The modern city of Pomorie is located on a peninsula of the same name on the northwest shore of the Burgas Bay. From the south, east, and northeast, the city is surrounded by the sea, and from the north, by the so called Salt Lake. The city is connected with the Pomorie field, which is situated to the west-northwest, only by a narrow isthmus which is often submerged. The location of the settlement has changed over time due to the evolution of the terrain over the past millennia. Tracking these changes is one of the difficult tasks which modern research on Pomorie antiquity faces.

Antiquity 

In Antiquity, the city of Pomorie was called Anchialos. Some underwater archaeology discoveries - stone anchors from the Late Bronze Age, and the discovery of a Thracian settlement, where materials from the early Iron Age have been found, give reason to suppose that Anchialos was founded during that period, before the arrival of the Greek colonists. The Thracian origin of the city is backed by the interpretations of its ancient name: in the Thracian language Anchialos means “near shallow sea” or “along the water”. That name remained in use, through various modifications in Ancient Greek and Latin, until 1934 when the city was renamed Pomorie. The Ancient Greek geographer Strabo mentions the city as "a town of the Apollonians” which has given researchers reason to believe that it was founded by the Greek colonists from Apollonia by the end of the 5th c. B.C. According to an inscription - a decree found in Istria - in the middle of the 2nd c. B.C. Anchialos is an important, fortified settlement over which two Greek colonies – that of Apollonia and that of Messembria – were fighting. During some of the many conflicts between these cities, the fortifications of Anchialos were razed to the ground. On his way to Tomi where he was exiled, the Roman writer Ovid notes in the year 9 B.C. that the city walls of Anchialos were visible from the sea, which gives us grounds to believe that they were erected again sometime before by the colonists from Apollonia. The fortifications seen by Ovid are now covered by the sea.

According to three inscriptions uncovered during archaeological excavations, Anchialos was a central city within the Odrysian kingdom during the 2nd – 1st c. B.C. The presence of a relatively numerous Thracian element in the city is confirmed both by ancient authors and from the large tumulus located in its immediate vicinity.

Roman Era 

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan, Anchialos received the status of a city, with administrative units such as those of the other cities of the western shores of the Black Sea. The Roman Anchialos was situated in the locality of Paleocastro, in the vicinity of the modern city. Excavations show that it was built on an area exceeding 150 hectares, in the so-called Hippodamian grid system - straight streets intersecting at right angles. The territory of Anchialos was expanded during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. It was bordered to the west by the territory of Augusta Traiana and the river Tonzos, to the north by the cities of Messambria and Marcianopolis, and to the south by the territory of Deultum. The sea port of Anchialos was the largest post of import and export in the Roman province of Thrace. It was used to supply the Roman army during the trans-Balkan campaigns. Anchialos was destroyed by the Goths in 270. Later, after Emperor Diocletian’s reform of the Roman provinces, the city was included in the Haemimont province. It also played a significant role during the revolt of Vitalianus the Thracian.

Middle Ages

The city was again sacked and destroyed by the Avars and the Slavs in 584 A.D. It was rebuilt and during the Middle Ages Anchialos witnessed the continuous and fierce struggles between Bulgarians and Byzantines. In 707 A.D. the Bulgarian Khan Tervel fought the troops of Emperor Justinian II at the gates of the city. Later, in 812 A.D., Khan Krum conquered Anchialos. On the 20th of August 917 A.D. the Bulgarian army of Tsar Simeon defeated the Byzantine army in the field between Anchialos and the river Aheloy. During the Byzantine rule in the Bulgarian lands Anchialos is the seat of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos for the duration of his campaigns against the Kumani and the Pechenegs. In 1206 A.D., the city was destroyed by the Latin Emperor Henry in his march against the Bulgarian king Kaloyan. In 1366 A.D., during the march of Count Amedei VI of Savoy against the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, the city was captured by the western knight. Subsequently Anchialos was conquered, in turn, by the Bulgarians and by the Byzantines until its conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 A.D.

Excavations

The archaeological excavations of 2009 marked the third season of excavating at Anchialos, in Sector III, located in the southern part of the area of Paleocastro. The fully studied area in Sector III amounts to 500 square meters. Parts of the main street of the ancient city, with its well preserved pavement and sidewalks, were uncovered in that sector. Two buildings – both dated to the Roman era - have also been registered during the excavations. Archaeologists have also uncovered a stylobate which has been dated to the earliest period of building on the site and was probably part of a building covering a whole insula. The unearthed archaeological material is interpreted by the leading archaeologist Sergey Torbatov as a sanctuary. In the south-western sections of Sector III the remains of a bath with a marble wall covering were also uncovered.

For more information, see : www.archeologistica.com