Settlements > Philippopolis

Philippopolis

Background

Plovdiv has evidence of habitation since the 6th millennium BC when the first Neolithic settlements were established. The area is continuously inhabited since 4000 BC[dubious – discuss] and it is said to be one of the oldest cities in the world. Plovdiv was known in the West for most of its recorded history by the name Philippopolis (Greek: Φιλιππούπολη; Turkish: Filibe; "Philip's Town") as Philip II of Macedon conquered it in the 4th century BC and gave his name to it. The city was originally a Thracian settlement, later being invaded by Persians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgarians, Slav-Vikings, Crusaders and TurksNameAncient settlements with names related to "deva". Pulpudeva denotes Plovdiv in which the latter name is rooted.Map describing the city as "Philippopolis, que et Poneropolis, Duloupolis, Eumolpiada, item Trimontium, at que Pulpudena"Plovdiv was given various names throughout its long history. Some names are suggestive. The Odrysian capital Odryssa (Greek: ΟΔΡΥΣΣΑ, Latin: ODRYFA) is suggested to have been modern Plovdiv by numismatic research or Odrin. Theopompus mentioned in the 4th century BC a town by the name Poneropolis (Greek: ΠΟΝΗΡΟΠΟΛΙΣ "town of villians") in pejorative relation to the conquest by king Philip II of Macedon, who is said to have settled 2000 men, false-accusers and witnesses, sycophants, lawyers, and other possible bad mean. According to Plutarch, the town began to be called so by this king after he had peopled it with a crew of rogues and vagabonds, but this is possibly a semi-legendary name that actually did not exist, as well as the names Dulon polis (Greek: ΔΟΥΛΩΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ "slaves' town") and possibly Moichopolis (Greek: ΜΟΙΧΟΠΟΛΙΣ "adulterer's town"). The city have been called Philippopolis (ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΠΟΛΙΣ pronounced [pilpopolis]; Modern Greek: Φιλιππούπολη, Philippoupolipronounced [filpupoli]) or "the city of Philip", from Greek Philipos "horselover", most likely in honor of Philip II of Macedon possibly after his death or in honor of Philip V, as it was first attested in the 2nd century BC by Polybius in connection with the campaign of Philip V. Philippopolis was identified later by Plutarch and Pliny as the former Poneropolis. Strabo identified Philip II's settlement of most "evil, wicked" (ponerotatus) as Calybe (Kabyle), whereas Ptolemy conisdered the location of Poneropolis different than the rest.Kendrisia (Greek: ΚΕΝΔΡΕΙϹΕΙΑ) was an old name of the city. It is attested earliest on an artifact, mentioning, that king Beithys, priest of the Syrian goddess, brings gift to Kendriso Apollo, the deity is recorded to be named multiple times after different cities. Later Roman coins mentioned the name, which is possibly derived from Thracian god Kendriso equated with Appolo, cedar forests, which ancient writers mentioned, or from Thracian tribe from artifacts - kendrisi. An assumed name is the 1st century Tiberias in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberius, under whom the Odrysian Kingdom was a client of Rome. After the Romans had taken control of the area, the city was named in Latin: TRIMONTIUM, meaning "The Three Hills",) mentioned in the 1st century by Pliny. At times the name was Ulpia, Flavia, Julia after the Roman families.Ammianus Marcellinus wrote in the 4th century that the then city had been the old Eumolpias/Eumolpiada (Latin: EVMOLPIAS, EVMOLPIADA), i.e. the earliest name in chronological terms. It was named after the mythical Thracian king Eumolpos, son of Poseidon or Jupiter in mythology, who may have founded the city around 1200 BC or 1350 BC, or after the Vestal Virgins in the temples - evmolpeya. In the 6th century Jordanes wrote that the former name of the city was Pulpudeva (Latin: PVLPVDEVA) and that Philip the Arab named the city after himself. The latter name is most likely a Thracian oral translation of the other as it kept all consonants of the name Philip + deva (city), nevertheless the two names sounding similar, may not share the same origin as Odrin and Adrianople do not, and Pulpudeva may have predated the other name meaning "lake city" in Thracian. Since the 9th century the Bulgarian name began to appear as Papaldiv/n Plo(v)div, Pladiv, Pladin, Plapdiv, Plovdin, which evolved from a Thracian variant Pulpudeva. As a result, the name have lost any meaning. In British English the Bulgarian variant Plòvdiv have become prevalent after World War I. The Crusaders mentioned the city as Prineople, Sinople and Phinepople. The Ottomans called the city Filibe, a corruption of "Philip", attested first in a document of 1448.

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