This site uses cookies to improve user experience and experience. If you choose to continue viewing, you automatically accept their use. Detailed information

eTourist

Interreg Greece-Bulgaria

Monuments

Scan with our application for additional information.Barcode ScanYou can download our application from Google Play and App Store

Ancient Zirinia

Soufli in Evros, Greece
The Thracian people chose strategic and naturally secured places that made it possible for them to control their economic and military activities in the region. The locality of Derveni is close to the mouth of the Mankazi river which takes its source from the God’s Mountain or Tanri Dag in Turkish. Multitude of ancient settlements were founded on its banks as it can be seen from the abundance of archaeological finds discovered so far. One of the sites with interesting finds from the Roman period is in the area where the present-day Monastery of Dadia is located. Close to the mouth of the river there are two hills rising close to each other and leaving a narrow  pass between them. The uniqueness of the place secured surveillance of the chief land roads and river navigation routes leading from the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean to the hinterland of the Balkans and towards the lands of Eastern Europe. The locality combines the geomorphology of a road junction, an area close to the river and the mountain range of the Rhodopes with the fertile valley on the river banks.  In this way the locality established itself as a strategic military and trade centre. The density and number of historical settlements in the region, stretching a few square kilometers are impressing.
        The settlements in question are dated from the Early Iron Age in spite of the speculation that future excavations will reveal even earlier dates of habitation there. Of special importance is the eastern part of the region because of the rock-hewn niches “shterns” which must have been used as tombs with engraved symbolic effigies around them.  It is possible that all these artifacts have ritual and religious significance and are traces of life of a Megalithic culture here. The place was inhabited without hiatuses from antiquity onwards which is testified by the ceramic fragments and other objects as well as by the remains of ancient dwellings. Unfortunately, the secondary use of building materials by the villagers to build newer houses and the incessant cultivation of the land limit the likelihood of finding much from these ancient settlements.
         Ancient written sources, chiefly Roman guide-books enable us to identify the settlement as the ancient Zirinia or Zerve or Zurbe, i. e a Thracian settlement, which must have been inhabited anew by  the Antonine Dynasty at the beginning of the 2nd century A.D. The last emperor of the dynasty - Commodus used the settlement not only as a base(mutation) but he turned it into an autonomous city with a city assembly following  the structure and kind of the ancient Greek polis. This can be seen from the inscription found in Derveni recently.
Rate: 5/5 of totally 1voted

News

Events from the two border regionsFinal events were organized in Alexandroupolis, Greece from 25 to 27 May, 2022, under the project e TOURIST
Final events were organized in Alexandroupolis, Greece from 25 to 27 May, 2022, under the project e TOURIST

Final events were organized in Alexandroupolis, Greece from 25 to 27 ...

01.06.2022 Read
MEETINGS FOR THE COMMUNITY CENTERS FROM HASKOVO REGION: THE POWER IS IN YOU
MEETINGS FOR THE COMMUNITY CENTERS FROM HASKOVO REGION: THE POWER IS IN YOU

In the period 14.04.2022 - 30.05.2022 RMA "Maritza" held four one-day trainings for ...

31.05.2022 Read
MEETINGS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF MUSEUMS FROM HASKOVO REGION
MEETINGS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF MUSEUMS FROM HASKOVO REGION

In the period 13.04.2022 – 23.05.2022  RMA "Maritza" held four one-day ...

30.05.2022 Read
Promoting and developing the natural and cultural heritage of the Bulgarian-Greek cross-border region through smart and electronic instruments - eTOURIST

"This webpage has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of the webpage are sole responsibility of and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union, the participating countries the Managing Authority and the Joint Secretariat".

"The Project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and by national funds of the countries participating in the Interreg V-A “Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020” Cooperation Programme."
European UnionThe project is implemented with the financial support of the EU