Zaldapa (''Zeldepa'', ) was a large Late Roman fortified city in

Scythia Minor Scythia Minor or Lesser Scythia (Greek: , ) was a Roman province in late Antiquity, occupying the lands between the lower Danube and the Black Sea, the modern-day Dobruja region in Romania and Bulgaria. It was detached from Moesia Inferior by ...

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 ...

, located near today's Abrit,

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 ...

History and archaeology

The site was originally an ancient

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 from around the 8th century BC. The site of over was protected from the East, North and Northwest by a deep valley.

Excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

have revealed the defensive walls, a Roman civic

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

, an early Christian basilica with two

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

s and a huge water reservoir. The walls had 32

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s 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 Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

the Great (527–565). It was also mentioned as the seat of a bishop. In 2015, a Greek stone inscription was discovered by the archaeologists excavating the ruins of a Christian bishop's basilica at Zaldapa.BULGARIAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND STONE INSCRIPTION, RED MARBLE PILLAR IN BISHOP’S BASILICA IN ROMAN AND BYZANTINE FORTRESS ZALDAPA
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References

External links

The Zaldapa Fortress near the village of Abrit
Byzantine forts Roman towns and cities in Bulgaria Tourist attractions in Dobrich Province Roman fortifications in Moesia Inferior {{Europe-archaeology-stub

History and archaeology

References

Further reading

External links