Plovdiv through the ages

Prehistory and the Thracians

Plovdiv does not have a specific founder in the classical sense. It arose long before written history from prehistoric settlements that formed around Nebet Tepe. In the earliest written records, the city appears under the name Eumolpia and is associated with the Thracian tribe of the Bessi.

During the Neolithic period, the Plovdiv region was part of the broader cultural process of Neolithisation in the Balkans. Settled farming and livestock-breeding communities established permanent settlements and produced pottery, stone tools and objects associated with everyday and ritual life. Agriculture, animal husbandry, stone working and pottery production played an important role. These settlements were not merely temporary camps, but stable communities with dwellings, working areas and an organised internal structure.

During the Chalcolithic period, or Copper Age, the population in the area of present-day Plovdiv continued to grow, while material culture became increasingly diverse. Alongside traditional bone and stone tools, the first copper objects appeared. Pottery, weaving and the processing of various raw materials developed further. Particularly interesting are the ceramic vessels with their diverse forms and ornamentation, as well as small figurative objects that bear witness to the complex spiritual world of prehistoric communities. These finds provide clear evidence that the Plovdiv region was part of the dynamic cultural environment of prehistoric Thrace.

During the Bronze Age, settlement life in the region continued, accompanied by changes in the economy, technology and social organisation. The spread of bronze led to improvements in tools and weapons, while contacts between different communities expanded. Plovdiv’s naturally protected hills acquired increasing importance. Over time, successive archaeological layers accumulated on them, bearing witness to the prolonged habitation of the site.

6th to 1st millennia BC

Antiquity — the Macedonian and Roman period

In 342 BC, Philip II (IV) of Macedon conquered the settlement and the surrounding region. Here, at the crossroads between Asia, Europe and the Aegean Sea, in the heart of the Balkans, he created a fortified military centre – a starting point for his military campaigns and his great objective: Persia. In geopolitical terms, the city to which Philip gave his name - Philippopolis - provided him with stable resources, a secure rear base and control over the Thracian tribes and the Balkans.

Under Alexander the Great, the military importance of the city was preserved, although not as part of the front line, but as part of the rear zone of the historic campaign against Persia.

It was within this historical context that military medicine emerged, developed and became established through significant achievements.

In Roman times, when the city was also known as Trimontium, it became one of the most important centres in the province of Thrace, with a theatre, stadium, forum, richly decorated public buildings and private residences.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC, the area of present-day Plovdiv was part of the Thracian world and fell within the sphere of the Odrysian Kingdom, becoming an important centre of the Thracian population. The earliest core of the settlement developed on the Three Hills, particularly on Nebet Tepe, where archaeological research has revealed evidence of prolonged habitation.

Ancient authors associate the early settlement with the name Eumolpia, while later tradition connects it with the Thracian tribes of the region. The Thracians took advantage of the naturally protected position of the hills and gradually developed a fortified settlement from which they controlled important routes crossing the Thracian Plain.

4th c. BC – 4th c. AD

The Middle Ages

For over a millennium, the city frequently changed rulers, with Byzantium and Bulgaria repeatedly contesting possession of it. Regardless of whose rule it was under, however, Plovdiv remained a significant administrative and military centre.

Plovdiv was first incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire in AD 836, during the reign of Khan Malamir. This took place during another Bulgarian-Byzantine conflict, when Bulgarian forces, led by the ruler and Kavhan Isbul, advanced deep into Thrace. According to Malamir Chronicle, after capturing a number of Byzantine fortresses, the army reached Philippopolis, while the Byzantine population and garrison abandoned the city.

Following the capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Latin Empire was established and extended its authority over a significant part of the Byzantine territories. Within this new political order, the Duchy of Philippopolis was formed around Philippopolis, present-day Plovdiv. The city became its principal political and administrative centre, and its government was entrusted to the Latin aristocrat Renier de Trit.

The Duchy of Philippopolis occupied an important strategic position because of the city’s location in the Thracian Plain and its proximity to the major routes between Constantinople, Thrace and the interior of the Balkans. Latin rule over Philippopolis, however, was unstable and came under strong pressure from the Bulgarian Empire and local Byzantine forces. In 1205, Tsar Kaloyan captured Philippopolis, while in 1208 the city once again came under Latin control.

Thus, during the first decades of the 13th century, Philippopolis became one of the key centres of political and military confrontation between the Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire.

V – XIII c.

The Ottoman period

Throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule, the city, known as Filibe, continued to flourish, remaining an important commercial and cultural centre not only for the region, but also for the Ottoman Empire as a whole.

The city held a particularly important place within the administrative system of the Ottoman Empire, as during certain periods it was associated with the administration of the Rumelia beylerbeylik and became a centre of Ottoman provincial authority.

During the Ottoman period, Plovdiv established itself not only as an administrative and commercial centre, but also as a centre of Ottoman literature and culture. A literary environment developed around the city’s mosques, madrasas and waqf complexes, where scholars, clerics, calligraphers and poets gathered.

The tradition of Divan poetry occupied a particularly important place, with works composed in Ottoman Turkish and influenced by Persian and Arabic literary traditions. Poets celebrated love, nature, and religious and philosophical themes, while the urban environment itself was reflected in their work.

The city’s cultural life was further enriched by the presence of different religious and ethnic communities. Mosques, madrasas, tekkes and libraries served as centres of education and of the copying and preservation of manuscripts, while calligraphy and literary culture occupied an important place in public life.

Alongside the Muslim cultural tradition, Orthodox Christian, Armenian and Jewish literary and religious communities continued to exist, contributing to the diversity of Filibe. Over the centuries, the city thus developed into a multicultural centre in which different literary, religious and artistic traditions coexisted and interacted.

XIV – XIX c.

The Revival and the modern era

Plovdiv was one of the major centres of the Bulgarian National Revival. Western influences were particularly strong in the city, finding expression mainly in trade and in the cultural life.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Plovdiv experienced considerable economic and demographic growth and established itself as one of the most important urban centres in the Bulgarian lands.

Trade and crafts flourished, while wealthy merchant families maintained active connections with European markets. The prosperity they accumulated was also reflected in the city’s architecture – representative Plovdiv houses were built on the Three Hills, decorated with woodcarving, murals and richly designed interiors, which today rank among the most characteristic monuments of the Bulgarian National Revival.

Plovdiv also became an important centre of the Bulgarian national and cultural movement. The struggle for independent Bulgarian education and an independent Bulgarian Church led to the establishment in 1850 of the Eparchial Main School “Sts Cyril and Methodius”, associated with the work of Nayden Gerov and Yoakim Gruev.

In 1856, it was here that the celebration of the day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius began, later becoming a nationwide Bulgarian celebration.

Plovdiv also became an important literary and publishing centre thanks to Hristo G. Danov, who developed modern Bulgarian publishing and supported the distribution of textbooks and books.

It was no coincidence that, following the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation of 1877–1878 and the subsequent Congress of Berlin, when the Bulgarian lands liberated from Ottoman rule were divided into two new political entities, Plovdiv became the capital of Eastern Rumelia (1878–1885).

XIX – XX c.