Tundzha
The Tùndzha is a river in Bulgaria and Turkey and the most significant tributary of the Maritsa, emptying into it on Turkish territory near Edirne. The Tundzhas length on Bulgarian territory is 350 km and it has about 50 tributaries, the more important of which Mochuritsa and Sinapovska. Towns on the banks of the river include Kalofer, Tundzha Glacier on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Tundzha River. Pictures of Tundzha River in Yambol, Pictures of Tundzha River near Elhovo
Bulgars
The Bulgars were semi-nomadic warrior Turkic tribes who flourished in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. Emerging as nomadic equestrians in the Volga-Ural region, according to some researchers their roots can be traced to Central Asia, during their westward migration across the Eurasian steppe the Bulgars absorbed other ethnic groups and cultural influences, including Hunnic and Indo-European people. Modern genetic research on Central Asian Turkic people and ethnic groups related to the Bulgars points to an affiliation with western Eurasian and European populations, the Bulgars spoke a Turkic language, i. e. Bulgar language of Oghuric branch. They preserved military titles and customs of Eurasian steppes, as well as pagan shamanism, the Bulgars became semi-sedentary during the 7th century in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, establishing the polity of Old Great Bulgaria c. 635, which was absorbed by the Khazar Empire in 668 AD,679, Khan Asparukh conquered Scythia Minor, opening access to Moesia, and established the First Bulgarian Empire.
In the Balkans, the Bulgars became a political and military elite, and merged with previous populations, such as the Thracians and Vlachs, and were Slavicized, thus forming modern Bulgarians. The remaining Pontic Bulgars migrated in the 7th century to the Volga River, the Volga Tatars and Chuvash people claim to be originated from the Volga Bulgars. The etymology of the ethnonym Bulgar is not completely understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD. Since the work of Wilhelm Tomaschek, it is said to be derived from the Common Turkic bulğha, bulga- or bulya. Other scholars have added that bulğha might imply stir, confuse. Peter A. Boodberg noted that the Buluoji in the Chinese sources were recorded as remnants of the Xiongnu confederation, and had strong Caucasian elements. Another theory linking the Bulgars to a Turkic people of Inner Asia has been put forward by Boris Simeonov, who identified them with the Pugu, a Tiele and/or Toquz Oguz tribe. The Pugu were mentioned in Chinese sources from 103 BC up to the 8th century AD, the names Onoğur and Bulgar were linked by Byzantine sources for reasons that are unclear.
Karatay interpreted gur/gor as country, and noted the Tekin derivation of gur from the Altaic suffix -gir, modern scholars consider the terms oğuz or oğur, as generic terms for Turkic tribal confederations, to be derived from Turkic *og/uq, meaning kinship or being akin to. The terms initially were not the same, as oq/ogsiz meant arrow, while oğul meant offspring, son, oğuš/uğuš was tribe and the verb oğša-/oqša meant to be like, resemble. There appears to be an association between the Bulgars and the preceding Kutrigur and Utigur – as Oğur tribes, with the ethnonym Bulgar as a spreading adjective. Golden considered the origin of the Kutrigurs and Utigurs to be obscure and he noted, however, an implication that the Kutrigurs and Utigurs were related to the Šarağur, and that according to Procopius these were Hunnish tribal unions, of partly Cimmerian descent. Karatay considered the Kutrigurs and Utigurs to be two related, ancestral people, and prominent tribes in the Bulgar union, but different from the Bulgars, among many other theories regarding the etymology of Bulgar, the following have had limited support.
An Eastern Germanic root meaning combative, according to D, the origin of the early Bulgars is still unclear
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic people, two of whose branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe. In the Gothic language they were called the Gut-þiuda, most commonly translated as Gothic people, gut-þiudai, or Gutans Inferred from gen. pl. gutani in Pietroassa inscription. In Old Norse they were known as the Gutar or Gotar, in Latin as the Gothi, the exact origin of the ancient Goths is unknown. Evidence of them before they interacted with the Romans is limited, Modern academics have generally abandoned this theory. Today, the Wielbark culture is thought to have developed from earlier cultures in the same area, archaeological finds show close contacts between southern Sweden and the Baltic coastal area on the continent, and further towards the south-east, evidenced by pottery, house types and graves. Rather than a migration, similarities in the material cultures may be products of long-term regular contacts.
