Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "APOLLONIA Ancient city THRACE AT PONTOS".
On the W coast of the Black Sea, a Milesian colony (Ps. Scym., 730-731;
Strab. C.319), founded ca. 600 B.C. Two large gates and an island are known where
the celebrated Sanctuary of Apollo and the major part of the ancient city were
situated. A Greek inscription records the reconstruction of the ruined city and
of the famous sanctuary by a Thracian tribe. The Imperial coins continue to use
the name Apollonia until the 3d c. A.D., when the name Sozopol appears. During
the Byzantine Empire Sozopol was the seat of a bishop, a rich and prosperous city
that was frequented by the Genoese until it fell under Turkish domination in 1383.
Today it is a modest town. Nothing of the ancient city remains visible above ground.
Early excavations furnished little clarification. It is certainly on the island
of St. Ciriaco where the stele of Anaxandros was found that the Temple of Apollo
must be sought since all the material found in 1904, including a series of terracotta
figurines datable to the 6th c. B.C., is connected with that cult; on the island
of St. George there are traces of Byzantine construction. Both older and more
recent excavations at Kalfata and the port of Giardino brought to light rich Greek
necropoleis containing painted funerary vases dating between the 5th and the 2d
c. B.C. The promontory is called Cape Kolokuntas (pumpkins) because of the great
number of tumuli in the area. They are scattered over the upland and contain dromoi
and funerary chambers, as was the Thracian custom. There are also cultural blendings
as in the tumulus of Mapes, with dromoi and painted sarcophagi, where the Greek
influence dominates.
For the Temple of Apollo, Kalamis made the bronze statue of the god
(ca. 13.2 m tall), which was stolen by Licinius Lucullus in A.D. 73 after the
seizure of Apollonia, and transported to the Campidoglio in Rome. The symbolic
lion of Apollo is found on the coins of Apollonia. There are many inscriptions
and also an important decree. The only notable monument surviving is the stele
of Anaxandros, now in the National Museum of Sofia. It is a masterpiece of Ionic
art from the end of the 6th c. B.C., representing the deceased cloaked, with his
dog. At the Louvre is a fragment of a slab from Apollonia in the archaic Ionic
style.
A. Frova, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Apollonia (Apollonia: Eth. Apolloniates, Apolloniates, Apollinas, -atis, Apolloniensis). (Sizeboli), a town of Thrace, on the Pontus Euxinus, a little S. of Mesambria, was a colony of the Milesians. It had two large harbours, and the greater part of the town was situated on a small island. It possessed a celebrated temple of Apollo, and a colossal statue of this god, 30 cubits in height, which M. Lucullus carried to Rome and placed in the Capitol. (Herod. iv. 90; Strab. vii. p. 319, xii. p. 541, Plin. xxxiv. 7. s. 18. § 39; Scymnus, 730; Arrian, Peripl. p. 24, Anon. Peripl. p. 14.) It was subsequently called Sozopolis (Sozopolis, Anon. Peripl. p. 14). whence its modern name Sizeboli.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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