CALLATIS
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
Popescu George Gabriel Clasa a-VIII-a C Şcoala Gimnazială nr. 3 Mangalia
The fortress town of Callatis was founded at the end of the sixth century B.C. by Dorian Greek colonists come from Pontic Heraclea (today Eregli, Turkey).
Oracle
By order the Oracle of Delphi the greeks from Heracleea,colony of Megara metropolis, they founded the fortres Callatis in the late sixth century BC.
Megara
Heracleea
Delphi Pseudo-Skymnos historical evidence indicated that "Callatis emerged as a colony heracleoĹŁilor at the command of an oracle, they had founded it when Amyntas reigned over Macedonia“.
Callatis city was founded on the place where today are the Mangalia City in Romania.
Ruins Callatis are fully covered by the present city and the sea water. Therefore in many places in the city they were discovered.
The foundation and the name First settled here were Thracians , establishing settlement known as Acervatis or Cerbatis . In the former settlements trace Greeks moored here will build a city which would remain in history as the Callatis , famous for its material and spiritual prosperity , but for the famous scholars whom he harbored inside its walls .
Setting fortress dating is controversial because some believe it took them end VI BC and others believe that this happened at the end of the fourth century BC Residents Pontic Heraclea founded the city and named it " Callatis " translated " the beautiful " in memory of Cales river that washes lands Heracleea metropolis .
Whether called Cerbatis or Acervatis, Callatis Pangalia, Mankalia or Mangalia, geographical location of the place always sat in the middle of history.
It is the oldest known settlement in Romania known to have been continuously inhabited even before the Hellenistic period and the Thracian. It here found remains of Neolithic culture Gumelnita over 6000 years old.
The city has witnessed political, social and economic extremely important that generated identity change over time, without affecting the essence of the place: a bit of brilliance Greek, a little bit of joy glory, a bit of strength and spirit of the Turkish a dash of deep wisdom Romanian.
Archaeological evidence found in archaeological sites from Mangalia to conclude that the history Callatis can distinguish two main periods: the Hellenistic period in the first part of the sixth century BC between 72 year d.Hr and a Roman-Byzantine beyond 72 until the sixth century when the city was devastated by the Avars.
Demetra - apply pottery found Hellenistic amphora, sec. IV-II BC in the local Greek settlement of Albesti, sec. IV-III centuries BC.
Marble statue, Roman era, sec. II-III century AD.
Head of statue of marble, Roman era, sec. II-IV AD.
Getae handcrafted pottery, Albesti - Pitch native Greek, sec. III-II century BC
Roman-Byzantine enclosure, north side.
Development and decay Landlocked and access to a freshwater lake (now Lake Mangalia ) , fertile land , military advantageous position , however confirmed oracle vision that guided the Greeks to the ground. Unlike the other two cities , Tomis and Histria Milesian colony , mainly commercial and democratic Callatis was the only colony Dorian practicing agriculture and a management system rather oligarchic , even so, the experienced Callatis a time short success . The economic development of the city occurs very rapidly so that in the third century BC issued its own coins.
The first coins struck by Callatis were silver drachmae in the fourth century B.C., some bearing on the obverse the head of Herakles (mythical ancestor of the Callatian Greeks) and on the reverse his feared weapons: the club, the bow and the arrows envenomed in the blood of the Lernian Hydra. During the first century B.C. coin striking ceases
The wealth of the city has attracted envy and enmity of neighbors who have repeatedly attacked Callatis.
Lisimah
Lysimachus was the Macedonian king who conquered Callatis and the neighboring towns, but Macedonian domination lasted only five years, between 313-308 BC With the death of King Conqueror in the year 281 BC have again free. Tomis
In the year 262 BC Callatis people allied with those in Histria to sabotage raising Tomis city but were defeated by the Byzantine war fleet which protect Tomis.
Along many other Greek cities, Callatis was part of the great coalition rounded against the Romans by Mithradates VI Eupator (132 - 63 B.C, ruler from 120 B.C. to his death).
Mithridates Eupator
Callatis was member of the Pontic city community, federation known as Hexapolis. The other five member cities were Tomis, Histria, Dionysopolis, Odessos and Mesambria. The declared purpose of the community was celebrating the cult of the emperor, but likely there was more to it. Capital city was Tomis and the federation president was called pontarch.
The city fell to the influence of the great Dacian king Burebista betwix 50 B.C..
Burebista Licinius Crassus, in 29-28 B.C., seizes definitively the city inside the borders of the Roman Empire. Goths
Licinius Crassus
Callatis suffered severely from the barbarian invasions. In 269 A.D. the city resisted heroicly against the barbarian coalition led by the Goths. The city lost only the suburbs lain outside city walls, that were burnt.