However, the record could indicate that while his work is thought to be unreliable. Sometime around the 1st century AD, Germanic peoples may have migrated from Scandinavia to Gothiscandza, early archaeological evidence in the traditional Swedish province of Östergötland suggests a general depopulation during this period. However, there is no evidence for a substantial emigration from Scandinavia. Upon their arrival on the Pontic Steppe, the Germanic tribes adopted the ways of the Eurasian nomads, the first Greek references to the Goths call them Scythians, since this area along the Black Sea historically had been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. The earliest known material culture associated with the Goths on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea is the Wielbark culture, centered on the modern region of Pomerania in northern Poland. This culture replaced the local Oxhöft or Oksywie culture in the 1st century, the culture of this area was influenced by southern Scandinavian culture beginning as early as the late Nordic Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age.
In Eastern Europe they formed part of the Chernyakhov culture and it has been suggested that the Goths maintained contact with southern Sweden during their migration. In the first attested incursion in Thrace, the Goths were mentioned as Boranoi by Zosimus, the first incursion of the Roman Empire that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of Histria in 238. Several such raids followed in subsequent decades, in particular the Battle of Abrittus in 251, led by Cniva, at the time, there were at least two groups of Goths, the Thervingi and the Greuthungs. Goths were subsequently recruited into the Roman Army to fight in the Roman-Persian Wars. The Moesogoths settled in Thrace and Moesia, the first seaborne raids took place in three subsequent years, probably 255-257. An unsuccessful attack on Pityus was followed in the year by another
Trajan
Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born in the city of Italica in the province of Hispania Baetica, Trajans non-patrician family was of Italian, Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in 89 Trajan supported Domitian against a revolt on the Rhine led by Antonius Saturninus, in September 96, Domitian was succeeded by Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an old and childless senator who proved to be unpopular with the army. After a brief and tumultuous year in power, culminating in a revolt by members of the Praetorian Guard, Nerva was compelled to adopt the more popular Trajan as his heir and he died on 27 January 98 and was succeeded by his adopted son without incident. Early in his reign, he annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, creating the province of Arabia Petraea and his conquest of Dacia enriched the empire greatly, as the new province possessed many valuable gold mines. However, its position north of the Danube made it susceptible to attack on three sides, and it was abandoned by Emperor Aurelian.
Trajans war against the Parthian Empire ended with the sack of the capital Ctesiphon and his campaigns expanded the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent. In late 117, while sailing back to Rome, Trajan fell ill and he was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest under Trajans Column. He was succeeded by his adopted son Hadrian, as an emperor, Trajans reputation has endured – he is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived nineteen centuries. Every new emperor after him was honoured by the Senate with the wish felicior Augusto, among medieval Christian theologians, Trajan was considered a virtuous pagan. As far as ancient literary sources are concerned, an extant continuous account of Trajans reign does not exist, only fragments remain of the Getiká, a book by Trajans personal physician Titos Statilios Kriton. The Parthiká, a 17-volume account of the Parthian Wars written by Arrian, has met a similar fate, book 68 in Cassius Dios Roman History, which survives mostly as Byzantine abridgments and epitomes, is the main source for the political history of Trajans rule.
Besides this, Pliny the Youngers Panegyricus and Dio of Prusas orations are the best surviving contemporary sources and it is certain that much of text of the letters that appear in this collection over Trajans signature was written and/or edited by Trajans Imperial secretary, his ab epistulis. Therefore, discussion of Trajan and his rule in modern historiography cannot avoid speculation, as well as recourse to sources such as archaeology. Marcus Ulpius Traianus was born on 18 September 53 AD in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, Trajans birthplace of Italica was founded as a Roman military colony in 206 BC, though it is unknown when the Ulpii arrived there. Trajan was the son of Marcia, a Roman noblewoman and sister-in-law of the second Flavian Emperor Titus, and Marcus Ulpius Traianus, Marcus Ulpius Traianus the elder served Vespasian in the First Jewish-Roman War, commanding the Legio X Fretensis. Trajan himself was just one of many well-known Ulpii in a line that continued long after his own death and his elder sister was Ulpia Marciana, and his niece was Salonina Matidia.
