APOLLONIA DEL PONTO
(Sozopol) Burgas, E Bulgaria.
On the W coast of the Black Sea, a Milesian colony (Ps. Scym., 730-731; Strab. C.319), founded
ca. 600 B.C. Two large gates and an island are known
where the celebrated Sanctuary of Apollo and the major
part of the ancient city were situated. A Greek inscription
records the reconstruction of the ruined city and of the
famous sanctuary by a Thracian tribe. The Imperial coins
continue to use the name Apollonia until the 3d c. A.D.,
when the name Sozopol appears. During the Byzantine
Empire Sozopol was the seat of a bishop, a rich and prosperous city that was frequented by the Genoese until it
fell under Turkish domination in 1383. Today it is a
modest town. Nothing of the ancient city remains visible
above ground. Early excavations furnished little clarification. It is certainly on the island of St. Ciriaco where
the stele of Anaxandros was found that the Temple of
Apollo must be sought since all the material found in
1904, including a series of terracotta figurines datable
to the 6th c. B.C., is connected with that cult; on the
island of St. George there are traces of Byzantine construction. Both older and more recent excavations at
Kalfata and the port of Giardino brought to light rich
Greek necropoleis containing painted funerary vases dating between the 5th and the 2d c. B.C. The promontory
is called Cape Kolokuntas (pumpkins) because of the
great number of tumuli in the area. They are scattered
over the upland and contain dromoi and funerary chambers, as was the Thracian custom. There are also cultural
blendings as in the tumulus of Mapès, with dromoi and
painted sarcophagi, where the Greek influence dominates.
For the Temple of Apollo, Kalamis made the bronze
statue of the god (ca. 13.2 m tall), which was stolen
by Licinius Lucullus in A.D. 73 after the seizure of Apollonia, and transported to the Campidoglio in Rome. The
symbolic lion of Apollo is found on the coins of Apollonia. There are many inscriptions and also an important
decree. The only notable monument surviving is the stele
of Anaxandros, now in the National Museum of Sofia. It
is a masterpiece of Ionic art from the end of the 6th c.
B.C., representing the deceased cloaked, with his dog. At
the Louvre is a fragment of a slab from Apollonia in the
archaic Ionic style.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Seure,
RevArch (1924); F. Bilabel,
Die Jonische Kolonisation (1920) 13-15; G. Mihailov,
Inscriptiones graecae in Bulgaria repertae, (1957); I.
Venedikov et al.,
Les fouilles dans la nécropole d'Apolonia en 1947-1949 (1963); D. Dimitrov,
Ann. Univ. Sofia fac. stor. filol. 34 (1942-43).
A. FROVA
