Translated by Miroslav Pehlev

History of the name of Plovdiv

Part 2

It was during the period of the third dynasty since the foundation of the Roman Empire, called the
Antonines. Ammianus Marcellinus, a writer, names the city ‘Eumolpias Vetus’ (the Old City of Eumolpia).
Medallions and votive plates were found during excavations in Plovdiv, showing that the cendreisae
tribe lived here, as well as devotions to Apollo, also called Cendreisaean. The same name was given to
the public sports games, which lasted for a few days. They were carried through in honor to Apollo
Cendreisaean. This reminds us that the cult of the God of Sun was perceived by the Thracians and
worshipped in a quite early epoch.

Due to some information, Dzhendem tepe, called in a different way - ‘the Youth Hill’, is considered to
have had a sanctuary on it, dedicated to Apollo. There are found massive substructures, fragments and
votive plates, some of which with the inscription ‘Cendreiso Apollony’. This Thracian name was
preserved for a number of centuries and is considered to derive from the Thracian Cedreisos or
Cendreisos. But the most well-known and common name of Plovdiv in antiquity is Philipopolis, or
Philipopol. The main hypothesis about this name explains that it was given to the city by king Philip II
Amyntas of Macedonia, who conquered Thracia in 341 BC.

Philip II Amyntas found that Plovdiv had significant strategic and economic influence and converted the
city into an exclusive fortress, in which a powerful garrison billeted. On the contrary, other historians
claim that the ruler visited the city very few times only. In their opinion, the city was not named after
Alexander of Macedonia’s father, who allowed only a present-day Greek city to be named Philippi –
after his name.

Here is another version, connected to the name of Philipopol, admitting that it was named after two
other emperors, both having the same names – one of them Philip V, having led the Roman Empire for
26 years, also consolidating Philipopol. He married his daughter to the Thracian ruler Teres II, who ruled
Thracia from the city of Philipopol. The other emperor was called Philip I the Arab. He is supposed to
have put in a whole fortune while building the city. It happened when he was an emperor and in 274 he
decided to celebrate the 1000 years which passed since the foundation of Rome. Then he gave immense
amount of money for improvement of the main cities of the Roman provinces. That way Philipopol
became much more beautiful.