third and second centuries BC. It covers the period 264–146, recording in detail events in Italy, Iberia, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and Africa, and documents the Punic Wars and Macedonian Wars among many others.
TacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , Latin:; c. AD 56 – c. 120), was a Roman historian and politician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. His two major historical works, Annals (Latin: Annales) and the Histories (Latin: Historiae), originally formed a continuous narrative of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus (14 AD) to the end of Domitian's reign (96 AD).
LivyTitus Livius (Latin: [ˈtɪtʊs ˈliːwiʊs]; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( LIV-ee), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled Ab Urbe Condita, ''From the Founding of the City'', covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.