Zepina
Zepina ( Bulgarian Цепина ) was a medieval fortress in Bulgaria , of which only ruins remain.
location
The fortress Tsepina located in southern Bulgaria, in the Western Rhodopes , in the northeast part of the Tschepina-basin (bulg. Чепинска котловина), north of the village Dorkowo ( community Rakitowo , Pazardzhik Province ) from which runs a 6 km long paved road to the fortress. This extreme northwestern part of the Western Rhodopes is known as Bataschka planina (Bulgarian Баташка планина). Zepina is located 11 km east of Velingrad and 23 km southwest of Pazardzhik . In the Middle Ages, the Zepina Fortress was the most famous fortress in the Rhodope Mountains. To the west of the fortress, 3 km away, flows the Tschepinska reka (Bulgarian Чепинска река) - a right tributary of the Maritsa . This is also where the Zepina station of the Rhodope Railway is located , the tracks of which run in sections in the Tschepinska reka valley. From the train station to the fortress it is 3.5 hours by foot.
The mountain peak is bordered in the east by the Metoshko Valley (Bulgarian Метошко дере), in the west by the Kostin Valley (Bulgarian Костин дол) and in the north by the Karkarijski Valley (Bulgarian Каркарийско дере). The mountain is only accessible from the south, where the actual city was located at the foot of the fortress.
At the foot of the fortress, 300 m away, is the Zepina mountain hut , which also houses a modest museum, in which finds from the excavation work are shown.
history
The fortress is located on the inaccessible, steep, conical mountain Zepine (1136 m) and has largely fallen into disrepair. The Bulgarians conquered the fortress in the 9th century. Then it was conquered by the Byzantine Empire at the end of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 11th century , but recaptured during the reign of Tsar Kaloyan (1197-1207).
The Zepina fortress occupied an important place in the Bulgarian and Byzantine defense system of the Western Rhodope Mountains and was the subject of diplomatic and military clashes between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire.
When Kaloyan installed his nephew Alexius Slaw as ruler of the Rhodope Mountains , the fortress Zepina was chosen as his seat of power, from here Slaw ruled over the Achrida region (Bulgarian Ахрида). After the assassination of Kaloyan in 1207, Alexius Slaw declared himself independent. However, in 1209 he moved his seat of power from Zepina to Melnik - 85 km southwest of Zepina.
From 1246 to 1254 Zepina belonged to the realm of the Nikaia Empire under John III.
However, Michael II succeeded in recapturing Assen Zepina. In 1254, the Bulgarians quickly surrendered a large area and many cities along the course of the Maritsa river . They penetrated the Western Rhodopes and successively conquered the fortresses of near Plovdiv : fortress Stanimake ( fortress Assenowgrad near Assenowgrad ), fortress Perstitsa ( Peruschtiza ), fortress Krichim ( Krichim ) and the fortress Zepina. Then the Bulgarians conquered the fortresses in the Eastern Rhodopes : Mneakos (fortress Monjak; bulg. Моняк; near the village of Shiroko pole ), Perperikon , Ustra (furthest to the west of the Rhodope fortress ), Efraim , Krivus (bulg. Кривус) and Patmos (bulg. крепост Патмос). Only Mneakos withstood the attacks of the Bulgarians and could not be taken by them.
Thereafter, the fortress was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1372 (1373?) After being besieged by Daud Pasha for nine (two?) Months . The fortress was only captured after the water supply was cut off. Soon after the Ottoman conquest, the fortress was abandoned by its residents.
The remains of three churches and four deep cisterns were found in the fortress . The walls of the fortress were two to three meters thick. Up to today (2009) parts of the fortress wall up to six meters high have been preserved. The Zepina Citadel covers an area of approximately 1500 m 2 . Up to 2.5 m high parts of the walls of the citadel have been preserved.
During the archaeological investigation of the area, it was found that a Thracian settlement existed here in the early Iron Age . There was also a settlement here during Roman times and late antiquity .
The remains of a three-aisled basilica from the early Christian era (5th to 6th centuries) were found. During the First Bulgarian Empire , the basilica was then converted into a single-nave church. A large number of residential buildings from the second half of the 1st millennium AD have been discovered. They had a square shape, consisted in the lower part of stones that were joined together with clay and in the upper part of a wooden structure, which was covered with large roof tiles ( Tegula and Imbrex ).
The residential buildings were mostly one-story, some were connected by corridors. The houses were built right next to each other, with no courtyards between them, there were only passages between the houses.
