Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "NIKOPOLIS Ancient city BULGARIA".
A city 20 km from Tarnovo beside the river Rossitza which empties
into the Jantra, a tributary of the Danube, at the foot of Mt. Haemus. The city
was founded by Trajan at the junction of the roads to Danubium and to Philippopolis.
It was raised to the status of a municipium by Hadrian, coined its own money from
the reign of Antoninus to that of Gordian III, flourished particularly under Septimius
Severus, was captured by the Goths, reconstructed by Justinian, and finally abandoned.
The city was Greek in tongue and in its constitution, with many foreign settlers
and a large number of religious cults.
The city was formed on a regular grid plan of which some axis streets
have been brought to light. It was encircled by walls and round towers with an
appendage, also walled, in the form of an irregular pentagon, on broken ground--much
like a defensive castellum. The gates and towers are represented on coins.
The central area has been excavated, including the forum (55 x 42
m) surrounded on three sides by a colonnade of Ionic columns. On the W side of
the forum are the bouleuterion and other structures (perhaps the praetorium) and
a colonnaded peristyle opening on one side onto the forum portico. On the other
side it opened onto the great propylaea, which presented a facade of four columns
supporting a frieze that contained a dedicatory inscription to Trajan. Beside
the grandiose peristyle is a small Corinthian-style theater or perhaps an odeion.
It had a perfectly semicircular orchestra (9.3 m in diam.). The cavea (21.8 m
in diam.), was raised on brick vaults. The theater was inscribed in a rectangle
which comprised a series of rooms, rectangular and square (tabernae ?), which
opened on the decumanus behind the cavea. Many statue bases have been found, as
well as altars, honorary inscriptions (one in honor of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius
Verus mentions games given by a high priest and by his daughter), facades with
shields and lances, and friezes. An aqueduct, canals, cisterns, and paved roads
have been brought to light.
In the architecture of Nicopolis, Hellenistic elements from Asia
Minor predominate. Many architectural pieces are fragmentary. Among the sculptures,
a statue of Eros is most noteworthy. It is a Roman copy of the 2d c. A.D. of the
Eros of Praxiteles at Paros. There are many religious reliefs (the relief of the
gods which is a unique provincial work), a beautiful bronze head of Gordian III
(now in the National Museum of Sophia), and many small bronzes.
A. Frova, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Sep 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Nicopolis-ad-Istrum is one of the most thoroughly explored Roman towns
on Bulgarian territory. The City of Victory was founded by Emperor Trayan in hon
our of his victory over the Dacians in 102-106 A.D. It lasted till the end of
the 6th and the beginning of the 17th century - in that period the town was devastated
by the invasions of the Avars and the Slavs.
As a result of the archaeological excavations and studies, which
continued for not less than 100 years, many findings came to the surface: parts
of the fortified system and its gates and towers, the street network of the city,
the water supply and the sewerage systems, a great number of public and residential
buildings. The visitor's route usually begins through the northern gate of the
fortress, then continues along one of the main streets, and goes up the original
stairs of the city square - and meanwhile the richly ornamented architectural
details never cease to arouse their admiration. The building where the City Council
held its sessions is particularly impressive. No one could miss neither the little
musical theatre, nor the open square with the limestone pedestals for the statues
of the emperors, their wives and notable citizens, all of which have been preserved
on their original places. More than hundred mounds of necropolises have been kept
either. A small lapidarium stores exhibits of tombstone architecture.
The most interesting findings today occupy their rightful place in
the Archaeological Museum in Veliko Tarnovo. Nicopolis-ad-Istrum is situated at
about 20 km to the north of Veliko Tarnovo, along the route to Rousse and at 3
km distance from the village of Nikyup; the deviation is after the exit from the
village of Polikraishte, to the left.
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