Mesembria

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The ancient settlements on the southwest Black Sea coast

Mesembria ( Greek  Μεσημβρία , also Μεσαμβρία, Latinized Mesembria , Bulgarian Месембрия ) was an ancient and medieval city on the site of today's Nessebar in Bulgaria . The city is located on the western Black Sea , at the northern exit of the Gulf of Burgas , not far from the Balkan Mountains . In ancient times, Mesembria was on the Via Pontica coastal road .

Surname

The ancient city name, which has been handed down in several variants, is composed of the Thracian '-bria' (= city) and a component which Strabo as Menas and Stephanos Byzantios as Melsos explain as proper names. Following these, the name is interpreted by several modern authors as the city ​​of Menas or city ​​of Melsas , Melsas is understood as the Thracian founding hero of the city. The city minted its own coins which can be identified with the letters META, METAM / BPIANΩN.

Diobol from Mesembria, approx. 450-350 BC Chr.
Back of the coin, META between the wheel spokes

history

Mesembria arose during the course of Greek colonization in the late 6th or early 5th century BC. The mother cities of the Greeks, who founded the colony Mesembria, are given differently by different authors: Byzantion and Kalchedon , or Kalchedon and Megara or, according to a third version, only Megara. The colony was founded on a 350 meter long peninsula. The highest point on the peninsula is 12 meters above sea level. It consists of almost horizontal limestone sandstone lifts .

The patron deity of the city of Mesembria was Apollo , whose cult is documented several times in the city. A temple of Apollo is mentioned in several inscriptions. He served since at least the early 3rd century BC. As a place of issue for public documents. In Mesembria, however, there is no direct evidence of the cult of Apollon Agyeus , the Doric god of immigration, conquest and possession, who was also a gatekeeper and defender of evil . The Agyeus cult is documented in neighboring Anchialos, which was conquered by Apollonia .

Coinage

Since the middle of the 5th century BC BC coins were minted in Mesembria, initially only from silver, later also from bronze. As the most important types of coins, the city used the helmet on the obverse of its coins and the wheel as a sun symbol on the reverse . Even during the Roman Empire, the city minted its own coins from Hadrian to Philip II.

literature

Inscriptions
  • Georgi Michailow: Inscriptiones Graecae in Bulgaria repertae. Volume 1. Editio altera emendata: Inscriptiones orae Ponti Euxini. Sofia 1970, pp. 255-313.
Coinage
  • Ivan Karajotov : Монетосеченето на Месамбрия. Burgas 1992 (see the review by Edith Schönert-Geiß , in: Gnomon 66 (1994) pp. 699-702).
  • Ivan Karajotow: The coinage of Mesambria.
    • Vol. 1: Silver and gold coins of Mesambria. Center of Underwater Archeology, Sozopol 1994.
    • Vol. 2: Bronze coins of Mesambria. Center for Maritime and Regional Studies, Sozopol 2009, ISBN 978-954-92170-3-2 .
  • Edith Schönert-Geiß: Bibliography on ancient numismatics of Thrace and Moesia. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1999. ISBN 3-05-003286-3 . Pp. 899-953 (with all older literature).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Strabon 7, 319: "Μενεβρία (Menebria), city of Menas, because the name of its founder was Menas".
  2. ↑ Stephanos Byzantios sv Μεσημβρία: named after Melsos. Stephanos names the lost world history of Nikolaos of Damascus as the source , see Felix Jacoby : The fragments of the Greek historians . Vol. II A, Berlin 1926. No. 90 F 43.
  3. ^ Szaivert / Sear, Greek coin catalog, volume 1, page 245
  4. ↑ Herodotus 6:33 .
  5. ↑ Pseudo-Skymnos 737-742.
  6. ↑ Strabon 7, 6, 1.