In the Middle Ages, the fortress consisted of two parts: the inner fortified district with the actual fortress and the outer suburb ( suburbium ). The suburb, which Byzantine chroniclers called the Polis , was at the foot of the fortress. The houses of the population were located here. With the exception of one church, this part has not yet been archaeologically researched. The excavations have focused on the fortress. The course of the outer fortress wall of the fortified city center with a length of 640 meters and a thickness of 1.80 meters was found. It encloses an area of 25,000 m 2 . The only entrance is in the south-eastern part. In the northeast corner there was a tower with an irregular polygonal shape. Its walls were reinforced with five supports and made of quarry stone bonded with white mortar, as well as covered wooden frames made of longitudinal and transverse struts. This construction is typical of the high Middle Ages .
Coin finds indicate that the tower was still used during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Alexios III. (1195 to 1203) was built. After the reconstruction of the Tume under Alexius Slaw, it was intact until the 14th century.
The area in the highest part of the city center, the naturally protected part of the city, was surrounded by a 142 m long wall that was 1.80 m thick. This wall enclosed the inner fortress citadel, which adapts to the terrain and has an irregular, polygonal shape. This wall was built in the same way as the outer fortress wall - quarry stone connected with mortar. This independent fortress, probably a feudal seat, also included two of the fortress' largest water reservoirs. A polygonal tower probably rose above one of the water basins, on the actual summit. The basin was eight meters high, had a rectangular shape on the inside and an octagonal shape on the outside and was covered by an arched vault. This tower was a residential tower ( donjon ) with defensive functions, such as the Nebojša Kula tower in the fortress of Belgrade or in the Rila monastery .
The inner fortress was connected in the southern part to the western fortress wall of the fortified city center by means of a transverse wall. The south wall of the inner fortress had two square towers on its south side. The two churches and the other two water cisterns in the southern part of the fortress also date from this period.
For several centuries, the fate of the Bulgarian population in this area was linked to the fate of this Rhodope fortress. There is archaeological and historical evidence that Zepina was an important political and administrative center in the Western Rhodope Mountains.
The foundations of some churches from the 12th to 13th centuries and from the early Christian period from the 5th to 6th centuries were found. Two marble altar reliefs depicting the apostles Peter and Paul were found in one of the churches and can be seen today in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg .
Zepina was a spiritual and cultural center and played an important role in the independence of the feudal lords and in the unity of the Bulgarians during this period.
The name Zepina is also the old form of today's name for this region - Tschepino (Bulgarian Чепино). Some researchers consider "Tschepina" to be the original name, but today the name "Zepina" has established itself.
Since 2012, the fortress has given its name to Tsepina Cove , a bay on Robert Island in Antarctica.
Historical sources and excavation history
There are numerous Byzantine sources relating to the Zepina Fortress, which tell of Bulgarian history.
The first written testimony of the fortress Tsepina dates back to 1220. The fortress Tsepina was in a deed of gift from Alexius Slav ( Bulgarian Сигилий на деспот Алексий Слав ) of 1220 to the Rozhen Monastery "Sveta Bogorodica Speleotisa" ( Bulgarian Света Богородица Спелеотиса ) at Melnik mentioned. In the deed of donation, Alexius Slaw writes that his seat was initially in Zepina and later in Melnik.
The first archaeological excavations were carried out at the end of the 19th century by the Russian historian and linguist PA Sirku (Полихроний Агапиевич Сырку; * July 30 (August 11) 1855 in Străşeni ; † June 23 (July 6) 1905 in Saint Petersburg ) .
Later researched on the fortress Zepina: Stefan Werkowitsch ( Bulgarian Стефан Веркович or Bulgarian Стефан Верковиќ ; * March 5, 1821 in Ugljara in Bosnia-Herzegovina ; † December 30, 1893 in Sofia); Christo Popkonstantinow ( Bulgarian Христо Попконстантинов ; December 24 1858 in Pętkowo ; † 14 July 1899 in Sofia) and Dimitar Zontschew ( Bulgarian Димитър Цончев ; born April 10, 1896 in Rachowzi in Gabrovo Province , † 1962 in Plovdiv ).
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Димитър Цончев: К изучению особенностей болгарских и византийских крепостей эпохи развимого развимого. (Russian Dimitar Zontschew: To investigate the peculiarities of the Bulgarian and Byzantine fortresses from the epoch of developed feudalism, Plovdiv)
Coordinates: 42 ° 5 ′ 8.8 ″ N , 24 ° 7 ′ 27 ″ E