Romanian period that followed brought more prosperity to the city, now occupying the second position right after Tomis. Under the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD), Constantine the Great (306337 AD), then under Anastasius (491-518 AD) and Justinian (527-565 AD) , the city flourishes.
Anastasius
They built new buildings, is created first bishop and resume trade. The two cities have profited greatly from favorable trading conditions created by the Roman Empire.
Avar invasion towards the end of the fifth century C.E. would end definitively one of the most beautiful and prosperous cities of Pontos Pontus . Powerful fortress became a mere settlement with a port that has preserved for long look left .
In 72 BC, Callatis was conquered by the Roman general Lucullus and was assigned to the Roman province of Moesia Inferior. Throughout the 2nd century AD, the city built defensive fortifications and the minting of coinage under the Roman emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla continued. Callatis suffered multiple invasions in the 3rd century AD but recovered in the 4th century AD to regain its status as an important trade hub and port city. From 7th to 11th century the city was under the rule of the First Bulgarian Empire. From the 9th century it was known by the Turks as Pangalia, by the Romanians as Tomisovara, and by the Greeks as Panglicara, and it was one of the most important ports on the west coast of the Black Sea.
After its destruction by the Avars ,Callatis name ceases to exist and its place portulanele weather maps being taken by: Pangallia, Pangalla, Pangalay, Pagala, Bagalia. These are translations of the name Callatis of the byzantine dialect.
Map made by Joan Blaeu in 1645
Map made by JacoboCastaldo in 1584
Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni, an Italian cartographer, highly regarded by his contemporaries, put on a map, published in 1774 laVeneĹŁia name of Mankala
The map made ​by Nicolaus Visscher in 1685 appears Magnegalia name and then in 1696 by Guillaume de L'Isle map shows the current name of Mangalia.
Callatis Archaeological Museum The Callatis Archaeological Museum from Mangalia is an institution dedicated to showcasing and preserving historic remains of the old Callatis stronghold.
Callatis Archaeological Museum
Marble frieze representing Diana the goddess of hunting, sec. II-III century AD The museum was inaugurated in 1959 after the modernization of the city have unearthed countless artifacts from the following periods: Neolithic, Greek, Roman and Byzantine.
Roman-Byzantine site, sec. V-VI century AD
The Museum of History and Archaeology from Mangalia includes a variety of objects with historical significance, since exhibits found in the museum and ending with archaeological monuments on the territory of Mangalia: Callatis defense wall of the city, the RomanByzantine necropolis and the Prince's Tomb.
The Roman -Byzantine n ecropolis
wall Callatis defense
Prince's Tomb
At the exhibition organized by the museum visitors can admire columns, capitals, friezes with metopes, pottery, amphorae, lamps, statues, glass vases, funerary stars, inscriptions, representations of deities, ornaments and jewelry, coins, tools and more other objects of historical significance.
Glass vases, Romanian era, sec. II-III century AD.
Roman-Byzantine pottery, jugs grooves oinohoe and ampulla, sec. II-VI cent.
Hellenistic Gold Jewelry sec. IV-III centuries BC
Tanagra statuettes type the Hellenistic era, sec. IV-III centuries BC.
Vintage Gold Jewelry Romanian sec. II-III century AD.
Ceramic statuette, IV-VI cent.
A very important exhibit of the museum is the tomb of the papyrus, dating from the fourth century BC. The papyrus discovered inside the tomb was written in Greek and is the oldest document revealed in our country.
Cultural life in the city * Demetrios of Callatis wrote a geographical work about Asia and Europe that included 20 books . * Playwright Istros of CALLATIS wrote a beautiful book about the tragedy. * From Callatis originates and Satyros , who lived in Egypt , where he wrote a book that was preserved fragment "Life of Euripides " . * History writes philosopher Diogenes Laertiu Heraclid ( 170-146 BC) , a native of Callatis , who lived in Egypt at the court of King Ptolemy , during which he wrote six books about the time sequence of the philosophers and the Reasoning Lembeutic . * Te Deum Laudamus , composed of Niceta Remesiana , rang for the first time Callatis basilica ; * Demetrios , Heracleides , Satyros , Istros, Thales , are investments scholars who lived in Egypt, are from Callatis ; * Byzantine Leontius ( 485-542 ) , a Christian scholar , is originally from Zaldapa , near Callatis ; * The oldest of Greek gymnasium , specialized sport Callatis worked in the first century AD ; * Around the year 300 BC first coins were minted here and were made ​of silver. They were on one side the head of Heracles , and the other symbols were represented city quiver , bow , clubs and ears of wheat. After a bronze coins appeared that the gods were on hand image Dionysus , Apollo , Athena , Hermes , Demeter , the other short name of the city, or Kala Kalla.
Visiting the fortress of
CALLATIS
a walk in Romanian and Greek history