Limes Rhodopica

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The Limes Rhodopica is a range of hills in Bulgaria . Modern archaeological research describes it as a circular enclosure of the 30 km² large Tschepino valley. The area of ​​the surrounding mountain landscape is at least three times larger than the flat plain. The small valley is located in the northwest of the Rhodope Mountains , about 60 km west of Plovdiv (Philippopolis) and 150 km south of Sofia (Serdica). One of the highest mountain regions of the Rhodope and Northern Thrace forms here . The hills are at a uniform height of about 1200-1350 m. This favorable location was used in the Roman Empire to link the mountain roads through fortresses and posts.

The name of the valley Chepino derives from the medieval fortress Tsepina from or Tsepeina. Written sources about this large fortification can only be found in the 12th century and since the fall of Constantinople in 1204, it is often associated with Byzantium.

Including several fortified residences such as Tsepeina, Stanimachos, Peristera, Ljutitsa and Meleniko ( Melnik ), the entire Limes Rhodopica fell into the government of Alexius Slaw , a nephew of the Bulgarian Tsar Kalojan, who was murdered in 1207 in 1185 . Alexius took over the government up to the border of the newly founded Latin Empire and cut the way between the Bulgarian capital Tarnowo, usurped by Boril , and the Byzantine capital, which was relocated to Nikaia .

The fortresses in the Limes Rhodopica gave Alexios secure control over the trade route in Thrace. The Limes also secured him a monopoly on iron production in the Northern Rhodopes, which had existed for centuries.

According to a brief mention by Theodoros Laskaris (1205–1222), no fewer than nine large fortifications were used by both Byzantines and Bulgarians. Further descriptions by Georgios Akropolites († 1282) and Nikephoros Gregoras († 1359/61) refer to the late antique origin of the fortresses in this part of the Rhodope Mountains.

Several lime kilns in the immediate vicinity of some localized fortresses testify that the lime was extracted for the construction work on site.

In the southern part of the Tschepino valley numerous foundations of early Christian basilicas from the 5th and 6th centuries have been preserved, and fragments of their interiors are kept in the museums of Pazardzhik and Rakitovo .

On these once densely populated hills there was well-developed mining and an enormous number of settlements as early as the Early Iron Age. In the 1st century AD the region was already an area with numerous Roman-Thracian fortresses. The economy of this area persisted in late antiquity. This resulted in new fortresses, which were used under different names in the Middle Ages. The remains of forts in the municipality of Rakitovo, such as Tsepeina, Kulata-Gradot, Kulata, Kamilata and Kalinka, are known today.

literature

  • Andrei Alajov, Emil Ivanov: Kasnoanticna i srednovekovna krepost Kulata-Gradot pri Rakitovo, in: AOR (Arheologiceski otkritia i razkopki) (Late Antique-Medieval Fortress Kulata-Gradot near Rakitovo, in: Archaeological finds and research) . Sofia 2013, 445-446; Sofia 2014, 692–695.
  • Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , pp. 146-147.
  • Catherine Asdracha: La region des Rhodopes aux XIIIe et XIVe siecles. Etude de geographie historique , in: Texts and research on Byzantine-Neo-Greek philology, Ed. E. Bees-Seferli, Athens 1976, 4–37.
  • Ivan Bozhilov, Vasil Gjuzelev: Istorija na Srednovekovna Balgaria / History of Medieval Bulgaria 7th to 14th Century Volume 1, Verlag Anubis, Sofia 2006, ISBN 954426204-0
  • Hans-Joachim Härtel, Ronald Schönfeld: Bulgaria. From the Middle Ages to the present. Friedrich Pustet Verlag, Regensburg 1998, ISBN 3-7917-1540-2 , pp. 128-138.
  • Emil Ivanov: The Project 'Limes Rhodopica in Bulgaria'. The Vienna Dialogues: Conversation and Collaboration . Working group of the Faculty of History and Culture at the University of Vienna (November 24, 2012).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theodori Ducae Lascaris: Epistulae CCXVII, ext. I, Theodori litterae de pace a Bulgaris per Russos petita . Ed .: N. Festa. Firenze 1898, p. 281 .
  2. ↑ Georgius Akcropolites: Opera . Ed .: A. Heisenberg. tape I . Pipsiae 1903, p. 113, 119 .
  3. ^ Nicephoras Gregoras: Byzantina historia . Ed .: L. Schopeni. I-II. Bonn 1829, p. Vol. I, 1829, 55-56, 244, 302; Vol. II, 1830, 624-625, 727, 836 .