43°52′59″N 27°48′34″E / 43.88306°N 27.80944°E
Zaldapa (Zeldepa, Ancient Greek: Ζάλδαπα, Ζέλδεπα) was a large Late Roman fortified city in Scythia Minor/Moesia, located near today's Abrit, Bulgaria.
It was originally an ancient Thracian settlement from around the 8th century BC.[1] The site of over 35 hectares was protected from the East, North and Northwest by a deep valley.
Excavations have revealed the defensive walls, a Roman civic basilica, an early Christian basilica with two crypts and a huge water reservoir.[2] The walls had 32 bastions of various shapes and 3 main and 2 secondary gates. The double north gate was designed to enclose and trap attackers.
Zaldapa is included in the list of fortifications renovated during the reign of Emperor Justinian I the Great (527–565). It was also mentioned as the seat of a bishop.
In 2015, a Greek stone inscription has been discovered by the archaeologists excavating the ruins of a Christian bishop's basilica in the fortress of Zaldapa.[3]
References
edit- ^ Archaeologists Find Huge Crypt with Early Christian Martyrs' Bones in Roman, Byzantine City Zaldapa in Northeast Bulgaria: http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2017/01/19/archaeologists-find-huge-crypt-with-early-christian-martyrs-bones-in-roman-byzantine-city-zaldapa-in-northeast-bulgaria/
- ^ Zaldapa Fortress – Abrit / Dobrin, Bulgaria: http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/background-infonotes/fortresses-cities/zaldapa-fortress-abrit-dobrin-bulgaria/
- ^ BULGARIAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND STONE INSCRIPTION, RED MARBLE PILLAR IN BISHOP’S BASILICA IN ROMAN AND BYZANTINE FORTRESS ZALDAPA
- Olteanu, Sorin. "Zaldapa-Zeldepa". Linguae Thraco-Daco-Moesorum (in Romanian). Retrieved 22 May 2011.
Further reading
edit- Dominic Moreau, Nicolas Beaudry & Georgi Atanasov, with the collaboration of Ioto Valeriev, Albena Milanova, Brahim M'Barek, Elio Hobdari & Irina Achim, "The Archaeology of the Late Roman City of Zaldapa: The Status Quaestionis in 2016 (with an Appendix on Seasons 2017–2019)", in Dominic Moreau, Carolyn S. Snively, Alessandra Guiglia, Isabella Baldini, Ljubomir Milanović, Ivana Popović, Nicolas Beaudry & Orsolya Heinrich-Tamáska (eds), Archaeology of a World of Changes: Late Roman and Early Byzantine Architecture, Sculpture and Landscapes. Selected Papers from the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies (Belgrade, 22–27 August 2016) – In memoriam Claudiae Barsanti, BAR Publishing, Oxford (BAR International Series, 2973), 2020, pp. 35–55.
External links
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