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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA – 112TH ANNUAL MEETING – PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 5-8, 2012
TWO DECADES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
IN APOLLONIA PONTICA (SOZOPOL, BULGARIA)
MARGARIT DAMYANOV, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY WITH MUSEUM, BAS
Apollonia, 1 named Pontica to be distinguished
from other cities of that name, is the earliest Greek
colony on present-day Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The
written sources say it was an apoikia of Miletus,
founded during the late 7th c. BC.
The identification of Apollonia with present-
day Sozopol is certain, as the change of the name to
“City of Salvation” is attested in the sources. Sozopol
is located in the southern part of the Bulgarian coast,
at the southern tip of the Bay of Burgas. The ancient
city was situated on a peninsula jutting into the sea,
1
The paper presents the results of long-term investigations in present-day
Sozopol under the direction of Krastina Panayotova (NIAM-BAS), with the
participation of the author and other archaeologists.
now Sozopol’s Old Town, and on the island of St.
Kirik. As the sandbar between the mainland and the
peninsula appeared long before the arrival of the
Greeks, it is St. Kirik that suits best Strabo’s
description that the greater part of Apollonia was on
an island, where there was a temple of Apollo.
Excavations on St. Kirik in the first half of the
20th c. brought inconclusive results and no
monumental architecture of the Greek Period were
discovered. After WWII, the island became a naval
base, bringing to an end all archaeological activities.
The unclear results of the earlier investigations
prompted various hypotheses about the location of
ancient Apollonia’s temenos. Some scholars believed
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it was on the island of St. Kirik. Others thought it
was in the higher parts of Sozopol’s Old Town,
which would contradict the written sources. Still
others have argued that the temple of Apollo was on
the island of St. John, about a kilometer offshore and
even today inaccessible in bad weather.
In 2007, the military left St. Kirik and
archaeological investigations began in 2009. After
three seasons, the most obvious result is the
discovery of monumental architecture from the
Greek Period. The remains of two temples of
different date were identified in the northeastern
part of the excavated area. The stratigraphic
situation and the associated architectural details
indicate that the earlier of the two could be dated to
the late 6th or the early 5th c. BC. A large altar was
constructed in front of the temple. These would
mark a “monumental” phase, identified in many
Greek colonies in the Mediterranean and the Black
Sea. In Apollonia it happened about a century, that is
to say three or four generations, after its foundation.
In the Early Hellenistic Period, next to the
earlier temple another one of similar dimensions was
erected. The temenos would have developed to the
south and the east, where other structures were
detected, probably of cult function. Most of them
were dismantled in the Late Antiquity, when a
basilica was built here. The building material was
reused, including for graves in the necropolis that
emerged around the church.
The absence of epigraphic evidence impedes
identifying the Greek deities that were worshipped
here. It would be hasty to claim that the Late Archaic
temple belongs to the eponymous Apollo Ietros (The
Healer) and that it was here that in mid-5th c. BC the
Athenian sculptor Kalamis erected the colossal 13-
meter-high statue. Nonetheless, a group of graffiti
could be pointing in that direction. They show the
combination IH (or HI written in retrograde),
possibly the first letters of Ietros. A graffito [I]HTRO
was found on the island in the early 20th c., as well as
a stone base with dedication to Apollo Ietros.
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Observations on the pottery reveal an anomaly
that seems to be an independent confirmation of the
date of the monumentalization of the temenos. It
belongs mostly to the late 7th and 6th c. BC, indicating
that something changed in the site’s function: from
the early 5th c. on no material was deposited here as
in the previous century. Along with the Greek
materials, already in the earliest contexts Thracian
pottery appears, attesting relations with the natives.
Part of the pottery comes from pits that could
be interpreted as bothroi and related to cult activities
in an earlier temenos with less durable structures.
However, the investigations revealed probably two
phases of other Archaic structures, some of which
lay under the later monumental temenos. The large
altar overlays the corner of a square room with
materials from the 6th c. BC. The late 7th and the first
half of the 6th c. BC seems to be attested by several
structures that are partially dug into the clay and
have dimensions that would be typical of early
dwellings (c. 5 x 5 m). Probably in the latter half of
the 6th c., the investigated area was reorganized. To
the southwest of the temple and the altar houses
were unearthed, arranged along a street that was
paved with small cobbles and gravel. Structures with
identical orientation and 6th c. materials are
investigated throughout the site, indicating an urban
planning.
The Late Archaic temple and altar do not
