43°52′59″N 27°48′34″E / 43.88306°N 27.80944°E / 43.88306; 27.80944

Zaldapa (Zeldepa, Ancient Greek: Ζάλδαπα, Ζέλδεπα) was a large Late Roman fortified city in Scythia Minor/Moesia, located near today's Abrit, Bulgaria.

It was originally an ancient Thracian settlement from around the 8th century BC.^[1] The site of over 35 hectares was protected from the East, North and Northwest by a deep valley.

Excavations have revealed the defensive walls, a Roman civic basilica, an early Christian basilica with two crypts and a huge water reservoir.^[2] The walls had 32 bastions of various shapes and 3 main and 2 secondary gates. The double north gate was designed to enclose and trap attackers.

Zaldapa is included in the list of fortifications renovated during the reign of Emperor Justinian I the Great (527–565). It was also mentioned as the seat of a bishop.

In 2015, a Greek stone inscription has been discovered by the archaeologists excavating the ruins of a Christian bishop's basilica in the fortress of Zaldapa.^[3]

References

• Olteanu, Sorin. "Zaldapa-Zeldepa". Linguae Thraco-Daco-Moesorum (in Romanian). Retrieved 22 May 2011.

Further reading

• Dominic Moreau, Nicolas Beaudry & Georgi Atanasov, with the collaboration of Ioto Valeriev, Albena Milanova, Brahim M'Barek, Elio Hobdari & Irina Achim, "The Archaeology of the Late Roman City of Zaldapa: The Status Quaestionis in 2016 (with an Appendix on Seasons 2017–2019)", in Dominic Moreau, Carolyn S. Snively, Alessandra Guiglia, Isabella Baldini, Ljubomir Milanović, Ivana Popović, Nicolas Beaudry & Orsolya Heinrich-Tamáska (eds), Archaeology of a World of Changes: Late Roman and Early Byzantine Architecture, Sculpture and Landscapes. Selected Papers from the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies (Belgrade, 22–27 August 2016) – In memoriam Claudiae Barsanti, BAR Publishing, Oxford (BAR International Series, 2973), 2020, pp. 35–55.

External links

• The Zaldapa Fortress near the village of Abrit