Starosel () is a village in central

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 ...

Plovdiv Province Plovdiv Province (: ''Oblast Plovdiv'', former name okrug, Plovdiv okrug) is a provinces of Bulgaria, province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, ''obshtini'', sing. общинa, ''obshtina'') on a territ ...

. It lies at the foothills of the

Sredna Gora Sredna Gora ( ) is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to the Balkan Mountains and extending from the river Iskar (river), Iskar to the west and the elbow of river Tundzha north of the city of Yambol to the east. ...

mountain range along the shores of Pyasachnik river.

History

Starosel is known for the abundance of ancient

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

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, ...

sites, with some finds dating as far back as the 5th-6th millennium BC. Evidence from 20th-century excavations reveals that the village burgeoned into an important and wealthy Thracian city in the 5th century BC. Among its main features are the underground temple, the largest of its kind in the Balkan Peninsula, built under the Chetinyova Mogila (

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

) and a mausoleum. The temple, as well as the nearby Thracian king's residence under Mount Kozi Gramadi, likely date to the reign of

Amadocus II Amadocus (, also Amatokos) was an Odrysian ruler in Thrace, who ruled from 360 to c. 351 BC. Amadocus II was the son of Amadocus I (Medocus), according to a fragment of Theopompus, which specifies that there were two kings named Amadocus, father ...

(359-351 BC). Another important site, the Horizont tumulus, contains the only known Thracian temple to feature a colonnade (a Doric one). It is one of ten tumuli located within the location range. The Kings' palace and treasury have also been discovered nearby at Kozi Gramadi at 1200 m altitude. It was begun under Thracian king Cotys I (384-359 BC). The palace is enclosed with a defensive wall preserved up to a height of 2m and two bastions have been revealed.

Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon (; 382 BC – October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...

broke in and captured the palace in 341BC from king Teres II (351-341 BC) and evidence of severe destruction has been found. Among the finds many lead slingshot bullets stamped with the names of Philip's generals Cleobulus and Anaxandros were brought to light within the palace. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

the surrounding territory was part of the

Bulgarian Empire Bulgarian Empire may refer to: * First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led b ...

until it was conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th century as a result of the

Bulgarian–Ottoman wars The Bulgarian–Ottoman wars were fought between the kingdoms remaining from the disintegrating Second Bulgarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, in the second half of the 14th century. The wars resulted in the collapse and subordination of the ...

. In 1798, a cell school and a small church dug into the ground were built. In 1819, the authorities of Constantinople allowed the construction of a new large church, which was destroyed by the Ottomans during the April Uprising in 1876. Nearly 2000 Bulgarians and a few dozen Gypsies, mostly blacksmiths and ironworkers, lived in Staro Novo selo just before the uprising. The village numbered 300 houses and was an important economic center in the region. There were 17 mills and 5 cinders on the river Pyasachnik, as well as 13 mullets and many workshops for carpentry supplies and supplies. There was also a market for cattle. The Bulgarian revolutionary

Vasil Levski Vasil Levski (, spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a Folk hero, national ...

visited the village in 1869 and 1871, establishing a revolutionary committee. Later, the village took a massive part in the

April Uprising of 1876 The April Uprising () was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The rebellion was suppressed by irregular military, irregular Ottoman bashi-bazouk units that engaged in indiscriminate slaught ...

, which was quelled by the Ottomans. During the uprising, the Ottomans burnt all the houses, the church and the school. All property and food supplies were plundered. Part of the population was killed, while others migrated to northern Bulgaria. On 25 May 1876, 12 participant in the uprising from the village were hanged at the

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( ), also known as Evros ( ) and Meriç ( ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,

River Bridge in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

. Their names were Miho Mitkov Kabadjov, Pop Atanas Nenkov, Nayden Ivanov Slaninkov, Pop Marco, Todor Stoyanov Nachev, Tancho Georgiev Proichev, Ivan Gumyushev, Ilin Sarafov, Kuman Doichev Pergov, Kosta Koshelakov-Nyagin, Nikola Tarashev and Pencho Koparanski. Another 88 men from the village were sentenced to death but due to international pressure their sentences were commuted to prison and exile in

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. Most of the refugees eventually returned to their old settlement, but from superstition did not rebuild the burnt and devastated village, and instead built a new one down the river. The new village was called Eski Eny Koy (meaning Old New Village), which remained until the 1930s, when it was renamed to Starosel.

Notable people

Born: * Andreya Proychev - Bulgarian Volunteer from IV Company, IV Company. He took part in the battles of Shipka and near Stara Zagora. For his exceptional bravery during the Russo-Turkish War he was awarded the St. George's Cross - a high Russian military award and a gilded cup - personally by Emperor Alexander II. * Stoyanka Gruycheva - competitor in academic rowing * Rangel Gerovski - Bulgarian wrestler in classical style * Ivan Bogdanov Deliverski – National competitor in freestyle wrestling, European champion, multiple times champion of Bulgaria. * Iliyan Kaziyski bronze medalist at the World Volleyball Championship 1986. Father of

Matey Kaziyski Matey Iliyanov Kaziyski () (born 23 September 1984) is a Bulgarian professional volleyball player, member of Bulgaria men's national volleyball team during 2003–2012 and Italy, Italian club Trentino Volley, a participant of the Olympic Games 2 ...

Died: *

Georgi Kitov Georgi Kitov ( Bulgarian: Георги Китов) (March 1, 1943 – September 14, 2008) was a Bulgarian archaeologist and thracologist. He specialized in Thracian archaeology. He participated in the excavations of many sites including t ...

(1943 - 2008), Bulgarian archaeologist

Honour

Starosel Gate Starosel Gate (Staroselska Porta \sta-ro-'sel-ska 'por-ta\) is a 150-m wide pass of elevation 500 m situated between St. Naum Peak and the north extremity of Balchik Ridge in Levski Ridge, Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island, Antarctica. Pro ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after Starosel.

Gallery

File:"Geo Milev" Community Center.jpg , ''

Chitalishte A ''chitalishte'' (, ) is a traditional Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, public library, and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people o ...

'' "Geo Milev" File:DJI VP.jpg , Aerial view of the village File:Starosel church & kindergarten.jpg , Local kindergarten File:Thracian-tumulus-Horizont-2.jpg , Thracian tomb Horizont File: The Starosel Thracian Cult Complex 16.jpg , Thracian complex Chetinyova Mogila

References

{{Hisarya Municipality Archaeological sites in Bulgaria Thracian archaeological sites in Bulgaria Villages in Plovdiv Province