The BBC called the Bulgarian city of Sozopol a “mini Greece” with a treasury right on the coast.
The British media published a study on the Black Sea settlement, defining it as a busy port city in which amazing relics of antiquity are discovered just a few meters under the water.
Perched on a rocky peninsula, Sozopol’s old town is a bird’s nest of stone and timber. Solid family houses, restored city walls and weathered cliffs give a sense of tightness and fortress. But where the ancient settlement faces west, towards the small island of St. Kirik, Sozopol wraps its welcoming arms around its natural harbor, offering sailors a safe haven along this turbulent stretch of the Black Sea coast,” they state in their published material.
“Now Sozopol is one of the most popular Bulgarian resorts with medieval churches and wide sandy beaches. But it is precisely this embracing harbor that first brought the traveling ancient Greeks to Sozopol more than 2,500 years ago,” added the media.
The modern name of the city derives from the Greek word “City of Salvation”, but in the first millennium BC. he was called Apollonia Pontica (Apollo of the Black Sea) after the great Greek sun god Apollo.
Apollonia Pontica became a busy port city with a significant temple of Apollo and a 13-meter bronze image of the god. In terms of ancient Greek statues, it is inferior in size only to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Famous throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, the giant statue of Apollonia Pontica featured on the city’s coins and was eventually stolen by the Romans.
NOVA
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