Roman Bulgaria
The territories of Bulgaria became part of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century BC. The Romans conquered all parts of the Mediterranean ancient world and large parts of Europe (a quarter of the world’s population). They conquered the Balkans in the 2nd century BC, and for nearly 200 years — from the beginning of the 2nd century AD to the end of the 3rd century AD — they also occupied Romania north of the Danube, then called Dacia.
Roman Bulgaria was a border country, and at the same time the main roads connecting Rome with the East passed through it. It was not far from Constantinople, which in the 4th century AD becomes the capital of the Roman Empire, and then the Byzantine Empire, hence its importance.
The Romans established their rule in the Balkans and brought it, for the first time in its history, to a period of unity, peace, and stability. The empire was one kingdom with big cities, roads, trade, and a money economy. The ancient peoples — Thracians, Macedonians, and Illyrians — eventually found their place within the empire and served as soldiers in the army, merchants, and craftsmen.
Roman Bulgaria was divided into three provinces: in the north – from the Balkan Mountains to the Danube was the province of Moesia, which also includes the lion’s share of Serbia today; to the south – from the Balkan Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea and the borders of Constantinople was the province of Thracia, a continuation of the ancient Thracian kingdoms. The capital City of this region is Plovdiv. Southwest Bulgaria belonged to the Roman province of Macedonia, a continuation of the Macedonian state.
The Romans ruled the Balkans from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD as the Roman Empire, which later became the Byzantine Empire that ruled the Balkans uninterruptedly until the 7th century AD, and for long periods after that. At first, there were rebellions by the various Thracian tribes, which brought repression. As a result, many people were sold into slavery in Rome.
Some claim that in the 1st century BC, the slave population of Rome consisted mainly of Thracians, Germans and Celts. The slave revolt of Spartacus (Thracian in origin) was largely a revolt of these populations. But things changed later and the Thracians were integrated into the empire. Many of the emperors, starting from the 2nd century AD, came from the Balkan regions and rose to power thanks to service in the Roman army. Constantine the Great came from the City of Nish, near Bulgaria (in southern Serbia), and Justinian – from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia.
The Roman Empire was the largest free market in the world to date, a huge multinational Empire of more than 70 million people, which was based on a money economy. Rome was a city of a million people, as was Constantinople. With the consolidation of the empire at the end of the 1st century BC, an era of prosperity began. Wheat was not grown in Italy because it was not economically viable, and instead the Romans imported basic products from abroad, and thus Thrace became an exporter of wheat and other agricultural products, such as wine, to Rome. Transporting products by sea was much cheaper than by land, so it was easier to send wine to Rome by ship from Burgas or Sozopol than to bring it from Tuscany by cart. Following the economic prosperity, the population grew, and significant urban centers began to develop.
The peak of the Roman Empire comes in the 2nd century AD, with the rise to power of the five “enlightened emperors”, which is reflected in many construction enterprises throughout Bulgaria. Emperor Trajan magnificently builds the City of Stara Zagora in the center of Bulgaria and names it after him; Emperor Marcus Aurelius glorifies and beautifies Plovdiv, a City of seven hills near a River that becomes the “Rome of the Balkans”. Impressive Roman remains are found in Hisar, a town of healing springs near the Balkan Mountains and also in Sofia, which was called Serdica at the time. The ports of the Black Sea prospered, as well as the City of Nikopol on the banks of the Danube.
In the 4th century AD, the Romans become Christians, and Emperor Constantine transfers the capital from Rome to Byzantium, which is called Constantinople from that time on. In 381 AD, the Roman Empire splits into two, and the eastern part became an independent state with Byzantium as its capital, and from then on it is the time of the Byzantine Empire.
However, the period of Roman prosperity in the Balkans comes to an close at the end of the 4th century AD, after the Germanic Goth tribes cross the Danube and begin a campaign of conquest and destruction. A new period starts in the history of the Balkans and the world – a period of barbaric invasions. First the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, and then the Vandals, followed by the Huns. The cities are destroyed and emptied, the roads are abandoned, the population dwindles, and the land becomes desolate.
The borders are breached; Rome falls and the empire collapses. There are places where only 10% of the original population remains. While Rome falls, Constantinople endures as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which later recovers and retakes large areas in the Balkans. The new – old empire manages to exist in different forms until the year 1453 (for 1,000 years), it knows high and low periods. During the high tide it takes over large areas in the Balkans and Asia, and during the low tide it is reduced to the borders of Constantinople and its surroundings.
The difficult days of the barbarian invasions are replaced by times of prosperity and an orderly central government during the time of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (6th century AD). Cities and Churches are rebuilt all over the Balkans and Bulgaria, among them the Hagia Sofia Church in Sofia after which the city is named. However, further invasions result in the breaching of the borders, and the Balkans degenerate into a new era of chaos.
The settlement vacuum created in the Balkans is inviting the Slavic tribes to come and settle in. These are stubborn peasants, pagans who believe in the forces of nature, organized in tribes, who probably came from the regions of White Russia (Belarus) and Ukraine. The slaves cleared the forests creating for themselves good new agricultural lands.
However, an external element was needed to unite them into one political entity. And this was the invading Turkic warrior tribes called Bulgarians, who arrived in Bulgaria at the end of the 7th century AD. They mixed with the local population and formed a ruling class that managed to maintain an orderly government. This is how the Bulgarian nation was formed, but its cohesion and final formulation came only in the 9th century, with the acceptance of Christianity
