Mesembria (Pontus)

Mesembria (Greek Μεσημβρία, also Μεσαμβρία, Latinized Mesembria, Bulgarian Месемврия ) was an ancient and medieval city on the site of the present Nessebar in Bulgaria. The city is located on the western Black Sea, at the northern end of the Gulf of Burgas, near the Balkan Mountains. In ancient times Mesembria lay on the coast road Via pontica.

Name

The ancient city name that has been handed down in several versions, is composed of the Thracian ' bria - ' (= city) and a component which accounts for what Strabo as Menas and Stephanos Byzantios as Melsos as a proper name. This follows the name of several modern authors is interpreted as the city of Menas or city of Melsas, Melsas is understood as a Thracian Heros founding of the city.

History

Mesembria was founded during the Greek colonization in the late 6th or early 5th century BC The mother cities of the Greeks, who founded the colony of Mesembria, are given by different authors: Byzantium and Chalcedon, and Chalcedon and Megara or after a third version only Megara. The colony was founded on a 350 -meter-long peninsula. The highest point of the peninsula is located 12 meters above the sea level. It consists of nearly horizontal calcareous Sandsteinsenkliften.

The patron deity of the city Mesembria was Apollo, whose cult is multiply occupied in the city. A temple of Apollo is mentioned in several inscriptions. He since at least the early 3rd century BC, served as a venue for public documents. In Mesembria but lack direct evidence for the cult of Apollo Agyeus, the Doric god of immigration, conquest and possession, which was also goalkeepers and defenders evil. The Agyeuskult is in neighboring Anchialos, which was conquered by Apollonia, occupied.

Coinage

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