Heraclea Sintica

O: macedonian shield ·HPAKΛEWTWN·	R: club EΠI CTPYMONI
bronze coin struck in Heraclea Sintica in 1st century BC; ref.: SNGCop 185; weight: 3,86g, diameter: 15 mm

Heraclea Sintica was an ancient Greek^[1] city in Thracian Macedonia, to the south of the Struma River, the site of which is marked by the village of Rupite, Bulgaria, and which was identified by the discovery of local coins.

It was recently accidentally discovered at the foot of an extinct volcano on the land of Rupite. Professor Lyudmil Vagalinski, of the National Institute with Museum of Archaeology in Sofia, noticed strange structures above it: tunnels and an arch. Later on, after geosonar examination by Russian specialists, a large studio for producing ceramic masks for an unknown and as yet undiscovered ancient theatre was discovered. Soon afterwards, the scientists came across the proof of their identification of the city: a Latin inscription, dated 308 AD, of an imperial appeal addressed to the local urban citizens of Heraclea Sintica. Thus ended the years-long argument between Greece and Bulgaria about where Heraclea Sintica actually was. GPS coordinates more correctly ennumerated as 41°26'57.40"N 23°15'57.51"E.

References and bibliography

1. The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC by D. M. Lewis,page 469,"Philip's new foundation at Heracle Sintica"

• Claude Lepelley: Une inscription ďHeraclea Sintica (Macédoine) récemment découverte, révélant un rescrit de ľempereur Galère restituant ses droits à la cite. in: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 146 (2004), 221–231.
• Georgi Mitrev: Civitas Heracleotarum. Heracleia Sintica or the Ancient City at the Village of Rupite (Bulgaria). in: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 145 (2003), 263–272.
• Konrat Ziegler und Walter Sontheimer (Hrsg.): Der Kleine Pauly Bd. 2 (1975), Sp. 1034–1035.

Coordinates: 41°26′N 23°15′E / 41.433°N 23.250°E