follow this initial orientation – a fact that again
allows for distinguishing phases in the development
of the early Greek settlement. The monumental one
clearly did change its original layout and later the
Hellenistic temple followed the orientation of the
Archaic cult buildings.
The investigations on the island of St. Kirik
have located the temenos of Apollonia, but also an
early part of the city – probably the initial core of the
colony, with dwellings but also metalworking
workshops, as indicated by the presence of bronze
slag and other traces of metallurgical activities.
Significantly, they are associated with very early
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materials – an indication that already in the early 6th
c. BC Apollonians had access to the copper mines in
the heights of Meden Rid (meaning Copper Ridge)
that rises above the coastal plain. Along with the
presence of Thracian pottery on the island, this fact
is revealing about the early relations between Greeks
and natives.
Before the investigations on the island of St.
Kirik, Apollonia was known mostly for its
necropolis. Between 1946 and 1949, large excavations
were carried out on Kalfata beach, about a kilometer
to the south of the city, and on the sandbar that
connects it with the mainland. At both sites, parts of
a necropolis were unearthed with graves of different
date. The graves nearer the city were Middle and
Late Hellenistic, while those farther away on the
beach spanned the period from mid-5th until mid-3rd
c. BC.
With more than 900 graves published in 1963,
the necropolis of Apollonia would be easily the best
studied Greek colonial necropolis in the Black Sea, at
least for the Classical and the Hellenistic periods.
Thus, it is curious to what extent the investigations,
renewed in 1993 and driven by the touristic
development along the coast, modified what we
know of the necropolis. Since then, more than 1500
graves were investigated (only a handful thoroughly
published) at dozens of sites. The largest one is the
so-called ‘Central Sector’ with a few hundred graves.
The first important observation is about the
limits of the necropolis. In 1946-49, only the part of
Kalfata beach that is nearest to the city was
investigated. In fact, the necropolis continues for
more than 2 km to the south, to the end of the beach
and on the higher coast of Budzhaka locality, and
contemporary tumuli were excavated on Kolokita
promontory, some 4 km away from the ancient city.
A significant fact should be emphasized about
the chronology: at all sites the earliest graves date
from the middle or the third quarter of the 5th c. BC.
There is no gradual development, with Early
Classical graves nearer the city and Late Classical
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farther away. This would indicate a premeditated
structuring of the space: in mid-5th c. BC the
community created a brand new necropolis, and a
huge one. It was used most actively for a century.
Later, some parts were abandoned; in late 4th and
early 3rd c. Apollonians buried their dead mainly on
Kalfata beach. This shrinking could be a reflection of
the city’s decline that continued in the following
centuries – in Late Hellenistic times the necropolis
was situated next to the city.
New investigations confirmed that in 5th-3rd c.
BC the necropolis occupied mainly a narrow coastal
strip – a phenomenon that is attested in other parts
of the Greek world and is usually explained by the
desire not to waste agricultural land. There are no
preferences to the type of terrain – the deceased were
buried both in the dunes and on higher coastal
terraces, where the pits were dug into the clay or the
soft limestone.
The impression of a structured space is
another change regarding the earlier investigations.
The sectors that were excavated in 1946-49 appear to
be more or less chaotic, but the new excavations in
the Central Sector in Kalfata locality shed light on
the internal organization of the necropolis. Here, an
ancient coastal road is detected due to the fact that
on both its sides there are burial plots, delimited
with stone walls. Further south long step-like walls,
facing the road, delimit the necropolis on the internal
side of the road (landwards). At some places, short
transversal walls seem to delimit what could be
family plots. The necropolis acquired this
monumental appearance in mid-4th c. BC, but the
road existed already in the 5th c., when a ditch
separated it from the burial plots.
Beyond the Central Sector, excavations were
carried out on scattered private properties and it is
not possible to trace clearly the structure of the
necropolis. Nonetheless, it seems beyond reasonable
doubt that it was organized along the road that led
to the south.
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The role of the polis in organizing this area
could be glimpsed in another communal
undertaking – laying a water main of clay pipes that
was in use in the late 5th and early 4th c. BC. In
Budzhaka locality, tunnels were dug into the soft
limestone. The water main has been traced for more
than a kilometer, running through the necropolis.
The evidence from the Central Sector that
spans some two centuries allows tracing the
evolution of the burial structures and of the
necropolis as a whole. In the 5th and the early 4th c.
BC, there were only pits. Small tumuli were piled at
least over some of them, and there are circular
retaining walls. In the 4th c. natural processes (dune
