Ahtopol

 Ahtopol is situated in a small rocky peninsula about 500m long, 300m wide and 20m high. It is 40km southeast of Tsarevo and 90km from Burgas.

In 1926 there were 176 houses and 874 inhabitants in the town, 570 of them were refugees from East Trace. In 1961 there were 947 inhabitants and now there are 887.

Ahtopol has rich Antique and Middle Ages history. In the area of Ahtopol bay were found stone, lead and iron anchors. Stone ones are from the Trace antiquity dated from the beginning of 1^st century BC, lead ones are from the period of ancient Greek colonization and the iron ones are from Roman epoch and middle ages. The biggest quantity of four pointed iron anchors from XVII - XVIII c. were found here and also enormous admiral anchors from last century. A wooden figure of a man wearing a short tail-coat was found in the area too, probably a decoration of an English ship’s mast from XIX century.

Particular finds – a stone axe and ceramic fragments – show that there was a settlement on Ahtopol peninsula during the new stone and copper-stone epoch. Vestiges of the Thracians lived here during the bronze epoch and early iron ages –

 X-VII c BC can be found in the area. There are cultural remains from VI –I c. BC. Amphora bottoms from V century and decorative roof-tiles with egg-shaped ornament from IV century were found not far from the old school where a landslide was. During the last years’ excavations a Hellenic fort wall and Italian amphora produced in the West Mediterranean in the first half of I century BC were found. There are also two inscriptions in ancient Greek which even fragmented are evidence of the importance of the town in V-VI c. BC. The new found records show that at the end of V c. BC there was already an Athenian colony (kleruhia) which probably had the name   Agatopolis- from the Greek word “agatos” /good/ and “polis” / town /.

The last finds more and more convince us that Agatopolis is not only medieval but antique name of the town. The most important amongst them are two inscriptions – fragmented decrees from IV c. BC. One of the stone inscriptions mentions “messenger” of “the town” which name is not written, who had to go to Odesos /Varna/.

Important for us is that the settlement is called “town” because it means that there was a town order. In fact it was “politia” /town-country/.

Founding of Agatopol from Athenians could date about 430 BC and be connected with Pericles’ actions in Black Sea regions.

There are a few emissions of bronze coins with Apollo’s profile on the head and the bird of Minerva on the tail. It was written AGA, AGAT, AGATO on them. Some competent authors from the last years gave their opinion that they were coined in Strandzha Agatopolis. The new found inscriptions and finds are an indirect proof that during the antiquity there was a coin workshop.

On the base of these epigraphic numismatic and archeological reports the oldest history of Agatopol can be connected most of all with the local Thracians from the tribe of tiny.

Middle Ages Agatopol is often present in the historical sources. For the earliest can be considered the column from Han Krum’s period (812) where the name of Agatopol was cut out as a conquered fort. In the list of the eparchy from the time of Emperor Leo the wise (886-912) Agatopol is already an episcopate under the scepter of the archbishop of Adrianopol (Edrine). About the end of X and the beginning of XI century its name is on the list of so called new eparchial list. In XII c. Arabian geographer Idrisi (1100- 1165) talked about it under the name Agatubulis.

The town started appearing more often in the written sources about the rebellion of Asen and Peter (1185-1186). As it is well-known it threw off the Bulgarian dependence on Byzantium. After one tactical retreat in land across Danube in 1187 the army of Asen and Peter went through Balkan mountain range passes and settled down near Ahtopol.

In the beginning of XIV c. Agatopol is amongst the forts dependent from Bulgarian tsar Teodor Svetoslav Terter. In 1316 the town was mentioned in a diploma of Andronikos II Palaiologos who allowed traders from Monemvasia (town in today south Greece) to trade with animals and import them from Agatopol to Tsarigrad without taxes.

After the death of George II Terter in 1322 and the end of Terter dynasty, Agatopol became Byzantine.

In the beginning of the reign of Ivan Alexander (1331) after the battle in Russo Castro on 18^th July 1932 it was in the territory of the Second Bulgarian Empire together with the whole Black Sea coast.  

In the autumn of 1366 count Amadeus VI of Savoy put Agatopol under two month siege and in March 1367 he managed to give it to Byzantines. After that date the historical events became more dynamic. In 1368 the old Trace capital Viza became Turkish. In 1369 Edrine was under Turkish domination and 20 years later its bishop moved to Agatopol. In 1396 the town was temporary conquered by Turkish an between 1413 and 1453 it became a hinterland of Constantinople which means that together with the other south Black sea towns and the town of Sozopol, Pirgos /Burgas/, Anhialo and Mesembria were the last Balkan territory of Orthodoxy. 

In 1498 according to a Turkish document for salt traders there were 158 families living in Agatopol. The town was a centre of the district in the county of Anhealo with 12 villages.

 When The Turkish traveler Evlia Chelebia passed here, Ahtebuly was called “a destroyed fort”. During the next centuries it was marked in all the maps of Black Sea and continued to be a bishop’s site. In the end of XVIII c. Ventcel fon Bronyar announced about 200 houses and according to G. Eneholm in 1829 Agatopol had 310 houses. These days the bishop was still there but the same year Agatopol bishop’s residence unite with the church centre in Sozopol and later was called Suzoagatopol bishopric. In 1845 French traveler Xavier d’Homer fon Hell counted 600 houses.

During the rebellion against the Ottoman domination in East Trace in 1903 Agatopol was kazalian centre and there were 400 houses. Until Balkan war (1912) in Agatopol convenient port there were lots of boats and the inhabitants had 45 ships. Between them were 10-15 toned sailboats and three ships with displacement from 1000 to 3000 tones. They sailed on the Black sea only. Their routes got White and Mediterranean Sea ports. For the seasonal belted bonitos, tunny and mackerel fishing people had 16 fishing boats.

After the Balkan wars in 1914 Greek population left Ahtopol and East Trace refugees from Bunarhisar, Yana, Viza, Seregen, Chongara, Blaca, etc. settled here. In October 1918 conflagration destroyed Ahtopol. The big bishopric church was burnt down

          Unfortunately after the fire from 1918 there was only the church from 1796 staying and partly the monastery church “St. Ivan precursor” which earliest building stage dates from XII century.