The patria of the Ulpii was Italica, in Spanish Baetica, as a young man, he rose through the ranks of the Roman army, serving in some of the most contested parts of the Empires frontier
Gulf of Burgas
It is 41 km at its widest and 25 m at its deepest, reaching 31 km at its greatest innermost extent, approximately where the Bulgarian city and major port of Burgas is located. Other towns in the region include Pomorie and Nesebar, the Burgas Bay is the Black Seas westernmost point. The bay gets narrow to the west, while the northern coast is lower and has two big peninsulas, at Nesebar and Pomorie, the southern part of the bay is rougher, with many little inlets and headlands. The waters salinity in the bay is 17‰, the sand is of magnetite origin, the Burgas Lakes are located in the wetlands to the west. There are several islands in the southern part of Burgas Bay, most notably St. Ivan Island and St. Peter Island, St. Anastasia Island
Nesebar
Nesebar is an ancient town and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the centre of the homonymous Nesebar Municipality. Often referred to as the Pearl of the Black Sea, Nesebar is a rich city-museum defined by more than three millennia of ever-changing history. Nesebar has on several occasions found itself on the frontier of a threatened empire and its abundance of historic buildings prompted UNESCO to include Nesebar in its list of World Heritage Sites in 1983. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 11,626 inhabitants, the settlement was known in Greek as Mesembria, sometimes mentioned as Mesambria or Melsembria, the latter meaning the city of Melsas. According to a reconstruction the name derive from Thracian Melsambria. Nevertheless, the Thracian origin of name seems to be doubtful. Moreover, the tradition pertaining to Melsas, as founder of the city is tenuous and it appears that the story of Melsas was a latter reconstruction of the Hellenistic era, when Mesembria was an important coastal city.
Her work led to the identification of five periods of urbanization on the peninsula surrounding Nesebar through the end of the second millennium B. C. It remained the only Dorian colony along the Black Sea coast, at 425-424 BC the town joined the Delian League, under the leadership of Athens. Remains from the Hellenistic period include the acropolis, a temple of Apollo, a wall which formed part of the fortifications can still be seen on the north side of the peninsula. Bronze and silver coins were minted in the city since the 5th century BC, the town fell under Roman rule in 71 BC, yet continued to enjoy privileges such as the right to mint its own coinage. The Bulgarian version of the name, Nesebar or Mesebar, has been attested since the 11th century, in the 13th and 14th century a remarkable series of churches were built, St Theodore, St Paraskeva, St Michael St Gabriel, and St John Aliturgetos. Nesebar was a centre in İslimye sanjak of Edirne Province before 1878. Around the end of the 19th century Nesebar was a town of Greek fishermen.
In the early 20th century, the population increased to 1,870. It developed as a key Bulgarian seaside resort since the beginning of the 20th century, after 1925 a new town part was built and the historic Old Town was restored. Nesebar is sometimes said to be the town with the highest number of churches per capita, today, a total of forty churches survive, wholly or partly, in the vicinity of the town
Edirne
Edirne served as the third capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1363 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empires fourth and final capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of Edirne Province in Turkish Thrace, the citys estimated population in 2014 was 165,979. The city was founded as Hadrianopolis, named for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and this name is still used in the Modern Greek. The name Adrianople was used in English, until the Turkish adoption of Latin alphabet in 1928 made Edirne the internationally recognized name. The Turkish, Bulgarian, Одрин, Edrêne, Slovene, Одрин and Serbian, Једрене / Jedrene are adapted forms of the name Hadrianopolis or of its Turkish version, see its other names. The area around Edirne has been the site of no fewer than 16 major battles or sieges, military historian John Keegan identifies it as the most contested spot on the globe and attributes this to its geographical location. According to Greek mythology, son of king Agamemnon, built this city as Orestias, at the confluence of the Tonsus and the Ardiscus with the Hebrus.
The city was founded eponymously by the Roman Emperor Hadrian on the site of a previous Thracian settlement known as Uskadama, Uskodama or Uscudama and it was the capital of the Bessi, or of the Odrysians. Hadrian developed it, adorned it with monuments, changed its name to Hadrianopolis after himself, licinius was defeated there by Constantine I in 323, and Emperor Valens was killed by the Goths in 378 during the Battle of Adrianople. In 813, the city was seized by Khan Krum of Bulgaria who moved its inhabitants to the Bulgarian lands towards the north of the Danube. During the existence of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Crusaders were decisively defeated by the Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan in the Battle of Adrianople. Later Theodore Komnenos, Despot of Epirus, took possession of it in 1227, in 1369, the city was conquered by the Ottoman sultan Murad I. The city remained the Ottoman capital for 90 years until 1453, Edirne is famed for its many mosques, domes and palaces from the Ottoman period.