formation) seem to have accelerated the fusing of the
existing tumuli and in result the necropolis was
transformed into a plane one. Early in the second
quarter of the century, stone cists appeared as more
monumental burial structures. The first tile graves
date from mid-4th c., but the type became popular in
the Hellenistic period. Men, women and children
were buried in the same necropolis. Ninety percent
of the graves are inhumations, and cremation graves
are unevenly distributed in both time and space –
their number increased significantly after the middle
of the 4th c. BC.
Despite the fact that most of the accumulated
data are still to be analyzed, there is sufficient
evidence for offering some notes on the burial
community. As far as stone structures should be
more expensive, it seems significant that their
distribution is not uniform. Very few such structures
were unearthed in 1946-49, while the new
investigations brought to light areas with much
higher concentration. If these are family plots, then
there are data of more and less well-to-do groups of
the population.
Grave goods are not that revealing. They are
the usual for a Greek necropolis: pottery (lekythoi
are found in almost all graves), strigils for men and
mirrors for women, terracotta figurines, simple
personal ornaments, mostly of bronze and rarely of
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silver. Richer grave goods were deposited in the
earlier period, the 5th and the earlier 4th c. BC, mostly
in female and child graves. In the 4th c., male graves
could be easily termed “poor”, irrespective of the
funerary structure (simple pit or cist grave). In this
period, the necropolis seems to acquire a more
uniform appearance.
Nonetheless, a few unusual structures were
discovered, mostly in the outlying parts of the
necropolis. A particular situation is observed on
Kolokita promontory, where several large tumuli
were investigated. A repetitive feature in the first
quarter of the 4th c. is arranging amphorae in circle at
the base of the tumulus – in one case more than 120
of them. This is an indication of the participation of a
large number of people in the funeral, and
respectively of a special treatment of the deceased,
otherwise indiscernible in the grave and the
inventory.
The new evidence from the necropolis invites
historical interpretations. The emergence of a
structured funerary space could be an indication of
social processes – as far as it seems to be an act of the
community. Direct evidence about ancient
Apollonia’s sociaty is found only in two notes in
Aristotle’s Politics. The first one is about a change
from oligarchy to democracy, and the second about
the arrival of additional settlers (epoikoi) and
subsequent internal strife. The only chronological
terminus is the date of the Politics itself.
A large new necropolis could be an indication
about population increase, and its sudden
appearance could be due to the arrival of new
settlers. It could also meet other needs of
restructuring of the space of the polis. A tempting
possibility would be a ges anadasmos – land
redistribution, presumably in result of the conflict
between original Apollonians and the epoikoi.
The hypothesis that in mid-5th c. BC the
community took conscious actions regarding the
funerary practices could find indirect support in
evidence from grave monuments. Of all colonies on
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the Western Pontic coast, Apollonia has provided the
largest number of tombstones, more than 150.
Therefore, it seems strange that there are no grave
reliefs from a period of nearly three centuries – from
the early 5th until the end of the 3rd c. BC. This hiatus
is preceded by the Late Archaic stela of Deines, son
of Anaxander, “the noblest of the citizens”, and only
in the 2nd c. funerary reliefs reappear, interpreted as
monuments of warriors that fell in defense of the
city.
The majority of the Classical tombstones are
simple limestone blocks with the name of the
deceased. In the 4th c. stelae with pediments and
acroteria appeared, some with painted decoration,
but none with reliefs. This is unusual, as funerary
reliefs from that period were found in other colonies
in the region, including neighboring Mesambria. It
has been suggested that this visual asceticism is a
result of special regulations of the polis to restrict
ostentation in the funerary practices.
This hypothesis seems to be supported by the
almost total absence of precious metal items in the
graves, especially in the Early Hellenistic Period,
when rich gold ornaments were placed in graves in
other Western Pontic cities, such as Odessos,
Mesambria, and Callatis.
In conclusion, there is circumstantial evidence
of a reorganization of the funerary sphere in mid-5th
c. BC, imposing some restrictions and creating a
more egalitarian necropolis, possibly as a measure
against the old oligarchic families. Certainly, the
latter did not die out and could provide an
explanation of the unusual structures in the
necropolis (or they could be state funerals).
The Classical necropolis of Apollonia reflects
the heyday of polis, possibly after some tumultuous
events in the earlier 5th c. and before its decline in the
new political realities of the Hellenistic Period. This
was the community that was able to invest 500
talents in the colossal statue of its eponymous deity.
 Two decades of
archaeological research
in Apollonia pontica
(Sozopol, Bulgaria)

