How the river Rhombos became Hebros

Love and hate, or how the river Rhombos became Hebros

Once, long ago, today’s Maritsa river was called Rhombos. It was wide, navigable and at places it swirled in steep rapids. Cassander, the ruler of the land, had a wife who gave birth to a son Hebros. But pretty soon the ruler’s love for his wife faded and he brought to the palace the young and cunning Damasipe. To his misfortune, she fell in love with the handsome youth Hebros at first sight. Hebros, however, put her off and retreated into the mountain hunting. Then Damasipe complained to Cassander that his son tried to rape her. The jealous king rushed with his suite to punish him cruelly. The youth ran but when he reached Rhombos he saw his way was cut from all sides. So, he jumped into the turbulent river, which was henceforth called after him.

Present-day Plovdiv is the center of the Thracian valley, and the Maritsa-Hebros flows across it. In times gone by, the river provided good irrigation to the land and plenty of fish for the people. The climate here was always mild, and the soil fertile and rich for the farmers. People procured pure drinking water from the nearby Rhodope Mountains, as well as stone, timber, ore and game. It is no chance that man found sustenance in these lands since hoary antiquity (the Neolithic, the Bronze and Iron Ages). Once there were seven hills here, as in the Eternal City, three of them being rocky and taller than the others (Nebettepe, Djambaztepe and Taximtepe).

The city with many names

The ancient Thracian settlement (on Nebettepe) is believed to have been called Eumolpia. Plinius Senior describes a Thracian settlement near the Rhodopes and refers to it as Poneropolis. In 341 BC, Philip II of Macedon came here and expanded the place, turning it into a municipal center. A garrison was temporarily stationed here. The ruler called the city by his own name, Philippopolis – the City of Philip. Among the local population this sounded like Pulpudeva and they called it so. A strong wall encircled the top of the hill. Shortly before Thrace became a Roman province, on the hill stood the residence of the Thracian dynast Roimetalkas II, a faithful friend

of Rome. He even helped to suppress the unrests in the mountainous regions in 21 and 26, and the Romans were very grateful to him. Under Claudius (41-54) the Roman administration called the city Trimontium – The Three Hills. This new name, however, did not gain wide circulation. The city was generally known as Philippopolis and preserved this name until the Middle Ages.

About coins and gods

The numismatic material found in the city and its environs gives us valuable information about life in this land. The region of present- day Plovdiv was indirectly involved in the Peloponnese War between Athens and Sparta in the distant 5th century BC (431-404). From here originate electronic staters from the city of Kyzikos in Asia Minor What happened then? During the military operations, Athens was not able to buy grain from Euboea and Sicily. Therefore, it turned north to Thrace. The coins discovered here are evidence that grain was purchased from the region of Plovdiv and transported down the navigable Maritsa river to the Athenians.

The tetradrachmas of Thasos and Athens indicate live communications between this region and other centers on the Balkans. In the time of the Roman presence, the city of Philippopolis-Trimontium was given the right to mint its own coins mihrimah mosque, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (81-96). From their effigies we judge about the socio-economic life here, of the urban development and religion. Due respect was given to the river Hebros, personified as a young seminude bearded god, recumbent on an amphora, from which water is pouring out. In one hand he holds attributes of fertility – an ear of wheat, a plant sprig, a flower. Other coins depict boats and river ships, indicative of the intensive trade along the river and in the valley. From Plovdiv comes a very curious bronze coin. It represents three girls. One is reaping, the middle one is cradling sand from the river for gold, the third one is digging out ore from a pit, doubtlessly in the Rhodopes. The mountain is also depicted on a coin with Orpheus, sitting on a rock playing his lyre.

It represents the time when the magic singer had lost his beloved Eurydice and withdrawn to the mountains. From the coins we learn about the government and status of the largest city in Thrace. Philippopolis received two important honorary distinctions. It was a metropolis, i.e. chief city. The administrative capital of Roman Thrace was Perinthos on the Sea of Marmora, but undoubtedly the city on the river Hebros was the most prosperous and imposing. Philippopolis was also granted the right to be neocoria – protector of the imperial cult. A special college of priests was elected to perform the duties to the supreme ruler of the Empire in a newly built or existing stately temple. The city had a demos (people’s assembly) and a bule (municipal council). Another type of coins represent hilltop statues of Apollo, Heracles and Hermes.