Under Ottoman rule, Edirne was the city of the administrative unit, the eponymous Eyalet of Edirne, and after land reforms in 1867. Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, was born in Edirne, Sultan Mehmed IV left the palace in Constantinople and died in Edirne in 1693. During his exile in the Ottoman Empire, the Swedish king Charles XII stayed in the city during most of 1713, baháulláh, the founder of the Baháí Faith, lived in Edirne from 1863 to 1868. He was exiled there by the Ottoman Empire before being banished further to the Ottoman penal colony in Akka and he referred to Edirne in his writings as the Land of Mystery. Edirne was briefly occupied by imperial Russian troops in 1829 during the Greek War of Independence, the city suffered a fire in 1905
Diocletian
Diocletian, born Diocles, was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, after the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was claimed by Carus other surviving son, Carinus. Diocletians reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and he appointed fellow officer Maximian as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian delegated further on 1 March 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as Caesars, under this tetrarchy, or rule of four, each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian secured the borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, the Alamanni in 288, and usurpers in Egypt between 297 and 298, aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully against Sassanid Persia, the empires traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked their capital, Diocletian led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favorable peace.
He established new centres in Nicomedia, Antioch. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction increased the states expenditures. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, not all of Diocletians plans were successful, the Edict on Maximum Prices, his attempt to curb inflation via price controls, was counterproductive and quickly ignored. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the office on 1 May 305. He lived out his retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast and his palace eventually became the core of the modern-day city of Split in Croatia. Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia, some time around 244 and his parents gave him the Greek name Diocles, or possibly Diocles Valerius. The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes his official birthday,22 December, other historians are not so certain.
Diocles parents were of low status, and writers critical of him claimed that his father was a scribe or a freedman of the senator Anullinus, the first forty years of his life are mostly obscure. The Byzantine chronicler Joannes Zonaras states that he was Dux Moesiae, the often-unreliable Historia Augusta states that he served in Gaul, but this account is not corroborated by other sources and is ignored by modern historians of the period
Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea resorts in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast, the region is an important center of tourism during the summer season, drawing millions of foreign and local tourists alike and constituting one of the countrys most popular tourist destinations. Prior to 1989 the Bulgarian Black Sea coast was known as the Red Riviera. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, its nickname has been changed to the Bulgarian Riviera, the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast has a humid subtropical climate, with considerable maritime and continental influences. The areas average air temperature in the summer is about 28 °C, there are more than 240 hours of sunshine in May and September and more than 300 hours in July and August. The Balkan Mountains cross the country reaching to the edge of the Black Sea at Cape Emine, parts of Bulgarias northern Black Sea Coast feature rocky headlands where the sea abuts cliffs up to 70 metres in height.
The southern coast is known for its sandy beaches. The southernmost section is included in Strandzha Nature Park, the two largest cities and main seaports on the Bulgarian Riviera are Varna and Burgas. Varna is located on the part of the coast and Burgas is located on the southern coast. The two cities international airports, Varna Airport and Burgas Airport, are the main hubs servicing the region, in addition, the Trakia motorway was completed in 2013, providing fast access between Burgas and Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and Plovdiv, the second largest city. Hemus motorway, scheduled to be completed after 2020, would make the trip from Sofia to Varna substantially easier and faster, while the Cherno More motorway is planned to connect Varna and Burgas. Major road I-9 runs along the Black Sea coast between the border with Romania, at the village of Durankulak, and the city of Burgas. Anastasia Island St. Cyricus Island St. Ivan Island St. Peter ISland St. Bulgaria saw little fighting during the war.
Romanian mines heavily damaged the submarine Shch-205 off Varna on 4 December 1941, on 6 December 1941, Belomorets and Chernomorets depth-charged and sank the Soviet submarine Shch-204. Soviet submarines laid mines near the Bulgarian coast, the 2304-ton Bulgarian steamer Chipka being sunk off Varna by mines laid by the submarine L-4, shch-214 torpedoed and sank the Italian 3336-ton tanker Torcello off the Bulgarian coast. On 25 May 1942, the 982-ton Turkish passenger ship Safak was sunk by the Soviet submarine Shch-205 off the Bulgarian coast, on 19 May 1943, the Bulgarian torpedo boat Smeli foundered between Varna and Burgas during a storm. The campaign ended when Bulgaria changed sides and joined the Soviet Union in September 1944, featuring links to articles on the many coastal strips around the world which are known as Riviera Romanian Black Sea resorts
Thracians
The Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting a large area in southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family, the study of Thracians and Thracian culture is known as Thracology. Thracians are one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians. The first historical record about the Thracians is found in the Iliad, the ethnonym Thracian comes from Ancient Greek Θρᾷξ or Θρᾴκιος/Ionic, Θρηίκιος, and the toponym Thrace comes from Θρᾴκη/Ion. These forms are all exonyms as applied by the Greeks, in Greek mythology, Thrax was regarded as one of the reputed sons of the god Ares. In the Alcestis, Euripides mentions that one of the names of Ares himself was Thrax since he was regarded as the patron of Thrace, the origins of the Thracians remain obscure, in the absence of written historical records. Evidence of proto-Thracians in the period depends on artifacts of material culture. Leo Klejn identifies proto-Thracians with the multi-cordoned ware culture that was pushed away from Ukraine by the advancing timber grave culture and we speak of proto-Thracians from which during the Iron Age Dacians and Thracians begin developing.
Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not manage to form a political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the fifth century BC. A strong Dacian state appeared in the first century BC, during the reign of King Burebista, including the Illyrians, the mountainous regions were home to various peoples regarded as warlike and ferocious Thracian tribes, while the plains peoples were apparently regarded as more peaceable. Thracians inhabited parts of the ancient provinces of Thrace, Macedonia, Scythia Minor, Bithynia, Mysia and other regions of the Balkans and Anatolia. This area extended over most of the Balkans region, and the Getae north of the Danube as far as beyond the Bug and including Panonia in the west. Aligning themselves in kingdoms and tribes, they never displayed any form of unity beyond short. Similar to the Celtic and Slavic tribes, most people are thought to have lived simply in small fortified villages, although the concept of an urban center was not developed until the Roman period, various larger fortifications which served as regional market centers were numerous.
Yet, in general, despite Greek colonization in such areas as Byzantium and other cities, the first Greek colonies in Thrace were founded in the eighth century BC. Thrace south of the Danube was ruled for half a century by the Persians under Darius the Great. In the first decade of the sixth century BC, the Persians invaded Thrace, Thracians were forced to join the invasions of European Scythia and Greece. According to Herodotus, the Bithynian Thracians had to contribute a large contingent to Xerxes invasion of Greece in 480 BC, Darius left in Europe one of his commanders named Megabazus whose task was to accomplish conquests in the Balkans
Odrysian kingdom
The Odrysian Kingdom was a state union of over 40 Thracian tribes and 22 kingdoms that existed between the 5th century BC and the 1st century AD. It consisted mainly of present-day Bulgaria, spreading to parts of Northern Dobruja, parts of Northern Greece and it is suggested that the kingdom had no capital. Instead, the kings may have moved between residences, a capital was the city of Odryssa, as inscribed on coins. Another royal residence believed to have constructed by Cotys I is in the village of Starosel. The kingdom broke up and Kabyle was a co-capital by the end of the 4th century BC, the Odrysians were one of the most powerful Thracian tribes that dwelled in the plain of the Hebrus river. This would place the tribe in the border area between Southeastern Bulgaria, Northeastern Greece and European Turkey, centered around the city of Edirne. The river Artescus passed through their land as well, xenophon writes that the Odrysians held horse races and drank large amounts of wine after the burial of their dead warriors.
Thucydides writes on their custom, practised by most Thracians, of giving gifts for getting things done, herodotus was the first writer to mention the Odrysae. Thrace had been part of the Persian empire since 516 BC during the rule of Darius the Great, during Persian rule, it made part of the Skudra satrapy. Parts were occupied by Scythians and Greek colonists earlier besides the numerous invasions, its extent changed from present-day Bulgaria, Turkish Thrace and Greece between the Hebrus and the Strymon (except for a coastal strip that was occupied by Greek cities. Sovereignty was never exercised over all of its lands as it varied in relation to tribal politics, historian Z. H. Archibald writes, The Odrysians created the first state entity which superseded the tribal system in the east Balkan peninsula. Their kings were known to the outside world as kings of Thrace. These were favorable conditions for overcoming the divisions, which could lead gradually to the formation of a more stable ethnic community.
This was not realised and the period of power of the Odrysian kingdom was brief, despite the attempts of the Odrysian kings to bolster their central power, the separatist tendencies were very strong. Odrysian military strength was based on intra-tribal elites making the kingdom prone to fragmentation, some tribes were rioting constantly and tried to separate, while others remained outside the borders of the kingdom. At the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th century BC, as a result of conflicts, the political and military decline continued, while Macedonia was rising as a dangerous and ambitious neighbour. Despite their demise, the period of Odrysian rule was of importance for the future character of south-eastern Europe, under the Roman Empire. Teres son, proved to be a military leader
