Dionysupolis or Dionysoupolis or Dionysopolis or Dionysou polis () was a town of

ancient Thrace The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared betwee ...

, later of

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

, on the river Ziras. It was founded as a

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

settlement in was founded in the 5th century BC, but was later colonised by the Ionian

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

s and given the name Cruni or Krounoi (Κρουνοί). It was named Krounoi from the nearby founts of water. It was renamed as Dionysopolis after the discovery of a statue of

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

in the sea. Later it became a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

and Bulgarian fortress. The town also bore the name Matiopolis. It existed within the present town of

Balchik Balchik ( ; , ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is in Dobrich Province, 35 km southeast of Dobrich and 42 km no ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. In the beginning of the 3rd century BC the city was relatively independent and included in the system of fortifications built by Diadohite. In the 6th century the town was destroyed by an earthquake and the population moved within the new fortification, whose construction began at the end of the V and beginning of the 6th century. Later, in the 7th century the town was in possession of the Bulgars and Slavs and was renamed first to Karvuna, and after that - Balik, after the name of Boyar Balik, who used it as a capital of its domain. One of the most important discoveries in borders of the ancient Dionysopolis is the Temple of Greek mother-goddess

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

. Many of the artifacts found there can be seen in Balchik History museum. Since 1994 the site has the status of cultural monument of national significance.

References

Populated places in ancient Thrace Former populated places in Bulgaria Greek colonies in Thrace Ionian colonies in Thrace Greek colonies in Scythia Minor Thracian towns {{Dobrich-geo-stub