Margarit Damyanov

National Institute of
Archaeology and Museum
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Then comes neighboring Apollonia,
which city the Milesians, after
Pseudo-Scymnos,
arriving here, founded fifty years
before the reign of Cyrus. Periegesis, 730-733
Apollonia Pontica

and its
surroundings
Aerial view of Sozopol
(the old town to the
right)

The Old Town

of Sozopol
and the island
of St. Kirik
The island
of St. Kirik
in the
early 20th c.
Hypotheses about the location of Apollonia’s temenos
Ancient Greek
structures
at the island
of St. Kirik
(6th – 3rd c. BC)
Greek temples on the
island of St. Kirik
Graffiti IH/HI from the
island of St. Kirik

Cup with graffito IH

from Kalfata necropolis
Archaic materials from the island of St. Kirik
Thracian pottery from
the island of St. Kirik
St. Kirik - Archaic settlement
 St. Kirik: Main Results
• Locating the temenos of Apollonia;
• Identifying a ‘monumental’ phase in late
6th – early 5th c. BC, with at least one
temple and an altar;
• Identifying two phases of the early
settlement (late 7th – 6th c. BC), the later
one with urban planning;
• Identifying early traces of metallurgy,
indicating exploitation of the copper
mines in the region;
• Presence of Thracian pottery already in
the earliest strata.
Main sites in the necropolis of Apollonia
 Aerial view of
kalfata beach

Kalfata
‘Central
Sector’

Graves dug into limestone

bedrock, excavations 2010
(Kalfata Beach in the
background, upper right)
Kalfata necropolis
excavations 1946-49
Sectors II and VIII
 Ancient road in the
necropolis of Apollonia,
‘Central Sector’, Kalfata
 Water main and tunnels in
the necropolis of Apollonia
The Necropolis
of Apollonia
Stone structures in the
necropolis of Apollonia
Child grave,
mid-4th c. BC

Female grave,
ca. 430 c. BC
 Kolokota
Promontory
Excavations in 1980s

tumulus with a circle

of amphorae, c. 375 BC

Secondary grave
c. 350 BC
THE SECONDARY GRAVE
WITH THE CIRCLE OF
AMPHORAE
 Aristotle, Politica: 5, 3, 1303a; 5, 6, 1306a

The people of Apollonia on

the Euxine Sea after bringing
in additional settlers fell
into faction.

And revolutions in oligarchy

also take place when they
squander their private means
by riotous living... they rob
the public funds and in
consequence either they or
those who fight against them
in their peculations stir up
faction against the
government, as happened at
Apollonia on the Euxine Sea.
Grave monument of Deines, son
of Anaxander, early 5th c. BC

[̓Ενθάδ ̓Α]ναξάνδρο ∆εινῆ[ς

δ]οκιμώτατος ̓αστῶγ κε[ῖμα]ι

Hellenistic grave monuments from

Apollonia with Ο ∆ΗΜΟΣ and altar
 Grave monuments
from the necropolis
of Apollonia, 5th-4th c. BC
The necropolis: Main results

• Creation of a large new necropolis in the

middle of the 5th c. BC;
• Possible historical interpretations:
influx of population (epoikoi); land
redistribution;
• Evidence of family plots;
• Evidence of regulations of the funerary
practices;
• Shrinking of the necropolis after the
middle of the 4th c. BC and abandoning
about the middle of the 3rd c. BC.
 AR tetradrachm, Apollonia, 2nd c. BC

…for we see designed, statues of enormous bulk… equal

to towers in size. Such, for instance, is the Apollo in
the Capitol, which was brought by M. Lucullus from
Apollonia, a city of Pontus, thirty cubits in height, and
which cost five hundred talents. - Pliny the Elder, NH, 34, 18